Quetzal is a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

( Spanish- English) Chicano rock band from

East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles (), or East L.A., is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) situated within Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, ...

History

The band was founded by Quetzal Flores in 1993 in a Chicano owned cafe, Troy cafe, in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles. Martha Gonzalez joined the group in 1995. They helped start the Seattle Fandango Project in 2009 when Martha Gonzalez moved to Seattle to complete her PhD in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington."Martha Gonzalez - Chicana Artivista." MarthaGonzaleznet RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. Quetzal is an ensemble of musicians, joined for the goal of creating good music that tells the social, cultural, political, and musical stories of people in struggle. Martha Gonzalez, the band's lead singer, percussionist, and songwriter, calls it an “East LA Chican@ rock group,” summing up its roots in the complex cultural currents of life in the barrio, its social activism, its strong feminist stance, and its rock and roll musical beginnings.

Music style

Quetzal plays a mix of Mexican and

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African a ...

rhythms,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

, and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. Inspired by the Zapatistas, they incorporate

fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...

and san jarocho in their music. In 1992, Chicano rock guitarist Quetzal Flores discovered the burgeoning revival of traditional music of Veracruz called son jarocho which is born from a community fiesta called a fandango. Quetzal Flores described the community of fandango in the L.A. area as a necessary practice because "I think it's because as human beings we are kind of lacking this sort of connection, like these one-on-one connections in this high tech world." Flores incorporated san jarocho and fandango into his own music style, which is influenced by The Smiths, Ruben Blades, Stevie Wonder, and others. Flores's musical approach was influenced by various genres such as Mexican musica ranchera, salsa, Chicano Rock, R&B, and international popular music, prevalent in the East L.A. musical scene. Coming from a family of social activists, he viewed music as a medium to strive for social justice and a way to express creativity. The band utilized music as a tool to convey the struggle for dignity.

Career

Quetzal was featured in the soundtrack to the 2004 short film '' Stand Up For Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story.'' In 2013, the band won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop, Rock or Urban Album. Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores are co-producers of ''Entre Mujeres,'' a CD released in 2012. The band was invited to speak and perform in the U.S. Library of Congress and Kennedy Center's Homegrown music series. The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's traveling exhibit "American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music" feature Quetzal as leaders and innovators of Chicano music. Smithsonian Folkways label released the 2013 Grammy-winning CD ''Imaginaries'', marking the importance of Gonzalez's past and ongoing work. They have also been instrumental in developing Fandango Sin Fronteras, a dialog between Chicanos and Chicanas from California and

jarocho Jarocho was, historically, the horseman of the Veracruz countryside, who worked on the haciendas of the state, specifically those dedicated to the job of vaquero (cowherd) and everything related to cattle ranching. Jarocho was for Veracruz and it ...

s-musicians who play the Veracruz style. Quetzal's work has been the subject of a range of publications, including dissertations, scholarly books, and newspaper articles, most notably Patricia Zavella's ''I'm Neither Here Nor There: Mexicans' Quotidian Struggles with Migration and Poverty''.

Album: ''Imaginaries''

''Imaginaries'' refers to scholar Emma Pérez's book, ''The Decolonial Imaginary: Writing Chicanas into History''. To the band it's about creating and occupying a physical and conceptual space outside the established structures of capitalism and government. It's a safe space created by neighbors, or musicians, or artists, or kids, or adults, or viejitos, or a combination of any of these. They're inspired to create community around music, a communion where the listener is as much musician as the people on the stage holding the instruments. Quetzal won the Grammy for Latin rock, urban or alternative album for its release ''Imaginaries'' (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings), a foray into

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

, neo-'80s-style R&B, Cuban charanga and Brazilian

pandeiro The pandeiro () is a type of hand frame drum popular in Brazil. The pandeiro is used in a number of Brazilian music forms, such as samba, choro, coco, and capoeira music. The drumhead is tunable, and the rim holds metal jingles (''platinelas' ...

, charged with the band's collectivist political passion. It is the band's first Grammy. On ''Imaginaries'', they combined the traditional son jarocho of Veracruz, salsa, R&B, and more to express the political and social struggle for

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

and self-representation, which ultimately is a struggle for dignity. The album had 12 tracks, 55 minutes, 40-page booklet with bilingual notes. This album is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions series of Latino music albums, produced with support by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Line-up

Current band members

* Martha Gonzalez — lead and backing

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

, chekere, tarima, cajon,

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

, jarana * Tylana Enomoto — backing vocals,

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* Juan Perez —

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

, baby bass,

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

* Quetzal Flores — jarana jarocha, requinto jarocho,

bajo sexto The bajo sexto ( Spanish: "sixth bass") is a Mexican string instrument from the guitar family with 12 strings in six double courses. It is played in a similar manner to the guitar, with the left hand changing the pitch with the frets on a ...

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s * Quincy McCrary — lead and backing vocals,

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

, Hammond B3, keyboard * Alberto Lopez —

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Former band members

*Gabriel Tenorio *Gabriel Gonzalez *Daphne Chen *Kiko Cornejo Jr. *Dante Pascuzzo *Edson Gianesi *Danilo Torres *Camilo Landau *Rocio Marron *Ray Sandoval *Yunior Terry *Lilia Hernandez *Ruben Gomez *Maceo Hernandez *Robert Guerrero *Anton Morales *E Anthony Martinez

Discography

;Solo albums *1998: ''Quetzal'' (produced by John Avila) *2002: ''Sing The Real'' (produced by Greg Landau) *2003: ''Worksongs'' (produced by Steve Berlin) *2006: ''Die Cowboy Die'' (produced by John Avila) *2012: ''Imaginaries'' (Produced by Quetzal Flores) Smithsonian Folkways Recordings *2014: ''Quetzanimales'' *2017: ''The Eternal Getdown'' Smithsonian Folkways Recordings *2021: ''Puentes Sonoros'' Smithsonian Folkways Recordings ;Compilation albums *''A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd'' (features Quetzal covering

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's song "

Mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

References

External links

Official Quetzal Website

Quetzal on Instagram

Entre Mujeres

Women Who Rock homepage
{{Authority control Rock music groups from California Latin music groups Music of Latin America Chicano rock musicians Mexican-American culture in Los Angeles Grammy Award winners