A new golden age of Latin music is being created right here in the United States. The Mexican-American communities of Arizona and California have emerged as hotbeds of musical creativity, merging styles that reflect changing borders and shared cultural identities. Two of today’s most exciting bands, Las Cafeteras & Flor de Toloache are forging inspired new paths for the fabled Latin sound.

Alternative Chicano band Las Cafeteras recreate traditional Afro-Caribbean Son Jarocho music in a wildy vibrant style. Their rousing socially conscious messages, in English and Spanglish, tell stories of a community that is looking for love and fighting for justice in the concrete jungle of East LA. The band is accompanied by instruments including jarana and requinto guitars, a donkey jawbone and a tarima, a wooden platform for dancing.”

The 2017 Latin Grammy Award winners for Best Mariachi Album, Flor de Toloache, made New York City history as its’ First and Only All­-Women Mariachi Group. Founded in 2008, the group is lead by singers Mireya I. Ramos (founder) & Shae Fiol (original member). The members hail from diverse cultural backgrounds such as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Australia, Colombia, Germany, Italy and the United States. This defines their unique flavor and sound. The result of this cultural bouquet is an edgy, versatile and fresh take on traditional Mexican music. They coalesce as would a band of sisters, with a grace and vibrant beauty that casts a spell over their audiences not unlike the legendary Toloache flower still being used in Mexico as a love potion. While working to preserve centuries old traditions of Mariachi, their melange of the traditional and the modern pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings Mariachi music to new audiences.