Ozomatli Hits Ventura During Music Fest

Let the party rock the house this weekend!

In Ventura, Grammy award winning band Ozomatli performs at Ventura College on Sunday May 3, at 3pm as part of the 21st Ventura Music Festival which runs from May 1-9 at various venues around town.

Ozomatli is a Los Angeles based band and their music reflects our very multicultural multi-ethnic region with dance music that has a lot of funk, soul, cumbias, salsa, hiphop, great lyrics, catchy songs, and a whole lot more.

Many of the events are of the “Tea and Trumpets” type but in addition to the Ozomatli concert, tonight The Romeros perform Spanish guitar, and next Friday May 8 at 8pm, the truly legendary multi-award winning Herb Alpert (of the Tijuana Brass) with his wife Lani Hall,  and a five-piece band will play songs from their best-selling and Grammy award winning albums at Ventura High School’s auditorium.

According to the Festival Program description of the Herb Alpert concert, “The nine-time Grammy-winning, platinum-selling musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist and philanthropist rose to fame with his sensational hits in the 1960s with the Tijuana Brass. “You don’t have to hear but three notes before you know it’s Herb Alpert,” Miles Davis once said. Lani Hall was lead singer for Sergio Mendes’ iconic Brasil ’66, won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop in 1986 and has credits as lyricist, producer, arranger, writer and editor.” I had know idea Lani Hall was the singer for one of my favorite Latin musicians! Now I am more tempted than ever to attend this show –but I better get tickets soon as it is already close to selling out.

Ozomatli Band Members  Wil-Dog Abers: Bass, Background Vocals, Ulises Bella: Saxophone, Clarinet, Requinto Jarocho, Keyboard, Melodica, Background Vocals; Raúl “El Bully” Pacheco: Guitar, Tres, Jarana, Lead Vocals * Justin “El Niño Porée: Percussion, Rap Vocals * Asdru Sierra: Trumpet, Keyboard, Lead Vocals * Jiro Yamaguchi: Drums, Tabla, Percussion, Background Vocals dropped a new album a month ago and I am sure they will be playing some great songs like the one above.

I’ll always love the old songs like the ones above, another great party song by Ozomatli. When I announced to my Ventura College students that Ozo would be performing in our stadium on Friday, I was surprised that only a couple of students had ever heard of them even though they now have eight albums out. The cheapest tickets are listed at $25 which is a bit high for students; I am hoping that between now and Sunday they will come to their senses and offer $15 tickets to Ventura College students (in addition to $15 tickets for those under 18).   Of course as a Ventura College faculty member, I am hoping I will be able to get a $15 ticket too. I keep checking my email for an announcement. There was a flash sale earlier this week and even though I was watching, I somehow missed out on it. Bummer! For a family, it really adds up fast.

Hip, hop, socialize! Get ready!

Opening the show for Ozomatli is Velorio; here’s a sample of their music: