Search - Quetzal :: Sing the Real

The nine-piece group Quetzal certainly loves cross-cultural fusion. Sing the Real is ripe with Mexican roots and Afro-Caribbean music merged with rock, folk, and jazz influences. Given the diverse backgrounds of the members--including a Brazilian percussionist and a guitarist of Japanese-Mexican heritage--such variety comes naturally. These sensual, earthy, and generally slow songs feature passionate vocals with stirring melodies and address issues of personal struggle and maintaining one's dignity and identity. Queztal brings their musical traditions into the current century by subtly integrating modern influences such as rock and R&B ("The Social Relevance of Public Art"), hip-hop (the vocals of "20 Pesos"), and jazz ("Emotions"), and by mixing older forms into something new, such as giving southern Mexican folk an Afro-Cuban flavor on "Jarocho Elegua." This bilingual band aspires to draw a wide range of listeners to its music, and with Sing the Real, it creates eclectic music to blur boundaries. --Bryan Reesman