Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and
Speaker 1: Kurtur Latino USC. Let listen Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa.
Speaker 1: We bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered.
Speaker 2: To you, overlooked by the rest of the media.
Speaker 1: And while the country is struggling to deal with these,
Speaker 1: we listen to the stories of black and Latino Studio
Speaker 1: United Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront
Speaker 1: of the movement. I'm Maria Inojosa. Welcome to Latino USA.
Speaker 1: I'm Maria Nojosa. Enjoy this episode from the archivos.
Speaker 3: We know La Bamba is a song that's over four
Speaker 3: hundred years old. That song survived because people sang that song.
Speaker 3: They didn't know how to read, they know how to write,
Speaker 3: but they just passed it on. How are people going
Speaker 3: to know our story at Chicanos, mestizos, brown kids, mixed kids.
Speaker 3: If we don't tell our story, how are we going
Speaker 3: to survive for four hundred years? And every art form,
Speaker 3: there's people who hold on to what they believe is tradition,
Speaker 3: and then there's people who are trying to like evolve
Speaker 3: with it. Don't let a conversation or those ideas of
Speaker 3: what tradition is keep you from telling who you are?
Speaker 1: From Futuro Media and RX It's Latino usay I'm Maria Inohosan.
Speaker 1: Today one of our How I Made It segments, this
Speaker 1: time with East La band Las Cafeterias. Las Cafeterias made
Speaker 1: a name for themselves with their politically charged lyrics set
Speaker 1: to traditional Mexican and Afro Mexican instrumentation.
Speaker 2: The group from.
Speaker 1: East La fused a base of Sonharocho with rock, ska,
Speaker 1: spoken word and hip hop, telling the stories they grew
Speaker 1: up with and the realities they still see every day
Speaker 1: in their.
Speaker 3: Communities and black and brown fighting together.
Speaker 1: One day, I'm singing in English, Spanish and in Spanish.
Speaker 1: Their message has reached the ears of listeners all over
Speaker 1: the world, from the stages of the Hollywood Bowl all
Speaker 1: the way to New Zealand. On today's edition of our
Speaker 1: How I Made It Series, we check in with three
Speaker 1: members of the group, Denise Carlos, Ector Flores and Danielle French.
Speaker 1: They tell us about their beginnings, their work to tell
Speaker 1: and preserve brown stories, and they break down one of
Speaker 1: their songs, I'm not Your puppet.
Speaker 2: I'm daniel French.
Speaker 4: I play harana keys, I sing, and I spit and
Speaker 4: whatever else the band tells me to do.
Speaker 2: My name is Ector Flores.
Speaker 3: I play harana terreceta, I dance a patiado and I
Speaker 3: sing with a little bit of spoken word of rap
Speaker 3: rap rat Hi.
Speaker 5: I'm Denise Carlos and I play the harana primera, I
Speaker 5: sing and I dance abat. We are Lasta.
Speaker 2: I always tell people who don't know Confidettas. I always say,
Speaker 2: if Leela.
Speaker 3: Downs and go go Bordello had a baby in East La,
Speaker 3: that would be last Confidittas.
Speaker 4: It's La music. It's all the things that reflect the
Speaker 4: way we grew up.
Speaker 3: What we're doing is carrying immigrant stories, Chicano stories, Brown stories,
Speaker 3: and that's what we want to keep on doing.
Speaker 5: We offer a reimagination of what it means to look Mexican,
Speaker 5: to sound Mexican, to speak Mexican. Because even in Las
Speaker 5: Cofetera's if the experience varies, the language style varies, that
Speaker 5: self imposed identity varies.
Speaker 4: In a way, I think it reflects the pressure cooker
Speaker 4: of life in La and so of course the music
Speaker 4: we create is influenced by how we grew up. The sounds,
Speaker 4: we heard, the foods we ate at other people's house.
Speaker 5: You see us, and we don't look like Mexicans. We
Speaker 5: don't look like Spiliy Gonzales.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 5: We speak English, we speak Spanglish, we speak Spanish. We dance,
Speaker 5: you know, Narteno style. We do staff atiallo, but then
Speaker 5: we also do ska and cumbia and you know rock.
Speaker 5: And I think what we offer is a discomfort and
Speaker 5: a reimagination of what it means to be American, to
Speaker 5: look American, what that sound is, what that story is.
