RAW PLEASURES features 18 previously unreleased, lost & found compositions by the now 103 year old afrocostarican artist Walter Gavitt Ferguson, the costarican Master of Calypso and King of low-fi home recording.

The selection is an outtake from the vast tape collection of Manuel Monestel. This collection was the biggest catch for our Tape Hunt project so far (45 audio cassettes from Don Walter, containing over 50 hours of his trademark home made recordings). After a successful fundraiser campaign the collection was unearthed and digitally preserved in 2020, and Don Walter was reunited with his old compositions the same year. When he heared his old songs again after decades, he was in for a big surprise (see footage of his first listening session here). And finally, in June 2022 a digital copy of Don Manuel's tape collection was handed over to the Biblioteca Nacional Costa Rica in order to make these culturally and historically significant recordings availabe to all the nation's citizens.