"American Horizon"

Los Cenzontles with Taj Mahal & David Hidalgo

www.loscenzontles.com

Los Cenzontles/ADA

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not surprisingly, the follow-up to 2008's Cenzontles/Hidalgo collaboration "Songs of Wood & Steel" is a deep, passionate work that showcases the roots side of California's Latino music community.

Los Cenzontles is the touring group of San Francisco's Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, which, over the past two decades, has trained thousands of community youth in music, dance and arts and documented traditional Hispanic cultural traditions. Joining forces with David Hidalgo, the main man of Los Lobos, a band that, since the early 1980s has explored and championed Latino rock and roots music, is a gimme. Adding Taj Mahal, another lifelong musical explorer, to the mix, adds yet another facet.

"La Luna" begins with a deep, rolling groove accented by accordion and Hidalgo's guitar while the gruff vocals make the piece sound like a slowed-down cut from "The Triplets of Belleville." The more traditional "Voy Caminando" has a circular rhythm that flows with beauty and ease. "Suenos" introduces Mahal with a bluesy shuffle that, despite singing in Spanish, leaves one with the feeling that everyone stepped into Taj's world as opposed to a true collaboration. His "One Hot Mama," has the same out-of-place effect.

But that's the exception. The majority of the disc is a wonderful mix, with tunes sliding from rancheras ("Pajaro Cu") to neo-traditional ballads ("Carpintero"), boleros ("Cascabel") to spacey, rock-infused tracks like "Overtime" and "Best of Me" (which is perhaps the set's most effective experiment).

"American Horizon"

Los Cenzontles with Taj Mahal & David Hidalgo

www.loscenzontles.com

Los Cenzontles/ADA

-------

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not surprisingly, the follow-up to 2008's Cenzontles/Hidalgo collaboration "Songs of Wood & Steel" is a deep, passionate work that showcases the roots side of California's Latino music community.

Los Cenzontles is the touring group of San Francisco's Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, which, over the past two decades, has trained thousands of community youth in music, dance and arts and documented traditional Hispanic cultural traditions. Joining forces with David Hidalgo, the main man of Los Lobos, a band that, since the early 1980s has explored and championed Latino rock and roots music, is a gimme. Adding Taj Mahal, another lifelong musical explorer, to the mix, adds yet another facet.

"La Luna" begins with a deep, rolling groove accented by accordion and Hidalgo's guitar while the gruff vocals make the piece sound like a slowed-down cut from "The Triplets of Belleville." The more traditional "Voy Caminando" has a circular rhythm that flows with beauty and ease. "Suenos" introduces Mahal with a bluesy shuffle that, despite singing in Spanish, leaves one with the feeling that everyone stepped into Taj's world as opposed to a true collaboration. His "One Hot Mama," has the same out-of-place effect.

But that's the exception. The majority of the disc is a wonderful mix, with tunes sliding from rancheras ("Pajaro Cu") to neo-traditional ballads ("Carpintero"), boleros ("Cascabel") to spacey, rock-infused tracks like "Overtime" and "Best of Me" (which is perhaps the set's most effective experiment).