In honor of their 25th year-anniversary, Los Angeles’ iconic band Ozomatli has hosted multiple events supporting the band and also benefiting Music Forward to help sustain our mission of transforming young lives, inspiring careers, and championing a more inclusive music industry.
Ozomatli is invested in helping to empower the next generation of artists and musicians, and are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their diverse, wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, cumbia, reggae, rap, and many more. The current six member line-up have been in the band since its debut album. It is this same line-up that comes together in each of these fundraisers along with special guest hosts DJ Raul Campos, Univision’s Pili Montilla, and Francesca Florentini.
In every one of the live-stream events, the band invites Ozo fans into the homes of each member as they share stories, behind-the-song revelations, and good vibes, serving as a great opportunity for their viewers to peak behind the Ozo curtain. An exciting and crowd-favorite element of these live streams is that while engaging with their fan community, the band builds a song in real-time as can be viewed here.
Three Music Forward alumni, Alina Hernandez, Victoria Elise, and Edwin Alvarez were also given the great exclusive opportunity to perform during the live streams bringing their music to national audiences!
It is because of great partnerships like this that we’re able to continue bringing our Music Forward programming to our young people and offer a platform for them to shine. If you would like to get involved and support our mission, more information can be found here.