Speaker 3: Pasca that comes from the East Side Cafe. It's the
Speaker 3: space that Denise and Jose Gano, the drummer and percussionists
Speaker 3: in our band. They were part of a bunch of
Speaker 3: students who helped found the space, and so when we
Speaker 3: were starting to play music there, we would go play
Speaker 3: everywhere coffee shops, on the streets and the corners or wherever,
Speaker 3: and people would say, oh, here the caffeteros from the cafe.
Speaker 2: But we had women and the crew, and they're like,
Speaker 2: we're not calfordos, we're caffaderas.
Speaker 3: And we're like, yeah, even though we have men in
Speaker 3: the group, let's take on the feminine identity because we
Speaker 3: all come from a woman, so it's a great way
Speaker 3: to honor that we all have feminine inside of us.
Speaker 3: We fell in love with this style of music called
Speaker 3: so which is in Afro Mexican style of music.
Speaker 4: It comes from this mix of West Africa, the Mecca,
Speaker 4: and the indigenous peoples of southern Vera Cruz and the
Speaker 4: Sotavento region, and you have the Spanish and Arab influences.
Speaker 4: Is about telling stories. It's about call and response. I
Speaker 4: tell a verse and sing it back to me, so
Speaker 4: we make sure we're listening to each other. We talk
Speaker 4: about the real things going on in our life. And
Speaker 4: I think that's where Las Capetra's story takes flight, because
Speaker 4: then we say, okay, they're telling their stories. But we
Speaker 4: didn't grow up in Vera Cruz. We grew up here
Speaker 4: in La So what happens when we tell our story?
Speaker 4: What happens when we let the music reflect our experience
Speaker 4: and where we live.
Speaker 5: As a Chicana was being told that the way I
Speaker 5: placed on Ha wasn't correct and it was disrespectful because
Speaker 5: I spoke Spanglish because I didn't understand everything I was
Speaker 5: singing about.
Speaker 3: We used to dress up like we used to dress
Speaker 3: up in all why where the Sombreros? But we stopped
Speaker 3: doing that because we're not how to We're not from Betakruz.
Speaker 2: We don't say we placed on Haidocho music.
Speaker 3: We are grounded in Hadrocho, which taught us your story
Speaker 3: is important and vital, taught us that we are valid
Speaker 3: right and for that we are forever grateful.
Speaker 2: But we are not had choice.
Speaker 5: In Las Cafeterras, and through so I was given this platform,
Speaker 5: in this vehicle to no longer be ashamed, to be
Speaker 5: able to be proud, and to be able to make
Speaker 5: connections with people all over the world.
Speaker 4: The more we create that space in our band where
Speaker 4: everyone can express themselves and be who they are, the
Speaker 4: more I feel like we've created this space outside on
Speaker 4: stage for the listeners to say, hey, no matter where
Speaker 4: you're from, homie, like get up and dance. There ain't
Speaker 4: no wrong way, you know. And I think because we've
Speaker 4: been told that we were doing it the wrong way,
Speaker 4: we learned to shed our concern for what people thought
Speaker 4: and to acknowledge that we respectfully are going to go
Speaker 4: our own path and let our to reflect who we are.
Speaker 5: That's such a powerful thing for young people of color
Speaker 5: to be able to do, and to do it in
Speaker 5: a way that we're not apologizing for do it in
Speaker 5: a way we're not ashamed, but being proud of our
Speaker 5: own existence and our own stories.
Speaker 6: And it's almost chasle A Yia.
Speaker 3: We recorded a song called I'm Not Your Puppet, which
Speaker 3: is based on a song called I'm Your Puppet.
Speaker 2: Which we love, but we just added one word, not
Speaker 2: I don't know you.
Speaker 3: When I think about oldies and now, there are tragic
Speaker 3: love songs, but a lot of this stuff is about,
Speaker 3: you know, really unhealthy relationships. So we were strategic and
Speaker 3: trying to pick songs.
Speaker 2: That we loved that could be flipped a little bit.
Speaker 4: I'm just too.
Speaker 3: Old.
Speaker 4: These are something I guarantee you that no matter whether
Speaker 4: you're black, white, brown, Asian, wherever you're from, if you've
Speaker 4: been in America that long, like you have that story,
Speaker 4: you have that connection to this.
Speaker 5: Song, dude, just what I have to.
Speaker 4: I do anything for you, but I'm not your.
