Songwriter and lead singer Martha Gonzáles 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 stance, and its rock and roll beginnings. Here, Quetzal performs "Imagineries", the title track from its first Smithsonian Folkways release.

The album begins with the dark but lively "2+0+1+2=Five," about a barren landscape ruined by environmental abuse; set in 5/4 time, the composition is punctuated by lush strings, organs, and eerie vocals. It sets the tone for a fiery, innovative, percussive, and bilingual album that fuses many touchstones of the East LA plurality―including the title track, a taut mix of rock and R&B, and the Veracruz-informed "Tragafuegos."

Quetzal, a GRAMMY-winning ensemble, called "provocative, heartfelt and strikingly original" by the LA Times and founded by guitarist Quetzal Flores, rose from the ashes of uprisings in LA in 1992 as a vehicle for social commentary and activism. The music of Quetzal is at once visceral and intellectual. It makes you move, it makes you sing, and it makes you think. Sometimes thought of as a rock band, its members draw from a much larger web of musical, cultural, and social engagement. On Imaginaries, they creatively combine shades of East L.A.’s soundscape, traditional son jarocho of Veracruz, salsa, R&B, and more to express the political and social struggle for self-determination and self-representation, which ultimately is a struggle for dignity.

This album is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions series of Latino music albums, produced with support by the Smithsonian Latino Center.