10
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Winter concert to feature Las Cafeteras
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
American-Chicano band
Las Cafeteras has taken the
music scene by storm with
infectious live performances
and music that spans many
borders and genres. Las
Cafeteras will be returning to
Sisters on Wednesday, January
15 in the first installment
of the Sisters Folk Festival
Winter Concert Series.
Born and raised east of
the Los Angeles River, Las
Cafeteras are mixing roots
music and telling modern-
day stories. 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.
Co-founder of the band,
Daniel French, spoke with
The Nugget about the creation
of the band and their mission
to transport audiences through
their music.
French plays the eight-
string guitar called a janara,
from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He
also sings, raps and plays the
keys. French grew up in the
San Gabriel Valley in Southern
California and from a young
age was introduced to music.
One day when he was at
church, he began banging on
a set of bongo drums for fun
and someone walked by and
saw him and asked him if he
knew of anyone to play with
the church band. He didn9t,
but the person who asked him
actually wanted him to play.
French hadn9t ever played
the drums or any instrument
and didn9t know what he was
doing, but that was why the
man who asked him wanted
him 4 because he was so free
and just doing it for fun.
<I then just started playing
all the time and watching other
people play, and I learned by
doing it throughout my entire
growing up,= said French.
French has been playing
keyboards, drums and gui-
tar, and singing since middle
school.
Las Cafeteras came
together at a community cen-
ter and café place in East
L.A. There were community
members playing day in and
day out, playing a variety of
genres of music. The other
members that came together
with French had also grown
up playing Hispanic music,
folklorico-style music and
dance. Over time, French and
the other band members began
to make it more of an orga-
nized group.
We were called
cafeteras after those
who play in the café in the
community center for fun
with no structure...
— Daniel French
<We were called cafeteras
after those who play in the
café in the community cen-
ter for fun with no structure,
and we decided to take the
feminine form of the word
because at the time there were
more women than men and
it sounded better and peo-
ple understood more what it
meant,= said French.
The idea for the band was
to play without the laws of lan-
guage or gender and to bring
the music of the Chicano, East
L.A. and Hispanic neighbor-
hoods to audiences around the
world.
<There are a lot of ways to
slice what the music we do is
called and categorized as. It9s
folk music in the bigger sense
of the word folk, it is music
for the people and bringing
PHOTO PROVIDED
Las Cafeteras brings their mix of music genres to the Sisters stage next week.
the people together as one,=
said French.
The music is a blend of
sounds that come from the
heritages of the whole band,
incorporating things they
learned growing up. For
French, it is hard to put into
words exactly what the band
does on stage and what their
genre of music is.
<It9s more of an energy that
we have, we strive to inspire
people and energize the audi-
ence,= he said.
The band9s energy and
words of their music strive
to inspire audiences to act
and make a difference in the
world. For French, the stage
feels like a home away from
home with them being on the
road so many months out of
the year.
<We are away from our
home and families for five
months at a time, so the stage
is our home court, we try to
create a space for everyone at
our shows and break them out
of being just spectators and
MEAT S, GAME
ALASKAN SEAFOOD
CHEESES
SANDWICHES
BEER, WINE, CIDER
110 S. SPRUCE ST. | 541-719-1186
Don’t throw it away, we can fix it
COFFEEHOUSE
We do repair work & fabrication in steel,
aluminum, copper & other metals.
Coffee • Tea
Baked Goods
Light breakfast & lunch
541-588-0311
201 E. Sun Ranch Dr.,
Mon-Sat 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Your Local Welding Shop”
CCB# 87640
541-549-9280 | 207 W. Sisters Park Dr. | PonderosaForge.com
PHOTO BY ALEX JORDAN
Be Together.
Enjoy Fika.
have them participate,= said
French.
The band likes to get their
audience up and dancing and
be able to experience a one-
ness with their community.
Las Cafeteras have been
together creating an infec-
tious energy on stage for 10
years. They have toured all
over the world together, trav-
eling for half of the year. They
are returning to Sisters after
performing at The Belfry last
year.
<We love Sisters and we
are excited to meet everyone
and see Oregon again,= said
French.
The band is currently work-
ing on a new record, and they
have put out a few singles off
the record already this year.
Las Cafeteras will be per-
forming as the first install-
ment of Sisters Folk Festival9s
Winter Concert Series on
January 15 at 7 p.m. in
the Sisters High School
Auditorium. Tickets are avail-
able for purchase for individ-
ual shows, or all three shows
on the folk festival website:
www.sistersfolkfestival.org.
Call the office for more infor-
mation at 541-549-4979.
January 15 at 7 p.m.
Sisters High School Auditorium
Tickets available for purchase at
www.sistersfolkfestival.org