The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth: Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra & Xilam Balam

Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra (enrolled Maya-Lenca, b. Tomah, WI) is an Indigenous-Salvadoran-Norwegian-American contemporary artist and musician whose work seeks to shift consciousness around immigration, borders, exodus and interconnectedness of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Her antidisciplinary social practice (music, visual art, theatre, movement) places emphasis on Latinx/Indigenous folk art methods, experimental performance, and Liberation Theology. She writes and performs bilingual music under the pseudonym Lady Xøk, recording with Electric Machete Studios, a Twin Cities Latinx Art and Music production house. Current projects include a music album made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) through a grant from The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota Center for Book Arts Jerome Mentorship to foster her ongoing public art project, The Mayan Calendar Project, and Red Eye Theatre’s New Works 4 Weeks Festival cohort for experimental performance artists. www.rebekahcrisanta.com @ladyxok @electricmachetestudios

Xilam Balam is half of Los Nativos. With a Mexican identity, and using music as the backdrop, Los Nativos brings a new element to Hip Hop. Los Nativos was established in 1996 in St. Paul, Minnesota and was also one of the original groups in the Head Shots crew (later to become Rhyme Sayers Entertainment). Since that time, they have been nominated by the Minnesota Music Awards for "Best New Band" in 1996, "Best Hip Hop Group" in 1999, and "Best Hip Hop Recording" in 2003. 

Electric Machete Studios is a Twin Cities artist-run art & music production house featuring the work of Latinx and Xicanx artists Indigenous to las Ámericas. In community, experienced artists lead cultural arts workshops rooted in their studio practices for the advancement of traditional arts. Locally we perform, exhibit, host, teach, curate, & collaborate throughout the Twin Cities. Electric Machete Studios works for the advancement of contemporary and experimental cultural arts by featuring the work of emerging and established Latinx / Xicanx / Indigenous artists and curating pop-up local, national, and international exhibitions, workshops, & performances. https://www.electricmachete.com/