Ozomatli's Musical Diplomacy Swings Through Southeast Asia
After doing a Middle East tour as official cultural ambassadors for the U.S. State Department a few years ago, Ozomatli found their already wide-ranging, multicultural musical and thematic scope being expanded by the experience, as evidenced in the 2004 album 'Street Signs.'It's hard to say how a just-completed trip to Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand under the same auspices will impact the Los Angeles-based group's music. But impressions were definitely made.
"We actually were super-interested in Middle Eastern and North African music before we went there," says Ulises (Uli) Bella, Ozo's sax and clarinet man. "I was listening to a lot of classical Arabic singers like Oum Kalthoum, Algerian rai, Egyptian music. And when we were there, a big thing for us was the villainization of the Arabic world after 9/11. My father's from Spain and my mother from Mexico, and Arabic culture and music is a huge influence in Spain. The country and people wouldn't be what we are if the Moors weren't there. To feel that up close was a treat.
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Posted by Steve Hochman on Jun 16th 2009 2:00PM
Filed under: Around the World






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