The Return of El Santo Marks Rebirth of Alt-Latin Pioneers – SonicNet – 11.3.00

It's Good To Be King Changó Again

Adam McGovern reports:

They say there are no second acts in American public life, but King Changó, the in-your-face title holders of Latin alternative, are putting on the trunks for a second round.

The pugilistic metaphor is of the band's own making. They invoke a famed, comic-booky Mexican wrestler and movie star in the title of their comeback album, The Return of El Santo.

"Not only do we have new songs," crowed Changó frontman Andrew Blanco, "we also have a new vision, a whole new career ahead of us."

"The youth are crossing over more and more; hopefully this will be our chance."–King Changó's Andrew Blanco

King Changó arrived sometime between the crossover roots rock of Los Lobos and the current Latin-pop heyday. The group's punky burrito– stuffed with ska, Venezuelan roots sounds, funk and other random ingredients–gave many Statesiders their earliest and most dynamic introduction to that critical mass of stylistic sources loosely labeled rock en español.

"The youth are crossing over more and more," Blanco said. "Hopefully this will be our chance."

It's been four years and several pop-culture lifetimes since Changó's eponymous debut. So the divine-second-coming connotation of the comeback's title is hard to resist as these saints of the Latin boom reappear to look upon their work (although the rock en español revolution was brewing long before there was a Changó).

Changó has always been the kind of band that makes critics send out for extra hyphens, and the syntactical struggle continues with El Santo. Here the group's trademark cocktail of Latin ska is spiked with folk-guitar and lounge-pianissimo, as on "Brujeria", Afro-Cuban doo-wop, the dub balladry of "Sin T’", breakneck drum'n'bass on "Champion Sound" and more metal-guitar/hip-hop/'70s-soundtrack/sitar-pop bobbing and weaving than a sideline commentator could track without a scorecard.

Blanco (known to his song publisher as José Andres Blanco and to his fans as Blanquito-Man) attributes Changó's chemistry to the cultural collisions found in their New York City homebase, as well as their (fluctuating) Latin/Asian/American membership. Not that it makes them a simpler sell.

"A few days ago I saw a raver wearing all these techno clothes at a ska show," the Venezuelan native recalled. "But we have so many different textures and flavors and influences, it hasn't been easy to communicate to people. We shock you with sounds of different countries–not because we're teachers bringing this 'pure' roots music, but through saturation, the dirty influence of all these sounds from the past mixing with something new."

Opposites attract in Changó's worldview. El Santo's guests include musicians who have emerged between Changó albums. In welcoming the horn section from genre-jumping Ozomatli, for instance (on "Full Time Business"), Blanco sees the makings of a movement, not a contest.

The ones that Blanco regrets got away, however, include former Mano Negra leader Manu Chao and Argentine Rasta-punks Todos Tus Muertos. "That's why I love hip-hop," he observed. "One of the strongest things hip-hop has brought to the music industry is the sense of community, working together as a family and creating your own business through that."

Changó's business is expanding into a DJ-oriented side project, Ital Hi-Fi, featuring moonlighting members from Changó, reggae veteran Burning Spear's Burning Band and others.

And Changó's community activism includes participation in the campaign against U.S. missile testing on the island of Veiques, Puerto Rico.

Mostly, though, there's lost time to recover.

"The second album was hard because I became its number-one critic," Blanco admitted. "The Return of El Santo, for me, marks the return of Changó for real."

Read More about King Chango:

Washington Post Review
CMJ Review
King Chango Interview - loquesea.com