Anyone who’s spent 30 seconds with Ozomatli’s high-energy, in-the-pocket and stylistically diverse songbook knows the group makes music rooted in Latin rhythms, fusing salsa, cumbia and merengue with reggae, samba, funk, hip-hop and jazz.
For three decades, Ozo’s six founding members—Raúl Pacheco (guitar, vocals), Wil-Dog Abers (bass), Ulises Bella (saxophone, vocals), Asdru Sierra (trumpet, vocals), Jiro Yamaguchi (percussion) and Justin Porée (percussion, vocals)—have been bringing people together through worldly sounds, something they’ll continue when the troupe swings through the South Bay in late March.
“Our whole lives were committed to the first 15 years,” Pacheco said in a recent interview. “That’s really when we travelled the most and toured the most.” From hometown clubs in Los Angeles to touring several continents as U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors, to earning three Grammys, it’s been quite a run. “Looking back isn’t something we have a tendency to do,” Pacheco added.
Yet, when 30 years officially hit on April Fools’ Day of last year, the guys in Ozomatli paused and realized a celebration was in order. Says Pacheco: “Oh, wow. This is kind of a big deal. We looked at each other and said it’s worth recognising that we survived for this long and appreciating one another and appreciating the history we’ve experienced. And the love we have felt, the love we’ve given.”
Ozomatli did just that with a 40-date tour last year, celebrating the group’s landmark anniversary. Now the band is back out playing a handful of dates, a victory lap of sorts.
Over the years, bandmates have come and gone, most famously MC Chali 2na and turntablist Cut Chemist, who were featured on the group’s 1998 self-titled debut, but ultimately left in order to center their energies on another project as part of rap group Jurassic 5.
Meanwhile, the core of Ozomatli has been able to stick with it for so long because while music is how the six players (plus drummer Mario Calire, currently in his 13th year) express themselves, it may not be their highest calling.
“We love to play music, so we had committed to that as individuals. We were gonna do that for our lives,” Pacheco said, adding that in 1995, bassist Abers was the one who made the first call “to see if we wanted to support some workers that were on strike. We’re the ones who showed up.” It was not just an opportunity to play music but “a cause that we felt compelled to support.”
Involvement in various causes has been one binding factor for the band that has thrived despite—or perhaps because of—the varied influences the band members bring to the music.
“We’re all very different,” he continued. “It’s why our songs go from one style to the next, depending on who brings the idea and who is spearheading that particular idea that turns into a song. We’re all into different music. You don’t have to be the same or like the same things to make something special and good.”
The band’s eclectic sound was also born of necessity. The early era saw Ozomatli playing chaotic but fun free shows in support of social justice causes. “Everyone just put their two cents in, and then it would evolve into something, because we were under pressure to have music to play the next day or that night,” Pacheco said.
Whether singing in Spanish or rapping in English, Ozomatli’s lyrics have consistently spoken out about injustices and pushed for global equality. It’s always been music with a message.
While rehearsing and preparing for all the recent tour dates, Ozomatli is also writing new material. True to themselves, “Red Line” is “an ode to the workers of the world,” Pacheco said. The new song’s chorus goes, “They say, ‘Don’t take the red line.’”
“It’s about working-class people having to travel two hours on a train to go to work, not really being able to integrate, and how often we don’t integrate, whether we’re rich or poor or whether we’re from different races. You know, we think that the world would be better if we were a little bit more open to one another.”
**Ozomatli’s 30 Revolutions Tour stops at the Guild Theatre on Friday, March 20 at 8pm.
