Bring friends and family to see the band Las Cafeteras live Friday, Oct. 12, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. The free, outdoor concert is a ¡Celebración! event.
The concert starts at 7 p.m., but the party starts at 6 p.m. Come early to learn cumbia and other Latin social dance moves, with a free community dance class with Jorge Ibanez and Maribel Munguia of Corazon de Alabama. Food trucks and a bar will be on-site, outdoors on the center’s Engel Plaza.
Las Cafeteras use music as a vehicle to build bridges among different cultures and communities, and create “a world where many worlds fit.” Born and raised east of the Los Angeles river, Las Cafeteras are remixing roots music and telling modern-day stories, according to the band’s bio.
Their Afro-Mexican beats, rhythms and rhymes deliver inspiring lyrics that document stories of a community seeking love and justice in the concrete jungle of LA. Using traditional Son Jarocho instruments like the jarana, requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone) and tarima (a wooden platform), Las Cafeteras sing in English, Spanish and Spanglish and add a remix of sounds, from rock to hip-hop to rancheras.
Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique sound and positive message. The band has taken the music scene by storm with their infectious live performances and crossed genre and musical borders, playing with bands such as Mexican icons Caifanes, Lila Downs, Colombian superstar Juanes, Los Angeles legends Ozomatli, folk/indie favorites Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and most recently with Talib Kweli. Their first studio album, “It’s Time,” is featured on NPR, KCRW, Los Angeles Times and more.
The Los Angeles Times described Las Cafeteras as a “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia and rock … live, they’re magnetic.”