Speaker 3: Part of the things that we do in blas Confidea
Speaker 3: is we always like to perform spoken word, We like
Speaker 3: to do perform hip hop pieces. Anything you know, everything
Speaker 3: you need I knew all that this is y'all get
Speaker 3: down on one knee.
Speaker 2: It can be a permit.
Speaker 3: We decided to write a little piece just to include
Speaker 3: something different.
Speaker 2: Would be silly. You can be your soul man and
Speaker 2: listen to Ron Man show you how to slow dance.
Speaker 4: I think it kind of expresses this connection between Detroit
Speaker 4: and the folks who created that music, and Los Angeles
Speaker 4: and Mexico, and it kind of unites this continent and
Speaker 4: unites our stories and reminds us it's just a thin
Speaker 4: line between our cultures.
Speaker 5: I think saying I'm.
Speaker 2: Not your puppet.
Speaker 5: I can love you, I can sherish you, and I
Speaker 5: also expect the same bag. It's just hoping that people
Speaker 5: listen to this song and say you can love fiercely,
Speaker 5: but remember to love yourself fiercely and never to just
Speaker 5: be held by anybody's strings.
Speaker 4: No matter what happens. We got to remember to do
Speaker 4: the things that give us joy. And we can critique
Speaker 4: the people in power. We can critique each other and
Speaker 4: ourselves and talk about what matters and do it in
Speaker 4: a way that still gives us energy and life and
Speaker 4: motivates us to not just say what's wrong, but to
Speaker 4: go make things right. We can't just preach to the choir.
Speaker 4: And also we can take a message that we never
Speaker 4: thought would resonate with somebody who has a different color
Speaker 4: of skin, different upbringing. We say, you should love who
Speaker 4: you are, you should love the person next to you,
Speaker 4: and we get the party cracking, and then we slip
Speaker 4: in these little messages we hit them with. You know,
Speaker 4: if I was president, if I was president, on my
Speaker 4: slaves as a phrase the congregations, the first thing I
Speaker 4: do is re education, and every third period we talk
Speaker 4: about the things that are going on in our country
Speaker 4: and our world. And we see that those words bounce
Speaker 4: back at us.
Speaker 3: All black and brown, because that got caught three strikes.
Speaker 2: And when they get out, they get so they can
Speaker 2: ride to their future, back to their past the.
Speaker 5: Store, and some spaces appreciate that more than other spaces.
Speaker 5: We've been told to stop playing and stopping political, and
Speaker 5: people have walked out of our shows. Making people uncomfortable
Speaker 5: is not the goal. Making people reflect on why they're
Speaker 5: uncomfortable is what's valuable.
Speaker 3: Conflict is a natural thing, you know, how we deal
Speaker 3: with conflict becomes the unnatural thing.
Speaker 5: Growth is always going to be uncomfortable, and so what
Speaker 5: I'm hoping for with our music is not that we
Speaker 5: make people angry or that people walk out of our shows,
Speaker 5: is that we're able to end the discomfort.
Speaker 1: Growth the voices of Denise Carlos, Ector Flores and Danielle
Speaker 1: French from the East La band Las Cafetires. This episode
Speaker 1: originally aired in November of twenty twenty. It was produced
Speaker 1: by Genie Dalgo and edited by Miel Macias. It was
Speaker 1: mixed by elishiba Ittu. The Latino USA team also includes
Speaker 1: Victoria Estradra, Renaldo Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez Grusado, Joni mar Marquez,
Speaker 1: Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Noursaudi, and Nancy Trujuillo. Our co
Speaker 1: executive producer is Benni Le Ramidez. Our director of engineering
Speaker 1: is Stephanie Lebau. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Additional
Speaker 1: engineering support by Gabriel Lebiez and jj Carubin. Our marketing
Speaker 1: manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed by
Speaker 1: saner Ronos, I'm your host and executive producer Marie jo
Speaker 1: Josa join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: look for us on all of your social media. I'll
Speaker 1: see you there on Instagram. Remember note vajes nunca astara
Speaker 1: proxima bye.
Speaker 7: Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment
Speaker 7: and building a strong state by improving the health of
Speaker 7: all Californians, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and funding for Latino
Speaker 7: USA is Coverage of a culture of health is made
Speaker 7: possible in part by a grant from the Robert Wood
Speaker 7: Johnson Foundation.
Speaker 2: You want me to move on? Or do you want
Speaker 2: me to?
Speaker 5: We can move on?
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: You're tired of hearing me? Sware? Okay, here we go
Speaker 2: in three two one