Freshyground joins forces with Ozomatli for Diversity Rocks

I have just returned from the press conference that was organised by Universal Music at their offices in Sandton to introduce to the press an L.A. band known as Ozomatli. This group of talented musicians will be joined by Freshlyground in a series of shows dubbed Diversity Rocks to take place here in Mzansi from Friday 03rd until the 6th of October.

According to their biography, their music is described as a notorious urban-Latino-and-beyond collision of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East LA R&B and New Orleans second line, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga. Since their music is a fusion of different types, styles and sounds, I posed a question to find out if this was intentional from the very beginning or it's something that developed along they way. One of the members responded, noting that their sound was very organic. He said that at the beginning, nobody could decide as they brought in different sounds from their different backgrounds. He added that their main aim was to make people dance. They then decided out of the jam sessions they used to hold that this was a route to take. He emphasised that through those experiments, their sound got together.

Ozomatli spoke about different topics, amongst others, their support for presidential hopeful Barack Obama; their mindest of not having expectations about South Africa because they would like to form their own opinions about the country after their visit for the first time; their hopes of collaborations with any South African musicians who may be interested; their performance with Hugh Masekela when the legend performed abroad; and the stance they have taken to bring about debate in topics frowned upon or subjects that are taboo and possess a great level of consciousness.

The band, brought here by the U.S. Embassy, will be performing alongside our multi-award winning band Freshlyground at a free outdoor concert at the State Theatre in the Pretoria CBD on Friday, 03 October 2008, then move to Potchefstroom on the 04th of October, where they'll participate in the Aardklop Festival, concluding with a performance at the University Of Free State in Bloemefontein on the 06th of October 2008. Their final performance will tie in nicely with the Macufe Festival which begins later this week as well, so they'll be some nice cross-promotion for them. I wish I could go to any of their show as I have never been introduced to their music before. But if you have time, please go and check them out. From the songs played before the press conference, I can only imagine what they can do live. Oh, by the way, if their music was not hot, Ozomatli wouldn't have 3 Grammy Awards under their belt.