Prototype Issue
Don't Mess With Ozomatli
By Jesús “Pelos” Olvera
(page 1 of 2)The ultimate Angelenos are well known for being a combative champion of various causes, including immigrant rights, pro-environment movements and protests against the war in Iraq.
Ozomatli could be the official band of Los Angeles. With its potent blend of Latin salsa, urban hip-hop, Middle Eastern funk, dub and reggae, the multiethnic, Spanglish-speaking band truly embodies the cultural diversity of LA.
While the group’s various accolades—two Grammys, a Latin Grammy and two Latin Billboard awards—certainly validate its status as a major music act, it is the abiding love flowing from Ozo’s rainbow nation of loco fans that is the band’s greatest achievement.
During the dozen years that Ozo has struggled toward international acclaim, the hometown base has held the faith and turned out for the group’s shows, where fans get giddy on the eclectic, electrifying rhythmic rant of its passionate, political, heat-seeking members. The fans have followed wherever the band has played: in garages, storefronts, living-room-size clubs, peace rallies and even a rock garden in Nepal. More recently, the band has played larger venues such as House of Blues and The Greek Theatre.
One reason for the group’s enormous success is its authenticity. In the band’s multiethnic, polygot sound, the global community hears itself. Every live concert is a gathering of the tribe. You don’t go to hear the Ozo’s music as much as you participate in it. Not surprisingly, Ozomatli has played to enormous crowds at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Austin City Limits and WOMADelaide, a world music and dance festival in Australia. Using its rising popularity as a soapbox, Ozomatli is well known for being a combative champion of various causes, including immigrant rights, pro-environment movements and protests against the war in Iraq.
Incendiary with their music, band members have had physical confrontations with authorities. In 2004, Austin, Texas, police became so unnerved by crowd reaction to the band’s appearance at the South by Southwest festival that they arrested two band members and the group’s manager when concert-goers swelled into the streets. The arrests aroused a wave of support and an avalanche of protests. The Austin Police Department was stung by negative commentary in the press and surprised by hordes of fans wearing T-shirts demanding that officials “Free the Ozo 3.” Ultimately, police officials relented and issued an apology.
By all accounts, Ozomatli is a difficult band to ignore. Asdru Sierra, the East LA-born lead singer and trumpet player known for his unruly hair, attempted to explain the Ozo myth and magic in a recent interview with RealTALK LA.
Sierra stressed that Ozo does not “shy away from political songs like “Magnolia Soul,” a scorching anthem that decries the policy of “abandonment which the American government continues to enact in Louisiana after the damage of Katrina.”
Genesis
The members have never strayed from the combat-ready stance they took with their self-titled debut, Ozomatli, and continued through three increasingly popular and acclaimed works. In essence, the band began in the wake of a protest against exploitation.
Before starting Ozomatli, bassist Wil-Dog Abers and original drummer Anton Morales held jobs with California Conservation Corps, a nonprofit that aimed to give jobs to inner-city youths.
Unhappy with the working conditions, Abers, Morales and 30 other Corps employees sought to unionize. When the Corps’s directors discovered what was afoot, they pulled funding for the program.
Undeterred, Ozo’s founding musicians and the others squatted in the building for a month. In the end, they all lost their jobs but retained the right to use the building, which they renamed The Peace and Justice Center. To support the center, Abers and Morales called up some of their musician friends to play weekend parties. Thus, Ozomatli was born.
“The spirit of diversity was immersed in our band from the beginning,” Sierra said. “That’s how we began playing, for different causes and the community center.
‘When you are born here, not only do you hear a type of music, you hear of everything happening everywhere—and it is a culture between each culture’ —Ozomatli band member Asdru Sierra
We had to play music of all styles, because that was what we all were. From its beginnings, the band has let its surroundings define its sound.”
Angels and Dragons
The group’s most recent release, Don’t Mess With the Dragon, is a letter of love to the City of Angels. It’s impossible to imagine the sound of Ozomatli originating anywhere but LA.
“Ozo is a band that takes to the end the pride of being Angelenos,” Sierra said. “When you are born here, not only do you hear a type of music, you hear of everything happening everywhere—and it is a culture between each culture.
I was very lucky to have grown up in this city and hear all types of music. It’s the mixture of all the cultures and all people, and from all the races, another culture is born. Song subjects [such] as ‘City of Angels’ and ‘After Party’ demonstrate musically and literally our love [for] LA.”
The album’s name is derived from video game called Tic Toc, but the true meaning goes a little further. Sierra explained: “In the game this man is digging and he tries to stay clear of the dragon that burns with its flames. That certainly reflects what is now happening with our lives.
We began with this in our early 20s and now we are in our early 30s, and I believe that we have arrived at a renaissance point where we can truly function as adults. We are beginning to grow again, as we are maturing. I continue growing because life is not only music and parties.
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