Quetzal is a Grammy-winning Chicano band from East LA (Los Angeles). They play everything from son jarocho, to fandango, bolero, blues, and rock because East LA is all that. They make music with a message because being Latino in the United States is a trip. The European Diaspora stole our land and then said we don’t belong here. But we where here generations before they came. “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.” We survive by banding together in community, and that’s Quetzal.
Quetzal in New York City
Carnegie Hall
Grammy winners Quetzal and La Santa Cecilia play Chicano rock and alternative; in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in Midtown, Manhattan; on Friday, November 15, 2024, at 7:30pm. From $75. 🇲🇽
Get tickets at carnegiehall.org
New York City Venues
- The Broadway
- Carnegie Hall
Quetzal
A quetzal is a bird with bright green feathers, a long tail, and a red breast from the mountain rainforests of Southern Mexico down to Panama. It’s a sacred bird in Mixtéca (Aztec) and Maya tradition that is associated with Quetzalcoatl, the snake god, a symbol of goodness and light. It’s feathers are used in traditional headdresses. You never kill a quetzal. You can take its feathers, but you always let it go.
Quetzal, the band, is inspired in part by the traditions of the Zapatista Movement which fought for the rights of the Mayan people. They are either a band in the community, or the community in a band. They are teaching artists too.
The band is:
- Dr. Martha Gonzalez ~ Lead Vocals, Percussion
- Tylana Enomoto ~ Vocals, Violin
- Quetzal Flores ~ Jarana, Guitars, Bajosexto, Requinto Doble
- Juan Perez ~ Double Bass, Bass Guitar
- Alberto Lopez ~ Percussion
- Evan Greer ~ Drums, Percussion
This band draws on so many influences. You see African percussion and zapateado dancing from the Veracruz tradition. Kongo musicians were singing “La Bamba” in Veracruz as early as 1683. Colonizers banned the drums, so the people said we’re not drumming, we’re stomping our feet. It’s the beginning of Mexican traditional dance. There are Caribbean congas, the European violin and piano, American forms of the Spanish guitar, and the American rock bass. It’s a great mix.
Americans may not understand how central music and dance are to traditional cultures. After work there is nothing to do, so people get together, make music, dance, flirt, cook, buy and sell, solve problems, and so on. Everything is done in the context of community. Music and dance are at the center of it all. You always hear bad things in the news, but in the barrio, everybody knows everybody and people take care of each other.
The band is sometimes placed in the folk category because they often record for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Folk or folkloric often means something dead from the past, but folk traditions are very much alive. You just have to enter the community to find them. The folk label doesn’t diminish the work in any way.
Key Albums
- “Puentes Sonoros” (2021)
- “Imaginaries” (2012) won the Grammy for “Latin Rock or Alternative Album”
- “Quetzal” (1998) was the band’s debut album.
Information
Facebook @quetzaleastla
Instagram @quetzalmusic
Threads @quetzalmusic
Kíko Keith ~ I’m originally from the same place as Quetzal. Boyle Heights was my first home, and though my parents never told me, I was raised in East Los Angeles. I figured it out one day when I got lost, got off the 10 Freeway, and found myself in my childhood neighborhood. I thought, OMG, I’m from East LA. I spent the first half of my life in Los Angeles, so Regional Mexican music has always been the sound of home. It’s the parks on Sundays, and the smell of fried tamales and leather on Olvera St. It’s La Fonda, the Mexican restaurant that was one of the first to put mariachi on stage. I used to love that place. Whenever I hear mariachi out in the world, it always makes me smile. There’s another OMG. The Cubans and Puerto Ricans crowned me Eleguá, the orisha of the crossroads, and I really am his son. Many call him the trickster like Bugs Bunny, but he’s not. Eleguá represents the choices we make at every step of our lives. Quetzal sings a song, “Jarocho Eleguá” (YouTube). Never expected to meet him in East LA, but then I’m a son of Guadalupe too. It’s a small world after all. The circle is complete. Maferefún Eleguá. ¡Viva Mexico! 🇲🇽 🇺🇸