In Defense of Ska Ep 149: Uli Bella (Ozomatli, Yeska)

Ozomatli was formed in Los Angeles in 1995. Right out the gate, they blended a ton of styles: cumbia, funk, hip-hop, salsa. Within that mix, reggae and ska were also prominent ingredients since Day 1. They went all in with Jamaican-influenced music in 2017 with their record Nonstop: Mexico to Jamaica, a brilliant album where they cover popular Mexican and Mexican-American tunes from groups like Maná, Selena, Café Tacvba, and Julieta Venegas and transform them into awesome reggae/ska/rocksteady songs. They even got Sly and Robbie to produce it.  

This week, we bring on Ozomatli’s sax player, Uli Bella. We also learn that Uli has deep ska roots. Before joining Ozomatli, he played sax in LA trad ska group, Yeska, a mostly instrumental band that married Skatalites-influenced ska with Latin elements. 

We also talk about Luis Correa and Steady Beat shows (which was the epicenter of LA’s trad ska scene in the ’90s), Yeska opening for Desmond Dekker, how Hepcat and Jump with Joey ruled the trad scene, Yeska member Alfredo Ortiz who later went on to play with The Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello and Los Lobos. And we talk about how Ozomatli played at Rage Against The Machine’s Zack De La Rocha’s house early in their career. 

We also talk about Jurassic 5 (Cut Chemist and Chali 2na were early Ozomatli members), how Ozomatli’s samba opener came to be, what is was like for Ozomatli to play Warped Tour and that Mike Watt was one of the only old punkers that checked them out every night. We talk about how they made fans of Carlos Santana, Prince, and Pharoah Sanders. And we hear about how Uli recorded with King Chango, Money Mark, and Western Standard Time Orchestra. 

Plus, we hear all about the early Black Eyed Peas, who came from the same Peace and Justice Center scene as Ozomatli. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.