Shiro Schwarz
Audiovisual Performance Duo, Mexico City
Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil are Shiro Schwarz, an audiovisual production/performance duo from Mexico City. They met in a drawing class in secondary school 10 years before they began making music together. They initially produced deep house music and were always influenced by jazz, dance, and funk genres. More recently, they have explored the sounds of 80s disco, funk, boogie, and early new jack swing. Since 2013, they have released two full-length albums, and multiple EPs on MoFunk Records, Star Creature and Modularfield Records, all accompanied by colorful 64-bit graphics and videos. They have performed many music festivals in Mexico and have toured cities like Berlin, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Detroit, Brooklyn, San Francisco and Chicago. When they are not making music, you can find Pammela singing, spending time with her cat, and making graphics. Rafael enjoys collecting synths and old computers, and watching “nerdy stuff” on youtube.
Your idea of happiness?
Pammela: Being able to love and do what you love most.
Rafael: Living in congruence with my values, ideals and dreams.
Your idea of misery?
P: Not being able to appreciate life.
R: Lying, hurting people, being humiliated or treated without respect, being coerced to do things I don’t want to do, of course disease and physical pain/damage and the death of someone I love. And also deleting or losing important files hahaha it sucks!
If not yourself, who would you be?
P: A lop eared rabbit
R: A better version of myself, I know it might sound pretentious but I really mean it!
Your heroes?
P: All the animals and the stars! Haruki Murakami, Wong Kar-wai, Nina Simone.
R: Midnight Star, Cameo, D-Train, Prince, D’Angelo, Breakbot, Akira Toriyama and the developers of cool hardware and software.
What is your present state of mind?
P: Thankful and working on finding inner peace.
R: Very happy and excited about being able to make music and my personal situation being ok, but also worried about ecology and animal rights. I’m also a bit frustrated about haters in general.
Bedside table books?
P: Haruki Murakami - Tokyo Blues.
R: Don’t really read, sorry. I was trying to with Sputnik Sweetheart though :-P
What do you do if you can’t sleep at night?
P: Go through the multiplication tables in my mind until I fall asleep, usually it doesn’t go over the seven times table >.<
R: Stop moving, relax and let go.
Do you collect?
P: Hello Kitty stuff and plush animals.
R: Yes! Synths and old computers.
Tea or coffee?
P: Green Tea :)
R: Green tea please.
What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
P: I can’t remember anything strange :(
R: During a time, when I was very young, I used to have lunch with my Grandma almost every day. At the time I hated eating and in a effort to persuade me and my cousins to eat all of our food, she made up two fictional characters that would come and take us away with them in case we didn’t eat everything. It was super effective. Miss u Gmom!
A color?
P: White.
R: BLACK.
A city?
P: Tokyo.
R: Stockholm.
What are your plans for this weekend?
P: Dinner with friends!
R: This time it’ll be dinner with friends and later on our dear friend Fernando Dimare from Future Feelings has a DJ set, so we’ll probably come with. Normally we would just chill and maybe go to the movies.
A song?
P: Feeling Good by Nina Simone.
R: Play Pretend by Joyce Wrice and Kay Franklin, produced by the wise and powerful MNDSGN. It’s blowing my mind, love it!
Right or left handed?
P: Right handed.
R: Right handed, like Leonardo da Vinci.
What is the best dish you can cook?
P: Sauteed Garlic Asparagus.
R: Just basic pasta hahahaha (sweating nervously).
What is your middle name?
P: Priscila.
R: Carlos.
What do you do in your free time?
P: Hug my cat and watch movies.
R: Watch synth demos and nerdy stuff on YouTube, look out for cheap used gear and watch something on the „TV“ or maybe play video games.
What inspire you?
P: Almost everything I see, like nature and sunsets. And melancholic music.
R: Live performances/DJ sets, synth demos, listening to music, cool graphics.
What do you do for money?
P: Graphic design
R: Music and very soon work for my Dad’s vegan cheese company!
What do you do for pleasure?
P: Sing everywhere and everytime I can.
R: JAM! I love improvising and live looping, for me it’s a treat. Making music in general is one of my greatest pleasures. I’ve been reading Monster Musume, it’s VERY weird but I got kind of hooked up, sorry.
Pants or skirt?
P: Pants.
R: I’m a pants person for sure.