Posted by Dan Walsh on Thursday, December 1, 2011

My love of Ozomatli is well documented. As I sit and wait patiently for the formal release of an Ozokids album, they are kind enough to tease us with just enough to tide me over. First it was the Happy Feet 2 Video game Soundtrack and now it’s 4 songs on the just released PBS Kids Rocks! album. For the record, they’re the best four songs on the album, not that I’m biased or anything.

Ozomatli is not the only band on the album. Children’s music staples They Might Be Giants, The Wheepies, Rebecca Frezza and others are all featured on the album. In addition, the album features songs produced in-house by ‘PBS Kids’. Those songs, while fine, don’t stand out like the tracks from established artists on the album.

Lots of different topics are covered on this album: Camouflage, Gravity, Vowels, Pronouns, Weather, Seeds and lots of others.

Every track is barely :60 seconds long. So expect to see a lot of these in between shows on PBS and Sprout.

Check out the Ozomatli song Opposable Thumbs.

Track list for the album
1. Opposable Thumbs – Ozomatli
2. Five Senses – Ozomatli
3. Camouflage – Pbskids
4. Navigation – The Weepies
5. Matter – Steve Songs
6. Jump, Jump, Jump – Rebecca Freeza Big Truck
7. Gravity Always Brings Me Down – The Weepies
8. Nocturnal, Diurnal – Pbskids
9. Weather – Pbskids
10. Seeds – Pbskids
11. The Three R’s – Pbskids
12. Practice – Ozomatli
13. Pronouns – Ozomatli
14. Vowels – Steve Songs
15. Share a Story – They Might Be Giants

The song is now available on itunes and amazon!

www.dadnabbit.com/ozomatli

Ozomatli wowed the Larmer Tree crowd!
by Romany, July 23rd 2011

Ozomatli were definitely our highlight at Larmer Tree on the Friday.

The crowds on the Main Lawns were a heaving mass oozing energy and love for the LA band during their headline performance. It didn’t matter if you knew their songs or not (although lots did) – the guys were on fire and had the audience in the palm of their hand. It was raining, and quite heavy at times, yet nothing seemed to dampen the crowd’s spirits. In LA speak – they were AWESOME!

Earlier that afternoon, they played a fantastic 45 minute oZoKiDz show to a packed out Big Top… leaving kids buzzing and dancing and grinning from ear to ear… and from all the parents all I could hear was ‘Wow – that was amazing!’

They span round with the kids, played insanely catchy tunes, wore a few silly hats and enlisted the help of lots of little ones with their tambourines and drums. The music was infectious! They are a very talented group of musicians who clearly adore kids and love to have a bit of fun.

We were chuffed to be able to catch up with them backstage before the show. The interview was mainly done by a very shy and nervous Teya (aged 8 ) with a little bit of help from me, her mum. Watch the clip below to see what the guys have to say about music, inspiring kids and festivals. A word of warning though… the music you are about to hear will stick in your brain like nothing else!!

www.festivalkids.com/ozomatli

Ozokidz will be at the Pavilion Stage May 21st from 3:25-4PM.

Visit pachangafest.com for more details!

By: Judy Cantor-Navas
The Saturday crowd at the Echoplex in Los Angeles was getting antsy as it waited for Ozomatli to hit the stage for a recent show.

When the bilingual band finally appeared, it received an enthusiastic reception from audience members, who shook tambourines and maracas that they had purchased at the merch table.

The clock had just struck 12-as in noon.Who’d want to hit a club at midday? Excited 3- and 4-year-olds, along with dancing parents, who were holding babies wearing noise-canceling headphones.

Children’s music in Spanish has become increasingly plentiful in the United States as a tool for bilingual learning, often sung by non-Spanish speakers, and most often accompanied by distinctly Latin beats like salsa.

Now, as a bilingual hipster crowd that for the past decade supported the growth of the Latin alternative movement become parents, artists who come under the diverse heading of “Latin alternative” are getting into the kids’ music game with family concerts and new children’s albums. Call it “Latin kindie.”

For Ozomatli, an L.A. band known for its mix of hip-hop, rock, Latin rhythms and social activism, the idea to perform music for young audiences was inspired by a poorly attended concert at the House of Blues in Chicago.

Ozomatli bassist Wil-Dog Abers recalls that the band literally couldn’t give away tickets, having offered free admission to the show to local fans through Facebook.

