Los de Abajo are a band from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

founded in 1992 as a Latin

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

four-piece. Since then they have expanded to eight members and widened their musical influences to include

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salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, ska, cumbia, Son Jarocho and banda music, banda sinaloense. Founder member Liber Terán is the main vocalist and writes many of the songs, although all band members receive equal pay for their contributions. The band was unable to secure a record deal in Mexico, as their music was considered to be insufficiently commercial, and ended up releasing their first album ''Latin Ska Force'' independently. However, in 1999 they secured a deal with David Byrne (musician), David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label to release their international debut, ''Los de Abajo''. The four founding members of the band were Carlos Cuevas (piano, manubrium organ, synthesizer and accordion, composer), Liber Terán (vocals and guitars and composer), Vladimir Garnica (guitar, tres, jarana, requinto, and Spanish guitar), and Yocupitzio Arrellano (drums and producer). Later they were joined by Luis Robles "Gori" (electric bass), Mariano "El Ché Pereira" (saxophones), Gabriel Elias (percussion), Daniel Vallejo (saxophones), Canek Cabrera (trumpet) and Carlos Alberto Cortez Ortega (El COCA, his initials) (bassist). The follow-up ''Cybertropic Chilango Power'' was released in 2002 and won BBC Radio 3's World Music Award for the Americas. 2006's ''LDA v The Lunatics'' saw them continue to absorb influences from around the world and included a Spanish-language version of The Fun Boy Three song "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)", featuring Neville Staples. The band are supporters of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and have played benefits gigs for the revolutionary group. The Zapatistas' Comandante Esther features on "Resistencia", the first track on ''LDA v The Lunatics''.

Discography

* Los de Abajo (1998, Luaka Bop) * Cybertropic Chilango Power (2002, Luaka Bop) * Latin Ska Force (2002, PP Lobo) * Complete & Live '04 (2004, Kufala) * LDA v The Lunatics (2005, RealWorld Records) * No Borrarán (2006, Independiente) * Actitud Calle (2010, Pentagrama) * Mariachi Beat (2014)

References

External links

Real World Records artist site

Radio 3 World Music Awards artist profile
Musical groups from Mexico City Mexican rock music groups Rock en Español music groups {{Mexico-band-stub