PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

"La Migra" is a slang term for immigration officers/border patrol in Spanish. "La Migra Espiritual" refers to the immigration officer that lives within an immigrant - a fear within that many of us live with - the panopticon.

This sound piece is a spiritual shield against this internal fear that has been festering inside me for so long, the self-policing and doubting which can be so paralyzing at times. It’s a sigil inscribed in sound. A self soothing meditation and incantation to find strength and healing through my current immigration process and to fight that spiritual & psychic transgression. It’s both a protection spell and reminder not to let it in and to not give them any more of myself than I already have: Money, time, peace, freedom, privacy & even blood.

I decided that the best vehicle to tackle this was with a cumbia which for me is a cultural storytelling device and format which holds the power of rhythm, humor, darkness & lightness all at once - and an easy template to follow and infuse with your own story. To make this track I used Ableton Live utilizing samples and my voice. First I made a clean “pop” version with all the elements of a traditional cumbia, and then I made a “cumbia rebajada” version which is a slowed down (almost underwater) version of a cumbia - a popular subgenre created by Gabriel Dueñez - which I felt was more apt to hold the heaviness of the experience and to tap more into the mystical nature of the piece.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My work is focused on exploring my own relationship with the darkness within and the ways that I can transmute or sculpt that energy and experience through sound. I am a self-taught producer so through my practice I learn, and in the process I get to play and experiment not only with sound, but also gender, identity and how I present myself. In the past I have focused on using hardware and live performance to create a particular mood and environment through sound and time for the audience to receive the work I am presenting - in some way to create a context of feelings through sound and light - since my lyrics are largely written in Spanish (and with a largely english speaking audience) therefore that meaning and cultural context is often lost.

My works are varied but they all carry an emotional element I am exploring through each piece whether I’m talking about: the thousands of disappeared and missing people in Mexico | The aftermath of the 2017 earthquake in Mexico and how the beliefs of the Zapatistas can lead us forward | How invisible (yet crucial) construction workers are + depression and even just love and yearning (to name some themes).
They are all tinged with elements and sonic cues that allude to the mystical experience and the underworld, which are recurring themes in my practice. Ultimately, I hope that with my sound work I can transport the audience into another realm as well as hopefully pose questions and bubble up emotions that we usually repress - either through sound and/or lyrics.