Los Cenzontles
| Los Cenzontles | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Pablo, CA, United States |
| Genres | Mexican folk, chicano rock, Mexican son, son jarocho, ranchera, traditional mariachi |
| Years active | 1989 - Present |
| Website | http://www.themockingbirds.info |
| Members | Eugene Rodriguez Fabiola Trujillo Lucina Rodriguez Emiliano Rodriguez |
Los Cenzontles ("The Mockingbirds") is a California band, heavily influenced by Mexican regional folk music such as traditional mariachi and banda, Son Jarocho and son abajeno de Jalisco, michoacan, pirekuas, rancheras, norteno, corridos, cumbia, boleros, and also country music and rock and roll. The band's core members were trained at Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center in San Pablo, California, where they also work training young people and promoting tradition and cultural pride.
Los Cenzontles was begun in 1989 by Eugene Rodriguez as part of a California Arts Council artist residency. The goal of the Los Cenzontles Project was to create a place for area youth to learn traditional Mexican music and dance. When students' training advanced, the original touring group of Los Cenzontles was formed to showcase Mexican folk music and focus on educational outreach. That same year Eugene met Grupo Mono Blanco, leaders in the fandango movement in Veracruz, Mexico. He established a long-term international collaboration designed to bridge the Jarocho and Chicano communities. Chicano teen members of Los Cenzontles traveled to rural Veracruz in 1991, 93 and 98. Rodriguez established the Fandango Project with support from the US Mexico Fund for Culture to create a residency to promote increased cultural participatino in California for Gilberto Gutierrez, of Mono Blanco, and photographer Silvia Gonzalez de Leon.
In 1994, 3 major events provoked Rodriguez to incorporate Los Cenzontles as a non-profit organization. (1) That year the recording of Papa's Dream, produced by Eugene for Los Lobos, Lalo Guerrero and members of Los Cenzontles was released. The recording was subsequently nominated for a Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children. (2) Eugene Rodriguez incorporated Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center as a non-profit, responding to spiraling social problems among local youth. (3) That same year, 15-year-old Cecilia Rios, San Pablo resident and close friend of many of the Center's students, was brutally raped and murdered. In response to the tragic loss, the members of Los Cenzontles composed their first original work, El Corrido de Cecilia Rios.
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