“People were saying, ‘We’d love to but we can’t get a babysitter,’ “ Abers says. “We asked each other, ‘Should we get day care on site?’ And then we thought, ‘Let’s do a kids’ album.’ “

New York-based Pistolera also took a cue from fans who were bringing their kids to shows. “Piñata Party,” the band’s first album as Moona Luna, its family-focused alter ego, dropped March 15 on the NewSound Kids label.

“It’s really a reflection of my own experience as a mother,” Pistolera/Moona Luna frontwoman Sandra Velasquez says of the bilingual songs on the album. “In my household we speak both languages, and that’s the reality of a lot of Latinos in the USA and people who listen to our music.”

Spanish duo the Pinker Tones, both recent dads, found themselves performing at a 10-year-old’s birthday party in January after running a fan contest on their website.

Recognizing the band’s potential for family appeal, Target asked the Nacional Records act to contribute a song to the retail chain’s free, download-only 2010 holiday album, “The Christmas Gig.” And after performing at Sonar Kids, an offshoot of the successful Sonar dance music festival in their native Barcelona, the Pinker Tones are now recording a children’s album for Nacional.

Ozomatli is also in the studio, recording an EP to sell at the band’s upcoming schedule of “Ozokidz” shows, which have met with unexpectedly quick but welcome success.

“We’re always looking for new ways to make a living, because you can’t just depend on one thing any more,” Ozomatli percussionist Jiro Yamaguchi says. “If Ozokidz becomes a lucrative thing, it’s absolutely something that we’re looking at to help sustain us as a business.”

Read full article at www.billboard.biz

Ozomatli, a band known for its wide variety of musical styles and dance-ablity, can now add “kid-friendly” to their list of musical accomplishments.

The band will appear as Ozokids at a matinee show at the House of Blues on Sunday. Longtime fans will be able to share one of their favotire musical experience with their children — but, don’t worry, you don’t have to have a kid to get in; just being a kid at heart works, too.

The doors open at 2:30 p.m., and there will be plenty of entertainmentfor all ages, but mostly for the little fans, including magicians, face painters and balloon-animal makers.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door.

Source: Ozokidz Play to All Ages | NBC San Diego

For more information visit our tour dates section

oZoKidZ” – A special family friendly set geared towards performing for children and adults alike

March 5th at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills
All Ages! Children under 2 do not require a ticket
Doors: 2:00 PM, Show: 3:00 PM
Tickets: $15 | Family 4 Pack – 4 tickets for $40

To visit Jen’s List, visit www.Jenslist.com/newsletter

Come out to our Ozokidz show at the House of Blues in San Diego next Sunday March 6th!

Doors open at 2PM and there will be face paintings, clowns, and other activities for everyone while you wait for the show at 3PM!

Tell a friend!

For more show information visit, www.houseofblues.com/ozokidz

Welcome to Ozomatli’s Flickr page!

We’ll always keep our flickr updated with our current shows.

If you went to our Ozokidz show at the Grammy Museum February 12th, please visit our Ozokidz flickr page for photos of the show!

With a new CD set for release this summer, oZoKidZ is busy developing characters, songs, dances, and languages that fit into oZoWorld. “We’re always looking for the best way to connect to the kids starting at their level and then take it from there to another place,” says bassist Wil-Dog Abers. With most members of the band being dads to kids ranging in age from 2 to 13 years old, we’re pretty sure oZoKidZ will resonate loudly with the youngest of generations.

L.A. Kid Stuff: Congrats on Ozokidz! Ozomatli has always had an intergenerational reach, but what inspired you to create specifically for the younger set?

oZoKidZ: Thanks so much!!!
Ozo has always played for and connected to young people. Over the past 16 years we’ve performed for countless schools , orphanages & youth centers of all ages. We also always invite the youngest members of our audience (under 12) up on stage to play percussion and jump around with us during the last song of the set.
Mario (ozo’s drummer for 7 years) has saying for years that he thought that it would be a cool idea to make a kids record although it wasn’t til last year in Feb that we decided to actually do it. We were playing at the HOB in Chicago late on a Tuesday night and we couldn’t figure out why there weren’t more people coming to the show. Wil-Dog put out a blast on FB and Twitter. The response was interesting. Most people were saying things like “I’d love to come but I can’t find a sitter” or “why are you guys playing so late on a weeknight? I’ve got kids!”. Then we realized that making a kids CD was imperative.

L.A. Kid Stuff: How would you describe the Ozokidz sound and album?

oZoKidZ: We’re developing the sound as we speak and right now we’re doing trial and errors with our new songs in front of a live kids audience to see which ones connect with them the best.

Read the entire interview here