 "Photo: ozomatli.com")
The guys from Ozomatli doesn't give concerts - they throw parties. Anyone fortunate enough to have been to an Ozomatli party knows that it involves much more that your typical concert. With the band's new DVD Live at the Fillmore, Ozomatli brings the party home for everyone who hasn't had the chance to catch the real thing.
In your typical concert, musicians perform on stage while the fans passively listen in the crowd. Ozomatli will have none of that. The band brings the music to the people, pumping infectious energy and rhythm through timbales, turntables, and trumpets until the crowd's energy becomes part of the carnival that is Ozomatli.
After 10 years of touring, leaving ecstatic crowds in its wake, Ozomatli has finally released its first live DVD, featuring an amazing performance at the historic Fillmore Theater in San Francisco.
The show mostly consists of songs from Ozomatli's third and most recent studio album, 2004's Grammy winning Street Signs, as well as Ozomatli classics like "Cumbia De Los Muertos," and "Como Ves." The DVD also comes with bonus footage from on tour, a photo gallery, and a CD with 10 previously unreleased songs.
The 10-man rock/rap collective from Los Angeles perform a globalized Hispanic funk, with roots in salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and Middle Eastern music. The members of the group itself are equally diverse, with family roots in Mexico, California, and all over the world.
The group's diverse background brings a political world view more globally aware than your typical radical chic rock stars who regurgitate the latest New York Times editorial. Ozomatli's Web site, in addition the typical band bio and tour info, features a message board for political activism and encourages its fans to participate in rallies and demonstrations. During the Live at the Fillmore performance, Ozomatli dedicates "(Who Discovered) America?" to immigrant parents who came to America to provide a better life for the family, only to find unexpected hardships.
One of the most unique aspects of Ozomatli is that the band lacks a clear leader - it's a true egalitarian collective of talented musicians who allow each other to shine at different parts of the show. The group features two emcees, Justin "El Nino" Poree and Jabu Smith-Freeman, but they only control the mic for a few songs and let the horns do the talking most of the time.
With Asdrubal Sierra on trumpet, Sheffer Bruton on trombone, and Ulises Bella on tenor sax, Ozomatli's brass falls somewhere between Mexican mariachi and old-school ska. During the Fillmore concert, Bella spits one of the nastiest clarinet solos America has seen since Benny Goodman retired his wingtips.
If one had to declare a leader of Ozomatli, it might be Raul Pacheco, who leads the band from jam to chorus with his beautiful Spanish crooning and mariachi guitar. Pacheco graduated from the illustrious Thacher School in Ojai, Calif., which is also the hometown of Ozomatli's newest member Mario Caliere. Caliere is the former drummer of The Wallflowers and now joins one of the most impressive rhythm sections of any band in the world.
If nothing else, Ozomatli is about rhythm. The polyrhythmic hand percussion of Jiro Yamaguchi single-handedly (or double-handedly, to be exact) keeps the crowd in perpetual motion throughout the concert. Bassist Wil-Dog Abers lays the underlying groove and every once in a while grabs the mic to hype the crowd, as if that were necessary.
Rene "Spinobi" Dominguez rounds out the rhythm section on the turntables, scratching up a storm while the rest of the band rains rhythm and funk on the dancing crowd. DJ Spinobi is good, but he has the impossible task of replacing Ozomatli's former DJ Cut Chemist, one of the best turntablists of all time.
This brings the conversation to one of the only disappointments with Ozomatli - what might have been if the band hadn't lost two of its most illustrious members (Charlie 2na and Cut Chemist) to Jurassic 5 after the band's 1998 self-titled debut Ozomatli. The band has done a phenomenal job of moving on from the departure of the duo, but it's still a bit sad to think, "What if?"
Really there's no reason for Ozomatli to release anything but live DVDs of concerts, because the band's studio albums can't tell the whole story. To understand Ozomatli, you need to see the band disassemble the drum sets and descend into the crowd, instruments in hand, for a drum circle finale in the dance pit.
As the band heads out after a thoroughly impressive show, the crowd chants "Ozomatli, ya se fue, ya se fue!" For all the gringos, that basically means Elvis has left the building.
Be the first to comment on this article!