The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival brings musicians from all over the world to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo every year in March. They stay together for 10-12 days in the same hotel, they hang out, they make music together and they often develop friendships that lead to collaborations and tours down the road. This past festival brought together 16 musicians of very diverse genres from across Mexico, the US, the UK, Canada, Cuba, Japan, and India. One of the groups was from Mexico City, Gliese 229, a dynamic and promising young duo that fused traditional Mexican music with rock and heavy metal rhythms. With beautiful Rosalia’s strong voice and quiet Angel’s big heavy metal guitar, they made quite an impression on the audience and the other musicians. Here at the festival we envisioned a lasting relationship and felt sure they’d be back again. Sadly, just a few short weeks after the festival, Miguel Angel died suddenly from a heart attack, and for the first time in over ten years and over 120 artists, the festival had lost a family member.
In the hopes of making a sad story a little brighter, the artists of the ZIGF 2014 got together to make a benefit CD, Jimmy Robinson got in touch with everyone and suggested the project. Everyone unanimously agreed and started making music for it, there are 13 songs, some written especially for Angel, and others that had been prerecorded but felt fitting. The musicians donated all the tracks and the Festival offered to help coordinate and promote it, ZIGF sound engineer Phil Milner offered to master the tracks and Isahrai Azaria provided art & technical direction. Every one of the participating artists from 2014 wanted to be a part of it: Adam Levy, Maneli Jamal, Jimmy Robinson, Paul Pigat, Adrian Raso, Morgan Szymanski, Isahrai Azaria, Josue Tacoronte Otero, Nick Vigarino, Chakrapani Singh, Sharp Three (Goh & Kai Kurosawa), Venas Latinas, and of course Rosalia Leon, who offered up a song she wrote and performed with Miguel Angel, it is their final recording together, recorded just before he died, it is called Alegoria.
The ZIGF is very proud to support, Ángel In Memoriam, a benefit for Gliese 229, a beautiful tribute to a talented young man and a great reflection of the type of big hearted people the ZIGF brings together. 100% of the earnings will go to the benefit, in equal parts to Miguel Angel ́s family and to Rosalia, to help her rebuild Gliese 229 and keep the music alive.
You can listen to the songs and buy downloads at the ZIGF bandcamp page, www.zigf.bandcamp.com,
The suggested price is $10 dollars but you can donate whatever amount you would like. Thanks for your support, and you can keep up with ZIGF news on our website, www.zihuafest.info, or follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ZGuitarfest, or Twitter, www.Twitter.com/ADIPMexico
