Los Lobos: Immigrant Voices in a New America

Sunday News
Published: July 30, 2006
By JOHN DUFFY, Correspondent

Since forming in 1973, Los Lobos has made music that illustrates and epitomizes the immigrant experience in America, taking the cherished remembrances of home and joining them with the traditions of a new place to create something entirely new. In the fertile cross-pollination of Southern California, the members of Los Lobos grew up listening to surf rock, R&B and the folk and popular music of their parents' native Mexico on the radio, as well as the garage rock, blues and American folk in their Anglo friends' record collections.

If there is any better example of the modern immigrant experience in America, it hasn't been seen in popular music: Four bilingual, bicultural youths make careers in the music industry by synthesizing the best elements of their native and host cultures. That is America. And in a nation fighting with itself over whose deserves the privilege of citizenship, Los Lobos stands as a pertinent reminder of the cultural value of immigrant America.

Three of the band's four founding members, David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, and Conrad Lozano, all now in their early 50s, were born in America to Mexican immigrant parents. Cesar Rosas' family moved here when he was a child.

They all grew up in, and still live relatively close to, the sprawling Hispanic neighborhoods of East Los Angeles: colorful, crowded, flavorful working-class streets that frame one of the nation's most unique immigrant communities. Their experiences growing up newcomers in a land of promise and heartache went into writing the band's new album, "The Town and the City," set for release this fall on Hollywood Records. This ambitious work focuses on the story of one immigrant's journey to America and his struggle to acclimate. Los Lobos will bring this tale to life when it plays Tuesday in Harrisburg at Whitaker Center's Sunoco Performance Theater.

"Anyone familiar with our music knows the kinds of things our songs are about," said multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin. "But this story is a bit more cinematic, even oblique. It is there to hear and understand, even if it takes a few listens." With their first backyard gigs in East Los Angeles, the original foursome began a journey into musical styles ranging from traditional- son and norte a music to fuzzed-out experimental rock and everything conceivable in between.

Berlin, the only non-Hispanic member of Los Lobos, grew up in Philadelphia, the son of Russian immigrants, and joined the band in 1982. It was his love of the panorama of American music that made Berlin's entrance into the Lobos world so easy, and, as he recalls, he was never formally asked to join. At the time, he was working with both Los Lobos and The Blasters.

"One bus went north, and one bus went south," Berlin said. "The Lobos bus went north, and I got on it." The familial bond among the five coalesced almost immediately, and the stories of their lives growing up provided the glue to hold the music together. "The Blasters were a bit more combative amongst each other, " Berlin recalled. "Lobos was, from the beginning, far more egalitarian."

The five quickly found they had much more in common than rock 'n' roll. "All of us in the band are either first- or second-generation Americans, so we have an understanding of what the experience of coming to this country to start a new life is like. "It's really amazing the similarities we find in the stories of our families. We all came from families where our parents worked very hard to give us something better," Berlin said.

A chronicle of the band's music in some ways reflects the journey of immigrants. "Just Another Band From East L.A.," the group's 1977 debut LP, is a strident collection of traditional Latin folk music. The title cut from "Will The Wolf Survive?" (1984) tells of one man's struggle to bring his family to a new land. When the family arrives, it faces new challenges in "The Neighborhood" (1990). "Kiko" (1992) explores the dreamy spaces between the new and old worlds, while "Colossal Head" (1996) celebrates the vibrant community created by the newcomers. By the time of "Good Morning Aztlan" (2002), the neighborhood has been overtaken by violence and economic stagnation, though family, hope and faith still abound.

"The Ride" (2004) takes a long look back at the journey so far and features guest appearances by Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples and many others. In 2005, the group released an acoustic collection of mostly traditional tunes and a live concert recorded at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco (also available on DVD). This spring saw the release of "Wolf Tracks," a single-disc compilation spanning the band's 33 years.

But for the first time, the story that has until now been told in fragments of celebration and blues will be told from the continuous perspective of one person. Given the current debate over U.S. immigration policy, some will look to "The Town and the City" for a bold statement on the issue. But Berlin said the group has always been cautious in the political realm.

Even in the very beginning, when the four original members were playing traditional music at weddings, barbecues, parties and restaurants, they chose not to actively involve themselves in the growing Chicano movement of the time - at least not as a band. To them, young people playing the music of the old country was sufficiently radical. "[The album] does to a certain extent say something about it," said Berlin, referring to the demonization of immigrants. "But the story is more poetic than pedantic, I guess." For four Hispanic Catholics and a Russian Jew, just telling the story seems to be enough.