Modern Mexican Roots Music

October 16, 2010

Lively Mariachi guitar, electric bass and a soulful voice of a sonero translate the culture for you. The band’s name means The Mockingbirds in the Aztec language Nahuatl, and like their namesake bird, Los Cenzontles easily replicates an impressive number of regional folk styles and shows an uncanny ability make the music its own. The New York Times raved “it both honors and upends traditional Mexican music (flowering into) something completely new and distinctly American.” Most of the performers in this Grammy-nominated group got their start at a San Pablo Mexican youth arts center, where they now work teaching the next generation.

For more information about Los Cenzontles, please visit the artists' website, www.loscenzontles.com.