Live Video: Ozomatli at SXSW 2013

Live Video, SXSW
04/18/2013
Jacob Webb
photo by Dave Lichterman

After four days and eighteen sessions, there was no real way to sum up KEXP's time at SXSW 2013, but Ozomatli's multi-cultural, multi-genre, and multi-lingual set came pretty damn close to summing up the wide variety of artists that stopped by Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop that week. Playing one of five sets they would play that day alone, the Los Angeles septet launched into a celebratory groove only moments after saxophonist Ulises Bella shouted, "Give it to them, signore!" Barely stopping to breathe in between songs, Ozomatli brought Mellow Johnny's to a fever pitch with their bouncy, vibrant, and generally ecstatic set. The group's diverse session encompassed many of the traits that other artists had exhibited that week: age-defying youthful abandon, passionate emotional honesty, reckless energy, political consciousness, and optimistic, romantic resolve. Watch Ozomatli bring SXSW 2013 to a close (and the house down) below.

Full Performance:

Related News & Reviews

SXSW KEXP Suggests

KEXP at SXSW 2014

Hey, are you going to be in Austin, TX, during SXSW next week? If you are, come join KEXP at Mellow Johnny's Bike shop for three days of free music. During the 2014 South by Southwest Music Conference, KEXP is teaming up with our friends Distiller Promo, Sub Pop + Hardly Art, and Merge Records for …


Read More
Live Video Local Music Audioasis

Live Video: La Luz

How is walking through the woods on a foggy, chilly late spring day similar to strolling past the closed fun houses and ferris wheels on a boardwalk at the end of summer? You could just as easily listen to the melancholic surf bee-bop of Seattle's La Luz in both of the situations. What started at a…


Read More
Live Video SXSW

Live Video: Billy Bragg at SXSW

At his most vitriolic, Billy Bragg is still a softy. The now legendary British singer-songwriter has made a name for himself since the 80's through crooning romantic ballads and biting political critique. Both originate from the same place; for Bragg, as for his hero Woody Guthrie, love for humanki…


Read More