Culture
Orkesta Mendoza || Gladden House Sessions 2019
By: Liz Penry
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Orkesta Mendoza brought their signature blend of potent indie mambo to close out the Gladden House Sessions on the Thursday night of the 2019 Nelsonville Music Festival, marking the first of their multiple sets through the weekend. Emanating from the rich music scene of Tucson, AZ, the seven-member band had the audience grooving to a colorful hybrid of cumbia, mariachi, rock, psych, and pop.
The band formed in 2009 and consists of frontman and founder, Sergio Mendoza, as well as James Peters, Brian Lopez, Sean Rogers, Marco Rosano, Jacob Valenzuela, and Salvador Duran.
With a powerful combination of high-energy performances and genre-blending instrumentation, the band performed “Serenata Huasteca,” (a well-loved José Alfredo Jiménez song,); “Cuando Yo la Conoci (Noche de Luna)” from 2018’s La Caminadora (Glitterbeat Records); “Caramelos” from 2016’s ¡Vamos a Guarachar! (Glitterbeat Records); followed by an encore of “Las Calles de Tucson,” originally released in 2011 on LUZ DE VIDA: A Compilation to Benefit the Victims of the Tucson Tragedy (Fort Lowell Records).