"Marcel Campos, the lead singer of Spaghetti Cumbia, often talks about being caught in between two cultures not Mexican enough for Mexicans and not American enough for Americans. Ni de aqui, ni de alla. The Spaghetti sound was born out of a fusion of the two cultures. The members of the band all have deep connections to their Mexican roots."
"Pedro Zapata, or Pedro Pistolas, one of the band's guitarists and vocalists, remembers when over half of his friends were joining gangs. Like some of the other band members, he was tempted to follow. Looking back, they say they're thankful they didn't many of their friends were shot down in the streets or ended up spending their lives in prison. Their love for playing music may have saved them by connecting them with a different crowd."
Marcel Campos, lead singer of Spaghetti Cumbia, expresses a bicultural identity, feeling neither fully Mexican nor fully American. Band members grew up in Boyle Heights and East LA listening to Latin music at home and at family parties. Growing up in Los Angeles also exposed them to classic rock, punk rock and hip-hop, which they fused with cumbia and a Spaghetti Western sound. East LA and Boyle Heights became predominantly Latino following early 20th-century immigration; Los Angeles County now has the largest Hispanic population in the U.S. The band members were teenagers during 1990s gang violence, and music provided a refuge that kept many from street life.
Read at www.npr.org
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