www.fratta.com
In 1993, with the
release of Romántico Desliz (nominated as record of the year by specialized
critics), Ziggy FRATTA proved that pop music is not necessarily opposite
to quality and intelligence. With a touch of Jazz and World Music, Fratta creates a fine
crafted Rock Pop, with a quite particular seal that wraps us within its textures.
It is definitely difficult to define the musical style we are speaking
about, so Harta Fidelidad con Sonido Etéreo, a game of words with
the translation for “High Fidelity with Stereo Sound”, is how Fratta explains
the unexplainable.
The cold sounds of electronic
music (samplers, sequencers, drumboxes
and keyboards) are warmed by the presence of top musicians of the Mexican
scene such as Ely Guerra, Julieta Venegas, Rita Guerrero, Sasha Sokol,
Hector Page, Sr. Gonzalez, and Eduardo Dyer, among others whom, along with Fratta,
build a Babel Tower with sounds from Brazil, the Mexican coasts, Cuba, and
the beauty, yet intricate, Mexico City.
In 1999 with his fourth record,
REALIDAD, the accumulated on-stage and studio experience is capitalized
in a record that reflects perfectly the turn of the century, and the zillion
ways in which it can be seen or heard.
Looking back:
Ziggy Fratta’s breakthrough
in the Mexican musical stages began in 1988.
After a rather classical education in guitar and piano, he turned to
electronic instruments by the time he was in College, studying Architecture.
Playing in bands such as Ninot,
Kenny and the Electrics, Casino, or playing with musicians and performers
such as Julieta Venegas, Sr. Gonzalez, Claudia Martinez, among others,
has allowed Fratta to experiment a wide variety of genres, and to play
before all kinds of audiences, from thousands in massive concerts, to small
intimate places.
Romantico Desliz (1993) and Acustico
Desliz (1995) were the first two albums, produced for BMG’s alternative
label Culebra. Both were released
in Mexico and the US. Then came La
Espuma de los Dias (1998) and Realidad (1999), released by Discos
Intolerancia.
Back in 1998, Fratta
donated a song for the album UN MUNDO UNA ESPERANZA, produced by the
Mexican Foundation for the Fight Against AIDS.
Also, Fratta was invited
by Spanish singer – composer Joaquin Sabina to join him on the “Yo,
mi, me, contigo” tour. He played a couple of his songs as an intermezzo in
the shows Joaquin played in Queretaro, Monterrey and Guanajuato, at the Festival
Internacional Cervantino. This happened
in 1996, same year in which Fratta collaborated with Serpiente Sobre
Ruedas, a group of musicians associated to gather provisions and money
in order to help the Indian communities being displaced because of the armed
conflict.
And still some more….
Fratta has been hyperactive
enough to keep himself involved in other artistic disciplines such as film
making and theatre, not only at a musical level when he has written scores
and songs for a couple of movies, but also as an actor in films, plays, and
shows along with Jesusa Rodriguez, Liliana Felipe, Ruth Maleczech (Mabou
Mines, NY), Salvador Aguirre’s film “De Ida y Vuelta”, Mari Carmen
de Lara’s film “En el Pais de No Pasa Nada.” He also co-produced
the first record of Sr. Gonzalez y los Cuates de la Chamba.
On the web, fratta.com
(http://www.fratta.com)
is created and designed by Fratta himself. This site is an alternative to the information type web pages that
artists usually have. Live concerts,
pictures, info, biography, are of course, part of the visit; nevertheless, you can also find drawings and
the host’s diary-agenda which is constantly refreshed. Fratta writes in there whatever may
come to his mind or to his life, with a special sense of humor and honesty
to tell whatever happens in the world as well as whatever happens in his world.
(In fact, currently, Fratta writes a weekly article for the cultural
supplement “Acento X” , on UNO MAS UNO Newspaper.)
This web page is a way for
Fratta to maintain permanent communication with visitors and fans,
holding an average of 10,000 visits a month.
Also, his page at MP3.COM has an average 5,000 visitors a month. He has topped the downloads list through August
2000 in the category of Latin / Rock en Español TOP 40. His song Este es mi barco was picked
by MP3 to be one of the tracks for the free CD FLASHBACK 2000. This CD contains 100 MP3s, data and software,
and is distributed world wide to 250,000 people of the record industry and
2 million MP3 users.
Web radio has warmly welcomed
this artist. His album Realidad
is among the 25 most played records in College Web-radio.
Video clips :
Angelitos Negros
1994 - Juan Carlos Martin
Ponerte a Girar
1995 - Salvador aguirre/ Carlos Marcovich
Este es mi barco
2000 - Eduardo Vertty / Paco Guerrero
Realidad
2000 - Eduardo Vertty / Paco Guerrero