Events
Las Cafeteras
Date and Time
Monday, October 27, 2014 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Description
Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique East LA sound and a community-focused political message. Their Afro-Mexican rhythms, zapateado & inspiring lyrics tell stories of a community who is looking for love & fights for justice in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. A remix of traditional Son Jarocho sounds, LAS CAFETERAS add Afro-Caribbean marimbol and cajón, poetry in English and Spanglish, and instruments like jarana, requinto, a donkey jawbone and a wooden platform called the Tarima.
Born in the streets of Los Angeles, Las Cafeteras are immigrant children who are remixing roots music and telling modern day stories with what LA Times has called a “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia and rock … Live, they’re magnetic.”
Las Cafeteras have taken the music scene by storm with their infectious live performances and have crossed-genre and musical borders, playing with bands such as Mexican icons Caifanes,Lila Downs, Colombian superstar Juanes, Los Angeles legends Ozomatli, folk/indie favorites Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and most recently with Talib Kweli.
The sound of Las Cafeteras is brought to life by the eclectic instrumentation used, which include jarana’s, requinto, a donkey jawbone, a West African bass instrument called the Marimbol, cajón, and a wooden platform called the Tarima used to dance Zapateado.
TO MAKE A LONG STORY LONGER …
Las Cafeteras formed as a band in 2008 with the purpose of documenting the histories of their neighborhoods through music. As musicians, they started as students of the Eastside Café, a Zapatista inspired community space in East Los Angeles where they were influenced by the culture, storytelling, and poetic music of Son Jarocho, a traditional music from Veracruz, Mexico.
Their namesake derives from the organization where they took classes, the Eastside Café. However, to honor women and challenge masculine language, they feminized their group name by calling themselves, Las Cafeteras, rather than Los Cafeteros.
Their debut studio album “It’s Time” has received great reviews across the country and has featured on BBC, NPR, KCRW & the LA Times.
Contact
Event is free and open to the public. For information on parking or for individuals requiring special accommodations, please contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 616-331-2177. You may also email us at [email protected]