- country:Mexico
- style(s):Salsa, Ska
- label:Luaka Bop
- artist posted by:Mundo de Aventuras
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BBC RADIO 3 AWARD FOR WORLD
MUSIC 2003 – NOMINEE
‘…their sound grabs Latin music by
the scruff of the neck…imagine a
Mexican version of Les Negresses
Vertes in their late 1980s prime…’
FOLKROOTS
Luaka Bop are proud to announce
the release of ‘Cybertropic Chilango
Power’ the second album from Los
de Abajo, produced by Hermandad
Chirusa of Spanish, electro-dubsters
Macaco and recorded in Mexico City.
Following their impressive
showcase performance at last year’s
Womex and current European tour,
Los de Abajo are starting to attract
considerable attention, including a
prestigious nomination for The BBC
Radio 3 Award for World Music in the
Americas category.
Emerging from Mexico’s Latin Rock
scene, Los de Abajo (literally those
from below) describe their music as
TropiPunk - a combination of
traditional Latin rhythms with salsa,
ska, funk, rap, reggae and rock.
‘Our music isn’t pure,’ they explain.
‘We come from the city, so
we try to show the kind of chaos that
exists in such a big,
problem-ridden place, where you
hear all kinds of different music’.
Spanish producers Macaco were
introduced to Los de Abajo by Luaka
Bop’s David Byrne, and were
instantly attracted by the band’s
mixture of urban culture and Mexican
folklore. Working together was
intense, spontaneous and creative,
and the end result shows a musical
maturing since Los de Abajo’s
self-titled 1998 debut.
But the exchange of ideas between
them goes beyond the musical - both
groups share the same leftist
ideology and sense of social justice.
‘The group is a bit of an anomaly in
the Mexican alterno-Latin scene, as
they don’t really come out of being a
punk band or a reggae/ska band..
they come out of political
commitment and activism,’ says
David Byrne.
‘We are the sons of a forced
marriage between Jesus and
Coyolxauqui**, the bastard sons of
the Western world, our voice has
been silenced by bullets, violence
and religion,’ explains the band. ‘We
may not have had much luck, but our
bad luck has steered us away from
fanatical racism, segregation,
mortgages and mastercards, from
worrying about whether to drink diet
or light coke.’
‘We do not know where we are
going, but we have never got lost. It is
the music that makes us feel that we
are here, that we are still alive.’
*Chilango – inhabitant of Mexico City
**Coyolxauqui – the Aztec Goddess
of the moon and mother of the
Universe.