Cresting the wave of a movement
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Key points Free Summer Concert Series: deSoL opens for Cracker 2 p.m. Saturday Headwall ski trail, at the base of Steamboat Ski Area
The band deSoL isn't ambitious. It just wants to be the Bob Marley of Latino music. It wants to change the world.
The strange thing is, if it keeps going at its current rate, the band just might do it.
After five years of playing, deSoL is selling records, playing every music festival from Bonnaroo to Lollapalooza to South by Southwest and getting regular airplay on mainstream radio.
The band is riding the crest of a wave of popular Latino music created by bands such as Los Lonely Boys, Juanes and Ozomatli. It was a movement band members didn't know existed until they were in the middle of it.
To hear singer/guitarist Albie Monterrosa tell it, deSoL was born on a beach in Puerto Rico when he jammed with a female conga player. She was bringing in Latin rhythms that reminded him about the music his El Salvadorian parents played when he was growing up. For years, he had played music influenced by the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, but during that day on the beach, he realized his music had to go in a new direction. When he got back to the United States, Monterrosa spread the word that he wanted to start a Latin-influenced rock band.
Once gathered, deSoL included musicians from varied Latino backgrounds -- the children of immigrants from Central America, Mexico, Peru and Cuba -- excited to explore their musical roots.
The group plays "rock 'n' roll with a Latin soul," Monterrosa said.
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