Musica for the Masses

It has been said that all philosophy is but a footnote to Plato. Along those same lines, some might argue that all Latin-tinged bands from Los Angeles are but a footnote to Los Lobos, one of the most acclaimed groups ever to come out of this city.

No other Latin-flavored band from the city has come close to achieving the same level of critical attention as Los Lobos, a Mexican-American roots-rock band that made its way out of East L.A. and onto an international stage in the mid-’80s.

But there are reasons to believe that the salsa, funk and hip-hop group Ozomatli may finally live up to that challenge.

The 11-member group has been building a fervent fan base on the local club scene for three years, and its first album on a major label will be released June 16 by ALMO Sounds, the label owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss whose roster includes the rock bestseller Garbage.

The album is a lively, engaging work that captures the excitement of the group’s live shows--giving it a chance, ALMO executives believe, to win a mass following in ways that eluded Los Lobos. (See review on Page 4).

The group’s sound is just as diverse as Los Lobos’, but in more contemporary styles, and it also sports a broader racial makeup.

Five members of Ozomatli are Mexican-American, and several of the songs on the new album have at least some Spanish lyrics. The collection also features healthy doses of merengue, salsa and rancheras. (Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo plays the requinto jarocho and accordion on two of the songs.)

Still, Ozomatli is not strictly a Latino band.

Just ask Ulises Bella, the band’s 23-year-old tenor sax player.

“As much as I might want to say we’re a Chicano band, we can’t because we’re not,” Bella says. “We can’t say that and have a Japanese dude, a black dude and a Scottish dude in the band. . . . Ozomatli is very L.A. in its racial mix. It’s very universal.”

Ozomatli is navigating uncharted territory. The band has managed to capture the support of fans from various competing musical genres, including alternative rock, hip-hop and Latino.

The challenge for the record company is to reach a similarly diverse audience across the country.

“What we saw was a band with tremendous local gravity in the L.A. club scene, and the reason had a lot to do with the diverse nature of the music that they play,” says Paul Kremen, ALMO Sounds general manager. “We knew at the beginning that this would present marketing challenges. At the retail level, where is it going to get racked? Is it a hip-hop record, a Latin record, a pop record?”

The label plans to address those challenges head on with a multi-pronged marketing strategy that includes working traditional Latin radio, crossover urban radio--which Kremen calls “Churban,” for Chicano/Urban-- and hip-hop stations as well as alternative radio stations.

“When we were looking at the band in the first place, it was clear that there were a multitude of reasons not to sign them,” Kremen says. “If making records is absolutely about filling specific marketing niches, then Ozomatli is something to avoid at a record label. But that’s not what we want to do at ALMO.”

The music industry will be watching the progress of Ozomatli, especially at a time when Latin music is one of the fastest-growing genres in the U.S. According to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, sales of Latin music albums and music videos last year were up 25% from 1996 to $490 million.

Even though Ozomatli is as close musically to hip-hop and funk as it is to Latin music, its success could leave radio programmers and record companies more open to Latin-flavored bands.

“Ozomatli create their own music by mixing the music they grew up with and the general market music they listen to,” says Rogelio Macin, marketing director for the BMG U.S. Latin label, who believes that the group is a good example of a promising new direction in Latin music.

Ozomatli will be playing on the main stage during the Warped Tour this summer, along with rock bands such as Bad Religion and Social Distortion. Kremen says the label plans to use the tour as an opportunity to promote Ozomatli--which has already found its way onto alternative radio station KROQ-FM’s playlist--to rock audiences. (The Warped Tour comes to Safari Field at Irvine Meadows on July 3.)

That’s just the beginning.

“We’re going to hit Latin clubs and dance clubs and hip-hop clubs with 12-inch [records],” Kremen says. It’s an experiment in cross-genre and cross-audience promotion that few labels have attempted, but it’s a tactic that seems to be working for Ozomatli already.

In the past year, the group has performed at the alternative H.O.R.D.E. Festival and the KROQ Weenie Roast (it returns this year as a second-stage attraction, July 20 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre), as well as Los Lobos’ and Santana’s most recent L.A. concerts--not to mention numerous Chicano/Latino fund-raising events.

There were also performances during a recent trip to Cuba--a political statement by a band that has never strayed far from its roots as a political benefit jam session group that was born out of a strike against the L.A. Conservation Corps, a youth jobs agency.

“Our lyrics are about social issues,” says singer Chali 2na, 27, who can often be found on stage rapping and toasting along (in English) to the horn section and the turntable scratching by DJ Cut Chemist.

“Ozomatli isn’t just an experience for people who are bilingual,” says 2na, a former break dancer originally from Chicago’s South Side who admits he only speaks as much Spanish as he’s picked up from performing in the band. “I feel Spanish more than I hear it.”

“People are really open to learning what the songs are all about,” says Wil-Dog, the group’s 25-year-old founder and bassist, remembering a predominantly white audience at a recent show in Boulder, Colo.

“We were out there in the snow, and there were 500 people around us screaming and playing drums and doing the samba,” he says. “Afterward, people were coming up to us and asking, ‘What did that song say?’ ”

What they were saying--in songs such as “Coming War” and “Como Ves”--is that the gulf between the haves and have-nots is growing every day, and people need to make an effort to learn their history.

The infectious, danceable music is just the thing to sugar-coat the group’s message. “We’re an inclusive band,” says Raul Pacheco, 29. “We want to include people in our experience. Some of the messages may be hard for people to swallow, but we’re going to try to win people over. If they’re able to enjoy our show, we may be able to open them up to our ideas.”

Pacheco cites a quote by Zapatista leader Subcommandate Marcos as a possible motto for the band:

“We want a world where all worlds fit.”

“That means that you’ve got to learn,” he explains. “Step out of your own and learn about others.”

Ozomatli plays a free concert Wednesday at the Watercourt at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., noon. (213) 687-2159.