![Photo by Pablo Aguilar, courtesy of Quetzal](/images/2016/sounds-of-california/quetzal.jpg)
Founded by Quetzal Flores in the early 1990s, the Los Angeles-based ensemble Quetzal draws from a large web of musical, cultural, and political influences and commitments. Songwriter and lead singer Martha González calls Quetzal an “East LA Chican@ rock group,” summing up its roots in the complex cultural currents of barrio life, its social activism, its strong feminist perspective, and its rock ’n’ roll beginnings.
![Martha González, Tylana Enomoto, and Alberto López, of Quetzal rehearse in González's living room in Los Angeles, 2015.](/images/2016/sounds-of-california/MarthaTylanaAlberto.jpg)
Over the last two decades, the group has released six albums and worked with a diverse range of creative collaborators—both artists and community collectives—including Fandango Sin Fronteras, Great Leap, Mujeres de Maiz, and Los Lobos, among others.
On the GRAMMY-winning album Imaginaries, Quetzal creatively combines the varied strains of East L.A.’s soundscape—traditional son jarocho of Veracruz, cumbia, rock, R&B, and more—with international musics to express the political and social struggle for self-determination and self-representation. Their next album on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is due out later in 2016.
![Video Thumbnail](https://folkways-media.si.edu/images/video_thumbs_large/CFV10844.jpg)
Musicians
- Quetzal Flores, jarana, requinto, guitar player
- Martha González, singer, percussionist
- Tylana Enomoto, violinist
- Evan Greer, percussionist
- Alberto López, percussion
- Juan Pérez, bassist