Ozomatli Added To SNWMF 2011

The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival is pleased to announce that Ozomatli have been added to roster of artists confirmed to perform at the 18th annual musical celebration. SNWMF 2011 will be held at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds June 17th through 19th. The fairgrounds is located in the heart of Anderson Valley (Boonville), 30 minutes south west of Ukiah.

In their fifteen years together as a band, celebrated Los Angeles culture-mashers Ozomatli have gone from being hometown heroes to being named U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors. Ozomatli has always juggled two key identities. They are the voice of their city and they are citizens of the world.  Their music — a notorious urban-Latino-and-beyond collision of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East LA R&B and New Orleans second line, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga— has long followed a key mantra: it will take you around the world by taking you around L.A.  This has never been truer for Ozo than it is in 2011.  More than ever before, the band is both of the world and of L.A.

Originally formed to play at a Los Angeles labor protest, Ozomatli spent some of their early days participating in everything from earthquake prep “hip hop ghetto plays” at inner-city elementary schools to community activist events, protests, and city fundraisers. Ozo is also a product of the city’s grassroots political scene. Proudly born as a multi-racial crew in post-uprising 90s Los Angeles, the band has built a formidable reputation over five full-length studio albums and a relentless touring schedule for taking party rocking so seriously that it becomes new school musical activism. Ozomatli has spent 15 years working diligently to spread its message of peace, communication and understanding through music, with a long standing tradition of performing for children all over the world, from the schools of North St. Louis to the orphanages of Southeast Asia. 2011 has the band focused on “oZoKidZ”, a special family friendly set geared towards performing for children and adults alike.

Amazingly, it has been ten years since Ozomatli’s outstanding performance at Angel’s Camp in 2001. Since that time, the whole world has gotten to know their very danceable beats and we are very excited that Ozomatli will be returning to rock the masses at Sierra Nevada World Music Festival on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Recent additions to this year’s SNWMF lineup also include Tribal Seeds, Reggae Angels and The Expanders, with even more artists yet to come.