A group of musicians heralding from southern California, Las Cafeteras, will perform a benefit concert on January 30 at The Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) College Bound Scholarship Fund.
Playing a uniquely East LA sound that incorporates a mix of Afro-Mexican rhythms and lyrics in English and Spanglish, Las Cafeteras’ live performances are enhanced by their use of eclectic instruments like the jaranas, a guitar-like instrument from the state of Veracruz in Mexico, a donkey jawbone, a West African bass instrument called the marimbol, the cajón, which looks exactly like what it is called – a box – and a wooden platform called the tarima used to dance zapateado. Intriguing, no?
Formed more than six years ago in Los Angeles, Las Cafeteras document the histories of their neighborhoods through music.
As musicians and the children of immigrants, the group 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.
Last year the group released a cover of This Land is Your Land, the classic Woodie Guthrie song learned and recited in American classrooms for generations. The group’s uplifting version, made in collaboration with the California Endowment, adds a feeling of hope to the song’s underlying message of social justice that is as current today as it was in the 1930s when it was first performed.
Las Cafeteras has played 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.
Las Cafeteras performs January 30, 7:30 p.m. at The Mello Center for the Performing Arts, 250 East Beach Street, Watsonville. $15/$18.
