Great music, new to my ears, brought by a nice opinion article in the NY times. Los Cenzontles — the Mockingbirds– from San Pablo, California. Do Not Miss hearing them!

The song, “La Luna,” is sung in Spanish by, of all people, Taj Mahal, the African-American blues master. Though not a native speaker, he cradles the words in his gravel voice, and when he sings of the moonlight as “muy sensual,” and of this “baile celestial,” this heavenly dance, he clearly knows what he’s talking about, and so do you.

That’s the strange beauty of “American Horizon,” by a little-known Mexican-American folk-roots group, Los Cenzontles, with guest appearances by Taj Mahal and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. It both honors and upends traditional Mexican music, tapping deep roots as it flowers into something completely new, and distinctly American.

What may be more remarkable is that Los Cenzontles — The Mockingbirds — is not the creation of some music label’s cross-marketing department, but a tiny storefront nonprofit organization for young people in San Pablo, Calif., a heavily immigrant and Hispanic neighborhood outside Oakland.

Several of the tunes are to the left of the Times article.  Or you could go to their website, www.mockingbirds.com and listen till you get up and DANCE! or to their Facebook page.