Music in the Gardens: Las Cafeteras

Las Cafeteras is the sort of band the United States needs right now. In 2005, a group of East Los Angeles students became fast friends and bandmates while studying son jarocho, an infectious Mexican musical melting pot of indigenous, African, and Spanish elements that gave the world "La Bamba." Now, as Las Cafeteras, those students have modernized the centuries-old style, updating its folk music roots with timely questions about immigration, integration, and equality. On 2017's explosive Tastes Like LA, they paired an irrepressible, subversive version of "This Land is Your Land" with "If I Was President," a generation's powerful declaration of its priorities - access to good education, clean water, and the freedom to live in peace. Fusing sharp rap with graceful harmonies, nylon-stringed guitars with rock 'n' roll hooks, Las Cafeteras turn the biggest questions into an even bigger party, daring us to dance toward an answer.