The Los Angeles band, Las Cafeteras, named themselves after a community space in El Sereno, L.A. where group members met one another and started to learn and play Son Jarocho music together, influenced by regional Mexican folk music. The band feminized the name to honor women, they note. Modern day storytellers, Las Cafeteras play songs about the working class, songs about former slaves, songs about the Civil Rights Movement – they even wrote a version of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba”, where they infused original lyrics with the aim of promoting positivity and inspiration to eclectic audiences. The band, who rushed to the KEXP studios, losing track of one of their instruments at the airport in the process, played a lively set on El Sonido with DJ Chilly. Watch them here:
Full performance:
This week in El Sonido, we’ll dig an L.A. twist on son jarocho, debut a brand new video from Chile, and dance along with some Colombian superstars.
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