Rock in Spanish in Milwaukee

Milwaukee – The south side of Milwaukee rocked out the night of April 15 to some Rock N’ Roll en Español at Reyna’s Hall as they hosted the “Rocker event of the year;” the event hosted five Wisconsin Hispanic rock bands that indulged the audience with a number of cover songs, as well as their very own selection of music.

Being that Latinos make up the second largest demographic in the country, many of the cultural traditions and customs have also migrated with them to America. Among said traditions, Hispanic art, music, and dances play an incredibly large role, like they do in every culture. With music, Rock in Spanish is among the most popular genres of music all across Latin America, primarily because it is a style of music that has no boundaries; bands from Chile are heard in Mexico, as music from Mexican bands are heard in Venezuela.

Over 60 people attended the rock event held by 414 Entertainment on Friday night, at which they danced and sang along with the music of local Spanish rock bands of Wisconsin. Local resident, Maria Diaz, was one of the attendees of the event; she is an experienced rocker who’s been an avid rocker for over 30 years. Diaz believes that Milwaukee is a city that is in dire need for more of this type of music in its radio and events.

“I love rock because it is something that I’ve been listening since I was 12,” said Diaz. “Although there haven’t been many events like this in the city lately, I like coming to the ones that are created because they are really safe and fun. It’s the perfect place to meet up with old friends to dance and sing your favorite songs, all while supporting local music.”

Although Diaz had listened to some of the bands at the event in previous concerts, it was at the ‘rocker event of the year’ where she was introduced to the Madison-based band, Herencia de Zapata (Legacy of Zapata). This is a band that she says she really liked, because of the unique style and message they’re trying to deliver.

Herencia de Zapata is a heavy metal rock band that was founded in 2005 by Fernando Flores, who is the author, first voice, and guitarist.

Flores was born and raised in Cuatla, Morelos Mexico, which is the home state of the famous Mexican revolutionary and military leader, Emiliano Zapata. Flores says he decided to name the band Herencia De Zapata, in order to pay tribute to the Mexican her addition to continuing the legacy of the fight for justice and equality, which were the main ideals that Zapata fought for.

“Most of our lyrics strongly criticize both the Mexican and the American political system,” said Flores. “We’re modern day revolutionaries, who deliver our message through different means, primarily through our music.”

This band has played in multiple cities across the Midwest throughout their musical career, including but not limited to Chicago, Detroit, South Bend, Indiana, as well as Milwaukee.

According to their Facebook site, Herencia de Zapata has opened for multiple acclaimed Hispanic rock bands such as, Nana Pancha, Panteon Rococo, and the World Famous Spanish Rock band, Mago de Oz.

Roberto ‘Beto’ Carreras was one of the organizers of the event, and is currently one of the conductors for the popular Hispanic radio station, Radio Caliente. He says that he had listened to two of the bands in the past, Rock Impacto and Los Cafeteros; according to Carreras, both bands have a wide acceptance with Milwaukee’s Hispanic rock audience.

The promotion of the event was primarily obtained through sporadic advertising in Beto’s personal and professional social media sites, in addition to radio commercials on Radio Caliente. The advertising paid off at the end said Carrera, who added that he was very happy with the overall attendance, affirming that it was slightly higher than previous events, which motivates him to keep doing this in the future.

“The main idea is to bring a wider selection of music to the south side,” said Carreras. “We plan to make a special night in the future at Reyna’s Hall, which will be dedicated to the growing Spanish rock audience of Milwaukee.”

The lead singer and founder of Los Cafeteros, Ernesto Guardado, said that the band has been doing this for almost five years now, and that the audience has been increasing steadily with the pass of time. He credits the key to their success to the variety of cover songs that they play in their repertoire, not only playing the famous songs of well-known artists from the past, but adding songs of modern rock bands as well.

“We were the outcasts of serval bands that had disserted us for a number reasons,” said Guardado. “However, with time the neglect that we faced in our beginnings ultimately became our greatest strength, because it motivated me to search for alternative musicians that had faced similar situations, bringing them together and eventually creating, Los Cafetereros.”

Guardado said that he recognized a good amount of people in the audience, but said that about 20 percent of them were new faces. He then expressed his appreciation to the new audience that are showing interest in branching out to new forms of music.

The idea of the expansion of alternative music in Spanish is something that people in the Midwest are beginning to show a strong interest in in the past couple of years. An example of this can be seen in the growing number of Hispanic Music Festivals in the Midwest; Chicago’s Ruido Fest is a perfect example of this.

This festival had a large success with their debut last year, which drove them repeat the festival this year. This year they have invested in bringing over 35 bands from all over the continent, including some historical bands from Latin America.

The festival’s lineup includes, the well-known Mexican bands and singers; Carla Morrison, Natalia Lafourcade, and La Maldita Vecindad. Additionally, two historical bands of South America; the Chilean band, La Ley, and the Argentinian band, Los Fabuosos Cadillac’s.

Although the festival isn’t going to be until the second week of July, they have already proven that there is a large audience of Hispanic Rock n’ roll lovers in the Midwest; selling out their first set of 3-day tickets with in a couple of weeks on a presale event held on the 14^th of February of this year. However, they still have more tickets available on line, which have price ranges of $129 all the way to $289.