Las Cafeteras
Thu. February 3, 2022 | 7:30 PM
Camp Concert Hall
Remixing roots music and telling modern day stories, Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique East LA sound and a positive message. Their Afro-Mexican beats, rhythms, and rhymes deliver inspiring lyrics that document stories of a community seeking love and justice.
Using traditional Son Jarocho instruments like the jarana, requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone), and tarima (a wooden platform) used to dance Zapateado, Las Cafeteras sing in English, Spanish, and Spanglish and add a fusion of sounds from rock to hip hop to rancheras. Las Cafeteras use music as a vehicle to build bridges among different cultures and communities to create “a world where many worlds fit.”
Support funded in part by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
A Los Angeles-based group of Chicano artists and activists, Las Cafeteras was born out of the immigrant's rights movement of LA with the purpose of documenting the histories of their neighborhoods through music. They began playing at 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, traditional Afro-Mexican music from Veracruz, Mexico. Las Cafeteras quickly began to adapt the music to their urban roots, fusing it with hip hop, rock, and spoken word telling the stories that they grew up in.
Known for their socially conscious stories, Las Cafeteras speak out against injustices within the immigrant community and their experiences as Chicanos in East LA. The band’s namesake derives from the organization where they took classes, the Eastside Café. However, to honor women and challenge the masculine language, they feminized their group name by calling themselves, Las Cafeteras, instead of Los Cafeteros.
Singing in English, Spanish, and Spanglish, their message has reached the ears of listeners all over the world, from the stages of the Hollywood Bowl to New Zealand. Since forming they have played with bands from diverse genres such as Mexican icons Caifanes and Lila Downs, Colombian superstar Juanes, Los Angeles legends Ozomatli, folk/indie favorites Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and most recently with hip-hop artist Talib Kweli.
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