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The 1950s brought rhythm and blues and the roots of rock 'n' roll. Mexican Americans were among first to catch the beat.Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela in the San Fernando Valley, introduced a Latin flair to early rock. His death in a 1959 plane crash, when he was only seventeen, left a tragic legacy, but only inspired a new generation in the 1960s.

East Los Angeles witnessed a surge of creativity, and a renaissance of art, music and politics. Leading the way in music was the band Cannibal and the Headhunters, five guys from the projects who recorded a national hit, "Land of a Thousand Dances," and almost overnight found themselves opening for the Beatles on the British superstars' 1965 tour.That same year, Thee Midniters hit the charts with "Whittier Blvd.," an anthem to East L.A.'s most famous street, the home of a late-night cruising scene that expressed the California car culture that Mexican Americans were making their own.

Grammy Award-winning Los Lobos, the trail-blazing band that "put it all together," began in 1973 as Los Lobos del Este Los Angeles.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, when civil rights and the Vietnam War were compelling issues, young Mexican Americans proudly called themselves Chicanos (once considered a derogatory term), and many took to as the streets to stand up for their rights.Bands like Tierra and El Chicano created new music that "said something" about Chicano heritage and their struggles for equality and social justice.

In the 1970s, the cross-cultural threads of Chicano heritage — American and Mexican, English and Spanish — came triumphantly together with Los Lobos, the Eastside band that realized the promise first expressed by Lalo Guerrero, Don Tosti and Ritchie Valens, and brought the unique blend of Chicano music to Grammy Award-winning international prominence.Today, new bands such as Quetzal and Ozomatli continue East L.A.'s innovative musical traditions.

• the son and mambo from Cuba
• the merengue from the Dominican Republic
• and jazz from the United States
• and bolero

Mariachi goes beyond music, it is the sum of a cultural revolution expressed through a group of musicians, dressed in popular clothing (most recently charro suits) which encompasses the essence of Mexico and its people. It is something cultural, spiritual and traditional that is unique to this country, an experience not to be missed.

The word mariachi refers to the musicians now commonly seen in restaurants or strolling the streets, dressed in silver studded charro outfits with wide brimmed hats playing a variety of instruments which include violins, guitars, basses, vihuelas (a 5 string guitar) and trumpets.

Their songs speak about machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolutionary heroes and even animals (one particularly famous song is "La Cucaracha").

LALO GUERRERO

Guerrero became internationally recognized as the “Father of Chicano Music” in a career that spanned generations.  He was a great entertainer and he took his guitar and music everywhere – the White House, a neighbor’s house, a concert hall or a classroom. It was all the same to him.  Lalo wanted to make people happy and his hermanos/brothers proud of their Mexican heritage.