Wagogo, born, raised and loved in Albuquerque, NM, is an ecclectic group of musicians that make a rhythmic cocktail out of their Chicano influences, Northern Mexico folk songs, warm calypso island grooves, and the captivating spirit music of Zimbabwe. Their lyrics possess an equally enriching quality, being composed mostly by lead singer Armando Ortega, in a blend of Spanish, English, and the Shona language of Zimbabwe. With such a diverse repertoire, Wagogo inspires a multigenerational crowd to dance and sing, and even gets the old folks weeping with its dedication to preserving the traditional roots of music, in addition to exploring new sounds.
Wagogo is one of the longest-standing, most evolved local New Mexico bands of the past decade or so, having released 5 CD's (in three lanuages) "Waking Up" in 1999, "Baile Sosegador" in 2000, "Familia y Amor" in 2001, self-titled "Wagogo" (2003) and has most currently released "Love Music" (2007) on which their previous flirtations with African rhythms and indigenous melodies have coalesced into a stunning example of what a group of musicians can accomplish when their collective influences are simply allowed to flow freely.
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