What's up everyone, this is Colin, Christian's little brother. Thought I would post a part of my performance analysis for my hip hop class. Yeah I know, I am actually taking a class on hip hop. In fact, I am also taking my second class on Kung Fu Cinema. See, MIT isn't all geeky math and science. Anyways, checked out an Ozomatli concert and here is the review I gave it:

Ozumatli made a stop in Boston this week while on their most recent tour. I decided to go since I enjoy their music and word has it that they are very good performers. They won a grammy and have songs starring Common, Santana, and Dave Mathews’ Band, so I figured hey are decently popular and the crowd should be large. I was glad I decided to go. The concert was so good I decided that I had to start my performance write-up immediately when I got home. They put a new meaning to the words djing, musicality, and live performance. From start to finish the performance grabbed the crowd, and whether the crowd liked it or not, Ozo made them a part of their music. Combining the saxophone, trumpet, marimbula, drums, guitar, and congas with a emcee and a turntable is unconventional in any setting, let alone at a hip hop concert. But, hip hop still remains relatively unstructured, leaving the imagination to be stretched and Ozomatli’s music somewhat easily accepted-- and easily accepted is an understatement.
As the DJ and drummer start to create their Latino/hip hop sounding beat, the other members of Ozomatli enter the room through the backdoors. They create a line that weaves through the crowd on their way to the stage. The members are all playing instruments in the following order—drum, saxophone, cowbell, trumpet, guitar, and bongos. To say the crowd is into the group is an understatement. I have never seen a crowd so enthralled at a concert, especially in such a small hole in the wall. It is almost hard to clearly hear the music with the cacophony of chattering voices screaming and cheering in the crowd. As soon as all the members of the group are on the stage, Kanetic, the head singer, grabs the microphone. The crowd explodes, and not one member of the audience is left motionless. Everyone is at least bobbing his or her head. For fifteen dollars, it does not get much better than this.
Ozomatli is group of six members, mostly hailing from Los Angeles, with one member originating from North Carolina. They mix Latino Rock, samba, hip hop, and djing to create a fusion of beats and rhymes that leaves its listeners in a state of awe. Their music continually switches from hip hop to Latino, happily confusing any listener, keeping them guessing as to what Ozomatli is going to do or play next. Every couple minutes, their music reaches climax, only to start all over in a different direction and leave you guessing, right back where you started from. The fusion of many styles of music and many approaches to music creates a live environment that pleases everyone in the room.
For fifteen dollars, I say definitely check it out. Be ready to dance, so you might want to bring a girl.--unless you are Kozy, because he will surely pick one up there.

Hope you like the review. Go to Ozomatli.com and check out their tour date. I will be posting again shortly when I get the results from the National Nutritional Supplement and University Study Conference.
My email if champ@mit.edu if you have any questions/comments.

Later,
Colin