Ozomatli brings L.A. sound to Downey Fan Zone
Ozomatli performs Saturday at the Downey FIFA Fan Zone at Stonewood Center. Photo by Alistair Hunter
DOWNEY — The Downey FIFA World Cup Fan Zone 26 was a tremendous success. It was a great celebration of community.
What drew my attention immediately was the announcement that FIFA had included the three-time Grammy Award-winning Ozomatli, who performed live in the evening.
Now in their 31st year, Ozomatli is a Los Angeles rock and Latin band named after the monkey in the Aztec calendar who serves as the orchestrator of dance and joy. That perfectly matches their musical mission: to unite diverse crowds and keep them dancing and moving.
Ozomatli gained international fame by mixing it all up and fusing a wide variety of multicultural sounds—including Latin, rock, cumbia, salsa, jazz, funk, ska, reggae, punk, and hip-hop, as well as Chicano oldies. It is the eclectic culture of Los Angeles expressed through music.
It’s the kind of music that makes you want to get up and dance. The audience was with them all the way—hands up in the air, swaying back and forth, nodding to the groove. They are one of the most exciting and vibrant live shows touring today.
Ulises Bella, one of the original members, is one of my former students at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), where I was one of the early founding school administrators. We recently joked about the Downey Arts Coalition bringing Ozomatli to Downey.
Ulises, who grew up in Bell and still lives there, says:
“I practically grew up in Downey. I had some good friends there. I learned to swim at the Downey YMCA. I have a lot of memories as a kid going to the outdoor mall… Stonewood… and Middle Earth. I used to buy records there. I’m always in Downey. I wanted to go to the Greek Festival but I missed it. I was in Downey yesterday — I’m always in Downey.
“A lot of heavy people came out of Downey—the Carpenters… the Blasters. It’s funny because we did the 50th anniversary shows for Los Lobos. They hired the trumpet player and me to be part of the horn section. So Dave from the Blasters and I are in the dressing room and the whole time I was just talking Downey to that guy.”
In traditional bands, the principal songwriter gets all the publishing money. Pretty soon someone is driving a Ferrari while the rest of the band are driving Hondas. But Ozomatli was aware of this issue from the start. They all collaborate on the music.
“We have always been super committed to the music itself. It was a marathon, not a sprint—and even the way we divided our money from the jump. We’ve always split everything financially evenly. The downfalls of most bands are either the money, the egos, or drugs, and we saw a lot of these pitfalls early on.”
Ulises described their music this way:
“You drive down Sunset Boulevard and turn off your stereo and roll down your windows, and all the music that comes out of each and every different car—whether it’s salsa, cumbia, merengue or hip-hop, funk or whatever—it’s that crazy blend that’s going on between that cacophony of sounds. That’s Ozomatli. I think we totally use the city as the source of inspiration, especially through its people and things like that.”
After hearing their first album, Carlos Santana invited them on two of his Supernatural tours, performing with him on stage along with Maná.
Their sophomore album, Embrace the Chaos, won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. The follow-up album, Street Signs, won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album and the Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Ozomatli also focuses on social justice issues such as giving voice to Latino culture, opportunity for children, arts education, workers’ rights, and promoting global unity and peace among people, cultures, and nations.
From 2006 to 2008, the U.S. State Department named them Cultural Ambassadors in the tradition of cultural diplomacy that includes Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong.
They toured India, Nepal, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, South Africa, Madagascar, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Poland, Lithuania, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia.
It involved some outreach to the community during the day and a free performance at night.
“They sent us to places bands do not tour. We got to play at the Citadel in Alexandria. That’s the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We played at this old Roman amphitheater in Jordan. It was just unbelievable experiences. I never would have been able to play in Madagascar or Mongolia.”
“We did Myanmar. No bands go to Myanmar. None. Zero. In Myanmar there is a military junta and a civil war. Having any kind of group of more than like six is illegal. So we had to have the concert on these huge basketball courts that were connected to the embassy.”
Ozomatli has also performed with classical musicians backing their music. It was an incredible experience, according to Ulises.
“That whole experience with us playing with different orchestras was multi-level because I’ve been in an orchestra. And my dad played violin, so that would have been his dream that I make it too, honest, you know.”
“We got this amazing arranger to do the charts for the orchestra and Ozo and we got to do the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center… the Boston Pops, New York Pops, San Diego Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.”
Saturday’s Ozomatli set list featured: “Gallina,” “Saturday Night,” “Chango,” “Tus Ojos,” “Cumbia de los Muertos,” “Afterparty,” “Can’t Stop,” “El Otro Lado,” “Temperatura,” “Paleta,” “Como Ves,” “La Misma Cancion.”
The Ozomatli lineup on Saturday included Asdrubal Sierra (lead vocals, trumpet), Raul Pacheco (lead vocals, guitar, tres, jarana), Justin Poree (rap vocals, percussion), Willy ‘Wil-Dog’ Abers (bass, backing vocals), Jiro Yamaguchi (tabla, percussion, backing vocals), Ulises Bella (sax, clarinet, requinto jarocho, keyboards, backing vocals), Mario Claire (drums), and Camilo Quiñones (congas).
Ozomatli is scheduled to headline the first-ever El Pueblo de Los Angeles Heritage Festival on Olvera Street.
The band performs on Saturday, June 27, from 5–6:30 p.m. at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, specifically utilizing the historic Pico House and Olvera Street plaza area.
Admission is free to the public, though attendees are encouraged to register for prizes via the El Pueblo Heritage Festival Eventbrite page.