Ozomatli's Musical Journey.

• Author: D'Ambrosio, Antonino

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Ozomatli is a group of musicians hailing from the City of Angels. Named after the Aztec word meaning monkey--an archetype representing those that are clever, charming and dramatic, possessing the innate ability to connect with people--Ozomatli merges a deeply felt social awareness with a spirit of celebration.

This approach has guided the band throughout its fifteen-year career and serves as a blueprint for the band's newest album, Fire Away . "We want to find a point of connection," guitarist/vocalist Raúl Pacheco says. "I don't think the world is filled with evil people--truly evil people. I think it's filled with good humans and that there is a lot of disconnect and not recognizing our similarities."

Ozomatli's new album moves with the hum of history, inspiring those who listen to seek liberty and shake free of fear. To help realize its ambitions, the group brought in Tony Berg, a producer acclaimed for working with an eclectic range of musicians, including Public Image Limited, X, Squeeze, and Aimee Mann. "Working with Berg gave us a lot of freedom to just set up a mic, play, explore our ideas, and find out what we wanted to do," Pacheco says.

The album is an enchanting musical journey propelled by songs like, "Nadas Por Free," "Elysian Persuasion," "Caballito," and the anthem-like "Gay Vatos in Love," which is the albums fulcrum. "It's another issue for us about the underdog that we can connect with as individuals to the rights of people across all spectrums," Pacheco explains.

With Pacheco on vocals, each verse presents a different scenario, including the pain of coming out:

Javi and Kike with their girlfriends in the car

Fronting on Crenshaw, knowing who they are

It also addresses the hatred and violence gay/lesbian/transgender people persistently face:

Gabriel says amor es amor

But Angie Zapata is lying on the dance floor

(Zapata was an eighteen-year-old transgender woman in Colorado, killed in 2008 by a sexual partner who discovered she was male.)

Among some fans and people in the Chicano and Latino community, there has been a backlash against the tune. But Pacheco dismisses it. "We can be fighting for our own issues and not see how the gay and lesbian rights movement is connected to our quest for a better humanity all across the board," Pacheco says. Being from California where the 2008 ban on gay marriage (Proposition 8) passed provided more weight to the matter. "When we were making this record we felt...