Ozomatli at Mercury Lounge

In 1995, community activists attempted to establish a workers union within Los Angeles, California. They were unsuccessful in winning recognition, but they received an abandoned building for one month, which they converted into a cultural arts center. Musicians assembled and became Ozomatli, named after the Nahuatl word for the astrological symbol of the monkey, taken from the Aztec calendar. Over the ensuing years, the Grammy Award-winning band maintained its activist platform, advocating for farm-workers' rights and immigration reform, and performing before protestors at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. In 2006, the U.S. State Department invited Ozomatli to serve as official Cultural Ambassadors on a series of government-sponsored international tours. Ozomatli also was the in-house band for the television show Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution from 2012 to 2014. Ozomatli presently consists of vocalist/trumpet player Asdrubal Sierra, vocalist/guitarist Raul Pacheco, sax and clarinet player Ulises Bella, bassist Wil-Dog Abers and percussionists Justin 'El Niño' Porée and Jiro Yamaguchi. The band’s eighth and most recent studio album is 2017’s Non-Stop: Mexico to Jamaica.

Ozomatli  headlined at Mercury Lounge as part of the venue's 25th anniversary series. From its earliest days, Ozomatli earned a reputation for high-energy performances, and tonight’s performance showed that even after 23 years together the band remains a ferocious beast. Singing in both English and Spanish, Ozomatli blended musical styles inspired by salsa, cumbia, merengue, rhythm & blues, reggae, rap, and funk, infused with a party spirit. Keyboards and horns led most of the leads during the instrumental breaks, and a double dose of percussion fueled the fire. Some of the lyrics touched on socio-political themes, but others were just for fun, as in “oye baby, oye mami, ¿dónde está la after party (where is the after party)?” Ozomatli’s buoyant music spoke loudly to the joyful hearts and swinging hips of its primarily Latinx audience.