These musicians are providing the soundtrack for anti-ICE protests in LA : NPR

A large flatbed truck pulled up outside a remote immigrant detention center north of Los Angeles last month. On the bed of a truck, converted into a mobile stage, a band played protest songs. Giant speakers projected them loudly across the desert landscape. But the musicians wondered, were they fast enough to break through the high, thick, concrete walls of the detention center?

Loida Alvarado looked over the barbed wire fence and began to sing to the immigrants jailed inside:

A la ventana, te traje a serenata

look out the window. I’ve got a serenade for you.

One thing is this, Meera, you are very nice…

Although you’re locked up, someone you love is here to sing for you.

A young woman’s phone rang in the crowd of protesters. It was his father’s call. He was detained inside while fighting deportation. She climbed onto the truck and took the microphone.

“He can hear us!” she shouted. “They can all hear us!” The crowd got angry.

The concert was staged by Los Jornaleros del Norte. Since federal agents began aggressive immigration raids in L.A. last June, the band’s 11 members have been roaming Southern California on their mobile stage to lift the spirits of those affected by the crackdown. The band also hopes to provide a jolt of musical energy to otherwise somber protests.

“From day one, we musicians started organizing to protest wherever the raids occurred,” said accordionist and songwriter Omar Leon, the band’s director. Bands often end up on street corners days or even hours after someone has been deported by immigration agents. Many of his songs are about undocumented workers trying to earn a living while avoiding immigration agents. Most protest songs are played as upbeat Mexican cumbias or aisleA genre of ballads that often narrate the experiences of working-class people.

Lyon said the band’s goal in the demonstrations is to redirect the anger and grief of the protesters.

“People are already ready to march and raise slogans,” he said. “But when they hear the music, they get more excited. It also reduces tension and confrontation between police, ICE agents, and people protesting.”

Loida Alvarado, the band’s lead singer, said that in the early weeks and months of the crackdown, it was difficult to bring live cumbias to the same place where an immigrant worker was taken away from his family and community.

“It felt very heavy,” she said. But over time, seeing people dancing and singing to their music, “I was reminded that it’s a way we also protest. Joy despite all the suffering, despite all the suffering, is an important part of what we do because it helps us maintain our culture and connect with each other.”

Concerts and serenades outside the desert detention center are one way the band has tried to reach detained immigrants.

“We’re bringing music to the people we love,” said Manuel Vicente, who plays congas. “And to show them that we’re out there waiting for them. And their community is doing everything they can to get them back.”

Although the band changed its performance schedule last year, it has been performing at immigrant and workers’ rights protests for three decades. Pablo Alvarado and Lolo Katumay were among a small group of workers who formed the band in the mid-1990s after one of them saw immigration agents raiding a site where day laborers lined up for free health services. The story of that raid was told in his first song

Their name, Los Jornaleros del Norte, means Day Laborers of the North. To date, most of its musicians are current or former day laborers, and work closely with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, using music to help organize immigrant workers.

On a recent evening, the band’s mobile stage pulled up to a Home Depot on L.A.’s east side. A few weeks ago, masked immigration agents chased away day laborers gathered in a parking lot looking for a day’s work. One of them, Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez, ran onto a nearby freeway in a desperate attempt to escape. A car hit him and he died. The Jornaleros came to honor his life.

For more than an hour, they played sentimental ballads as a tribute, and later, fast-paced cumbias to liven up the mood.

“The songs we sing are stories about hard-working immigrants, hard-working women and hard-working men,” said Omar Leon, putting away his accordion after the performance. “Tonight we chose songs that talk about life, that talk about struggle. We chose love songs to remember Carlos Roberto Montoya.”