BERKELEY, CALIF. — Los Cenzontles — the prolific Mexican folk band and nonprofit — was founded by Eugene Rodriguez in the late 1980s on the conviction that culture helps us understand the fullness of who we are. Acutely aware of the lack of Mexican American representation in mainstream US media, Rodriguez created Los Cenzontles as a pathway for young Chicano musicians to connect with their roots through song. In Bird of Four Hundred Voices: A Mexican American Memoir of Music and Belonging, Rodriguez details how his upbringing propelled him to cultivate this one-of-a-kind ensemble, who today are collaborators to some of the leading Latino recording artists of all time.

“In a society that tries, in countless ways, to convince us to devalue ourselves, the cultural arts can help our children build resourcefulness and resilience that can protect their sense of self,” says Rodriguez, who began giving classical guitar lessons to kids living at a blighted edge of the East Bay while studying music in San Francisco. His deep repertoire drew from the vibrant tapestry of Mexico’s traditional genres: mariachi, rancheras, huapangos — all of which became the founding inspiration for Rodriguez’s eventual nonprofit offering musical education to the children of the Mexican diaspora living in working class communities of the Bay Area.

Starting from humble origins and a lean staff, Los Cenzontles (the mockingbirds) has enjoyed meteoric success by both “honor[ing] and upend[ing] traditional Mexican music,” and creating “something completely new, and distinctly American,” as the the New York Times wrote. Today the group is a transformative cultural institution that has recorded a Grammy-nominated album, offered rousing performances on both sides of the border, collaborated with the likes of Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, and co-starred in a Linda Ronstadt documentary (Linda and the Mockingbirds). By esteeming students as collaborators, Los Cenzontles has not only transformed the lives of the young people who have picked up a guitar under its imprimatur but it has also established for itself a lasting influence in some of the most celebrated echelons of Mexican folk music.

“Eugene teaches children the right music for the right reasons, not necessarily to be performers but to explore their own joys and sorrows” says Linda Ronstadt, whose mariachi album Canciones de mi Padre went double platinum in the US market, “I wish I had studied with him when I was growing up. Read this beautifully written book about culture, identity and resilience, and you will know why.”