Eugene Rodriguez, guitarist and leader of Los Cenzontles, said he "didn't know anything" about Dia de los Muertos as a kid growing up in LA. "It's one of the traditions I discovered through my work," Rodriguez said from San Pablo, CA.
The tradition and his work come together on Halloween Sunday when Rodriguez's group performs at Mercado Mayapan, the second day of its free Dia de Los Muertos celebration. It's from 3-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Los Cenzontles, or the Mockingbirds, have been around for a long time, formed after classically trained guitarist Rodriguez started a nonprofit cultural center in the working class town of San Pablo about 20 years ago.
The six-member group, which includes three of the center's student musicians, has been attracting a growing list of musical collaborators, including Taj Mahal, Linda Ronstadt and Los Tigres del Norte. Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and musical sojourner Ry Cooder appear on their new album, "Raza de Oro (Golden People)," and the band toured this year with the Chieftains (they appeared on the Irish group's recent "San Patricio") and Jaguares.
Not bad for a group musicians and singers who blend traditional Mexican music and instruments with modern elements. Rodriguez calls the cultural center "a very humble space for kids to be comfortable. For some reason famous musicians like to be there."
Rodriguez wanted something more from music than the training he'd received. He'd developed a curiosity about the music that informs his own third generation Mexican-American roots. The center and band grew out of that.
""We just took it one style at a time. We tried to find the most authentic features to work with maybe music that's popular in the streets in San Pablo," he said. "It's just a real journey that assumed all these different dimensions."
"Raza de Oro" features a couple of songs, sung in Spanish, that address the hot-button issue of immigration. "Estado de Verguenza" attacks Arizona's tough new immigration law, while "Regresa Ya" addresses remuneration and men who leave their families behind to find work on this side of the border.
The songs try to put a human face on a somewhat anonymous issue. "I try to avoid politics," Rodriguez said, but he felt "the whole issue of immigration reached a crisis point. It's the most important civil rights issue of our time, but it's not perceived that way by a majority of Americans or even Mexicans to some degree. We're kind of in denial about it."
Doug: Freedom Crossing staff announced that autographs and pictures from/with Alyssa Milano would be only with military personnel and or those with a current military id. Many people left the line after the announcement was made, many had been in line for over 1.5 hours. Ft. Bliss should have given the information before people got in line, as there were several hundred people many with children waiting to get an autograph or a pix with Alyssa Milano. Ft. bliss should have announced in the media that only military personnel and not civilians would be allowed in the line to get a autograph with Alyssa Milano.
Posted by: Victor | November 07, 2010 at 08:34 AM