Las Cafeteras

Formed in East Los Angeles to document neighborhood history through music, Las Cafeteras has been praised as a “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia, and rock” by the LA Times. With the son jarocho tradition of Veracruz at its core – think “La Bamba,” with a contemporary edge – Las Cafeteras adds Afro-Caribbean marimbol (akin to the African thumb piano) and cajón (box), poetry in English and Spanglish, string instruments like the jarana and requinto, and donkey jawbone. Add some zapateado, a percussive dance on a wooden platform called the tarima, and the result is irresistible, danceable, political folk music.

Sponsored by IU Latino Studies Program

Saturday, Sept. 20

7:15 – 8:30 pm / Old National Bank • Soma Tent