Violeta

Michael Franti and Spearhead, 2006

Ozomatli is a band from Los Angeles, California, that mixes funk, Latin, rock, hip-hop, reggae, and other genres. "Ozomatli" is the Nahuatl (a language of indigenous Mexicans) word for monkey and is associated with movement, especially dance. Current members of the band include Wil-Dog Abers (bass guitar), Ulises Bella (saxophone, clarinet, requinto jarocho, keyboard, melodica), Asdru Sierra (piano, trumpet, lead vocals), Jiro Yamaguchi (tabla, percussion), Raúl Pacheco (guitar, tres, jarana, lead vocals), and Justin Porée (percussion, rap vocals).

In 1995, founding member Abers was employed by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a nonprofit organization that employs inner-city youth. Starting in March of 1995 he participated in a two-month occupation of one of LACC's buildings to protest low wages and the lack of benefits and opportunities for promotion. He referred to the work LACC made its workers do as "slave labor" (Martinez). In the eventual agreement reached with LACC, the workers lost their jobs but were allowed to continue to use the building for a year. When they decided to make it a community arts center for inner-city youth, Abers formed Ozomatli to raise money. (For more on the band and its activities, see "(Who Discovered) America.")

Ozomatli

Much of the band's music reflects the group's roots in the struggle for social justice. "Violeta" is an antiwar song that presents the thoughts of a soldier as he lies wounded and dying in a desert battlefield. He comes to terms with his mortality and the realization that he will never see his beloved Violeta again. In the bridge ("Todo pudo ser …"), he begins to question the purpose of the war. This leads to a new section, in rap, in which he questions people's responses to war. Like the soldier's questions, the final harmony is left unresolved.