Perez, Luis
Ipan In Xiktli Metztli
'MEXICO MAGICO COSMICO, EL OMBLIGO DE LA LUNA' - Following a decade playing in Mexico City's psychedelic rock scene, Luis Perez's early solo work was a mixture of sounds derived from his vast array of pre-Hispanic and ethnographic wind and percussion instruments which he managed to blend with electronic devices including tape delay units, electric guitars and synthesisers. During this time, he was given the name Ixoneztli (or "one who makes music") by the legendary curandera Pachita and her son Enrique, to whom, like Alejandro Jodorowsky before him, Luis served as assistant. In 1981, the Mexican government became very interested Perez's work and sponsored the production of what became the first recording of the fusion of native Mexican instruments with electronics - entitled 'Ipan In Xiktli Metztli', in the Nahuatl language, or 'En El Ombligo De La Luna' in Spanish ('In The Navel Of The Moon'). The impact of this recording and subsequent performances among media, ethnomusicologists and audiences alike established Luis Perez Ixoneztli as a precursor to a new musical genre followed by a generation of young Mexican musicians playing ethno-rock, ethno-jazz, ethno-experimental and the like.