Live at the Bellu Up: Ozomatli *Belly Up Produciotns, San Diego State University, KPBS, 2918)

by Mark Gabrish Conlan • Copyright © 2022 by Mark Gabrish Conlan • All rights reserved

Later Charles and I watched a Live at the Belly Up presentation featuring the band Ozomatli, a Latin-rock ensemble founded in Los Angeles in 1995 originally to give benefits at the Peace and Justice Center in Los Angeles to raise money to keep the facility alive. The band’s leader – or at least their spokesperson during the interstitial interviews – is saxophonist Ulises Bella, who explained that during its early years there was no set lineup to Ozomatli. People just showed up at the Band’s appearances and got drafted to join the ensemble, playing whatever instruments they had brought with them. This gave the band, even when its membership got more “frozen” and a core of regulars emerged, a reputation for eclecticism and a blended sound including elements of world music, traditional Mexican folk and pop, rap (or “hip-hop,” to use the euphemism for rap preferred by people who like it) and even bits of jazz through Bella’;s ssx and clarinet and Asdrubal Sierra on trumpet. (Sierra is also the lead singer on some of their songs.) Ozomatli have a reputation for socially conscious songs, not surprisingly given the auspices under which they formed, though Bella stressed in his interview segments that the main purpose of the band is to make its audiences get up and dance. Ozomatli played 11 songs on the hour-long show, with vocals in both Spanish and English – “La Galliera,” “Cnango,” “Saturday Night,” “Tus Ojos,” “Cumbia de Los Muertos” (appropriate since November 1 and 2 are the Days of the Dead in Mexican culture), “Cut Chemist Suite” (named after a former D.J. with the band who guested on some of their recordings and live shows), “Aqui no Será” (the song I liked best because it was the slowest and most lyrical they played all night and the piece that proved they’re not just a jam band with a penchant for fast dance grooves), “La Temperatura,” “After Party,” “Poleta,” and “La Misma Canzón.” “Saturday Night,” “Cumbia de los Muertos” and “Cut Chemist Suite” featured guest rapper Charlie Tuna, a tall, stout Black man who added an extra texture to the act even though, as with so many rappers, I could make out only bits and pieces of what he was actually saying. (Once again, I make this plea to rappers in general: if you’re going to reduce music to just words and rhythm and get rid of melody and harmony, can’t you at least make the words understandable so we in the audience can tell what in hell you’re talking about?) I quite liked Ozomatli, both during their infectious dance grooves (like ABBA, Ozomatli make songs that get you to want to dance instead of making you feel like you were being ordered to) and during their slower songs that show the band has a real feel for ballads as well as dance songs.