Murmurings: Los Cenzontles and "Murmullos"

From Southern California comes today's song by Los Cenzontles titled Murmullos. The band is heavily influenced by many types of Mexican regional folk, as well as country, blues and rock. The core members of the band were trained at Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center in San Pablo. The band itself dates back to 1989 when it was founded by Eugene Rodriguez during his artist residency, and the original goal was to introduce area youth to Mexican music and dance. He eventually incorporated the arts center in 1994, and Los Cenzontles released their first song, produced by Los Lobos, called Papa's Dream, which was nominated for a Grammy award. That same year, a fifteen year old girl who was a friend of many of the center's youth was brutally raped and murdered, leading the band to compose their second work, El Corrido de Cecilia Rios. The band released their first album in 1995, and has since collaborated with a variety of musicians, such as Jackson Brown, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, The Chieftains, Lalo Guerrero, Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano and Santiago Jimenez, Jr. as well as opening for Los Tigres del Norte, Los Lobos and Jaguares. The Arts Center currently has over 150 students weekly and the band members continue to do educational outreach in addition to their recording and performance commitments. Murmullos can be found on Los Cenzontles' 2012 album Regeneration.