Mento Buru from East Bakersfield, California has played around California's Central Valley since the early 1990s. Bandleader Matt Munoz explains how they, like many bands, have made a living and endured as a regional act.
Last Christmas, Mento Buru released the East Bakersfield Christmas EP, which features Christmas classics adapted to suit the band's Latin ska sound. Munoz talks about how and why they made it, along with the two Spanish-language Christmas songs--"Donde Esta Santa Claus" by Augie Rios, and "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano. We discussed his fascination with Augie Rios in an earlier episode, but this time we talk about where he found the Spanish lyrics for the song that was written in English.
Along the way, Munoz shares some of his holiday favorites, including songs by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Cheech and Chong, and Alexander O'Neal.
This week's episode also pays some attention to Earth, Wind & Fire's 2014 Christmas album, Holiday, and the 2015 Sony Legacy repackaging of it with a few extra tracks as The Classic Christmas Album. I'm fascinated by it because the band doesn't simply lend its grooves to Christmas favorites. On a number of the tracks, it either adds seasonal lyrics to pre-existing EWF songs, or it reuses familiar horn flourishes and signature parts to make their versions explicitly theirs.
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Pink Martini
Jimbo Mathus of Squirrel Nut Zippers
Johnny Mathis
Lowland Hum
Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5
Darling West
The 179 Days of Christmas
Los Straitjackets, and The Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight"
Chris Butler of The Waitresses
Rodney Crowell and Flow Tribe
PJ Morton, and "All I Want for Christmas is You"
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Kristin Chambers and Mars Williams
Delicate Steve, and Outkast's "Player's Ball"
Wizards of Winter, and Faith Hill's "A Baby Changes Everything"
The Sultans of String and The Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling"
Robert Earl Keen
Michael Cerveris and Kimberly Kaye of Loose Cattle
Ben Schenck of the Panorama Jazz Band
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