'Songs of Wood & Steel'
Los Cenzontles celebrate Dia de Los Muertos
By Bliss 10/30/2008
Having guest stars on your album is a mixed blessing: It’ll likely grab you some ink, but it’s no guarantee of quality. The good news for Los Cenzontles, whose just-released album “Songs of Wood & Steel” is nicely spiced by contributions from Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist David Hidalgo and Linda Ronstadt, as well as Latin jazz veterans the Estrada Brothers, is that they’re living up to the expectations created by Hidalgo’s and Ronstadt’s involvement.
Hidalgo’s interest in Los Cenzontles is logical, and not just because bandleader Eugene Rodriguez produced Los Lobos’ 1995 children’s album, “Papa’s Dream.” Like East LA lions Los Lobos, Los Cenzontles, aka the Mockingbirds, is a community-supported (and supporting) band that remains deeply bonded to folk roots while incorporating other styles and genres — rock, blues, jazz, roadhouse boogie — into its music.
Hidalgo’s distinctive voice and hands-on contributions (he plays guitars, keyboards, guiro guitarron and jarocho) can be heard throughout “Songs of Wood & Steel.” But rather than sounding like the godfather teaching the young punks how to do it right, he blends comfortably with the band’s pre-existing dynamic on guitar-driven numbers like “Howling Moon,” where his emotive tenor sharpens the edge of the song’s dramatic arc without showing up his youthful collaborators. While much of the album is overtly influenced by mariachi and Mexican folk, its setpiece is “Quaking Giant,” an invigorating instrumental workout that ambitiously fuses brassy horns, blues harmonica, Latin percussion and slashing electric guitar.
Elsewhere the focus is on the fluid harmonies between Lucina Rodriguez and Fabiola Trujillo, both of whom, like guitarist Hugo Arroyo and keyboardist/bassist Emiliano Rodriguez, have been performing with Los Cenzontles since they were kids. The shifting ensemble evolved out of the Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, a cultural community center Eugene Rodriguez founded in 1989 in San Pablo in the eastern Bay Area.
The center’s stated mission is to create a family-like safe zone where youth can explore music, particularly Mexican roots music. With “Songs of Wood & Steel,” the band’s members show they’ve benefited from that mission.
Los Cenzontles perform at the ninth annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration Saturday at Hollywood Forever, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. They’re slated to appear at 6 p.m. on the El Lago de Los Dioses stage and at 9:45 p.m. on the Muerte y Tradicion Stage. For a full schedule of the day’s events, please visit www.ladayofthedead.com. Los Cenzontles also perform with David Hidalgo at the Knitting Factory, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 8 p.m. Wednesday; $15 advance/$20 day of show. Info: (323) 463-0204. www.themockingbirds.info.
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