POP MUSIC REVIEW : Intriguing Work From Sergio Arau

Despite often being described as a rock artist “with native roots,” Sergio Arau is really a Mexican folk performer with rock overtones--and that’s what is most attractive about him.

In his Los Angeles debut on Sunday at the Roxy with his new group La Venganza de Moctezuma, Arau concentrated as much on theatrical flair--including wearing a wrestling mask to lighten things up--as on the music itself.

But it’s the music that makes him and his four-piece band worth attention. Arau--son of “Like Water for Chocolate” director Alfonso Arau--isn’t just one more in the growing list of performers trying to imitate the invigorating new Mexican rock approach of, say, Cafe Tacuba or Maldita Vecindad.

Arau employs a basic folkloric structure that could be easily utilized by any norteno or even Tex-Mex ensemble--yet the rockish, harder, darker side of the band sounded true enough to remove all doubts about his credibility.

A Mexico City native who now lives in San Diego, Arau writes with a socially conscious viewpoint--sometimes satirical, but often blunt. Equally inviting is a strong charisma that makes him one of the most compelling of Mexican bandleaders.