Cabrakaän release new video single ‘La Cigarra’ showcasing their unique sound

The Mexican-Canadians from Cabrakaän have recently stirred up the metal world with their video single Fuego, followed by the release of the documentary Journey to Aztlán, which dove deep into a world between Aztec culture and contemporary heavy metal. It is a moving, self-told musical story of exploration and discovery, learning and deep friendship, showing everything behind the scenes of the upcoming album Aztlán.

Following up on this success, Cabrakaän combines the best of both worlds, traditional Mexican mariachi and metal, with their new video single La Cigarra. Fueled by passion for folk melodies, this rebirth of a traditional masterpiece has become a symbol for the equilibrium of the magical and the tragic sides of music. The band teases the story of La Cigarra:

“The lyrics represent the feelings the singer has whenever she sings. Her love of singing is so powerful that she’s willing to die for it, just as the cicada (cigarra).”

Originally written by Raymundo Pérez Y Soto, the song is a vital part of Mexican music history. Its colorful spectrum of sounds is truly remarkable, helping it become an international triumph when it was popularized by Linda Ronstadt in the 80s. To expand this soundscape even further, Cabrakaän arranged guest vocals by Reed Alton of melodic metal band Osyron as well as featuring guest violinist James Watson. Cabrakaän‘s La Cigarra manages to impress the listeners with a blend of metal riffing, ritualistically intense drums, and the characteristic mariachi instrumentation – all once again topped by the operatic voice of Pat Cuikani.

On the soon to be released album Aztlán (out on November 17), the band wraps all of this tight into raw folk metal, drawing on a variety of historical instruments in addition to classic metal instrumentation, including percussion, flutes and ancient sound artifacts. Such artifacts were rediscovered and recreated by researcher Agustin Garcia Reyes (an expert on Mesoamerican history), who also performed on the album. A string ensemble of cello, violin and viola provides the soundtrack-like context on Aztlán acoustically, while Pat, in addition to the transformability of her vocal performance, also repeatedly makes historical instruments resonate with the band’s rich, vivid sound. While earlier works dealt directly with the ancient Mexican cultures, Cabrakaän have now built the bridge from those to the Spanish conquest – an era of colonization and slavery that wove folkloric threads from Africa and Spain into the country’s musical fabric.

Cabrakaän is a Mexican-Canadian folk metal band that relocated from Mexico to Canada shortly before the global pandemic after a moving performance in Calgary and friendships made as a result. Formed back in 2010 in Mexico by composer, drummer/percussionist, black/death metal shouter and producer Marko Cipäktli and classically trained soprano vocalist Pat Cuikani, the band quickly began to shake up the scene with sensational live shows.

Inspired by their shared love of the diversity of Mexico’s indigenous languages and cultures, the at first glance disparate duo combines a passion for raw metal with folk music and opera added in. 

In folk metal, we all have become accustomed to thinking of the Middle Ages or hearing exciting stories from the time of the Vikings. With Cabrakaän, now composed of multi-national musicians from Mexico, Colombia, and Australia, who are based in both Mexico and Canada, Mexican ancestors and their deities get a voice – loud, colorful, yearning, passionate and always poignant.

The disruptive nature of their own ancestral roots reach both deep into the Mesoamerican culture of the Mexica/Otomi people and simultaneously into the Spanish culture of their repressive conquerors. This makes Cabrakaän a gang of the driven, of explorers and cultural ambassadors. The appeal of the disreputable – the denied world of the Aztecs (Mexicas), Toltecs, Otomi and Mayas – gets a fair shot at becoming a place of aspiration for metalheads. Finally, because even in today’s times of empowerment, the confession of pre-Hispanic roots is still taboo in large parts of Mexican society.

Pre-Save the album Aztlán now at: https://cabrakaan.bandcamp.com/album/aztl-n

Tracklist:

1 Tonantzin
2 Fuego
3 Tlaloc
4 Luces y Sombras
5 Malintzin
6 Mictlán
7 Yolot
8 Xóchitl
9 La Cigarra
10 Mictlán (English Version)
11 Fuego (English Version)
12 Luces y Sombras (English Version)

Cabrakaän on Aztlán are:
Pat Cuikani – Vocals
Marko Cipäktli – Drums, Rough Vocals
Alex Navarro – Lead Guitars
David Saldarriaga Tobón – Rhythm Guitar/Bass
Chellan Hoffman – Live Organs
Reed Alton – Guest Vocals (La Cigarra)