For the first time ever, Argentine reggae band Los Cafres performed in Chicago during Ruido Fest where they wrapped up their 25-year anniversary tour.
The band, lead by singer Guillermo Bonetto, was formed in 1987 in Buenos Aires. Since releasing their first album in 1994, Frecuencia Cafre, they have become one of Latin America’s most iconic bands with now more than 10 albums released throughout their career.
After performing on day two of the second annual music festival, Billboard caught up with the “Si el amor se cae” singer who talked music, inspiration and bringing their music to the United States.
What does a stage like Ruido Fest represent to an iconic band like Los Cafres?
It represents a lot! We had never actually played at a music festival this big in the United States. It’s an honor to be part of this music festival in it’s second edition and what makes it even more special is that we were able to perform for the first time in Chicago. It’s a dream.
This anniversary tour is taking you guys to a lot of cities in the U.S. you had never visited before. Why did it take 25 years to come to a city like Chicago?
It’s very interesting and weird because it has to do with sociopolitical and the geographical distance. Although we constantly had visas to travel, we didn’t have a lot of concerts in the U.S. Maybe something would come up in Miami or California but it was rare. Puerto Rico was actually the first place we visited “in the U.S.” Just last year we did our first U.S. tour where we visited Washington for the first time as well. But after touring in Latin America for so many years in parts like Mexico, Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina, they know about us over here because those countries have a big population of immigrants here in U.S. cities. There are a lot of people who want to see us out here. To be able to perform here isn’t something that just happened, we’ve had to work hard and prove ourselves to be able to visit these cities.
Reflecting on 25 years of this career, what were some of the hardships the bands faced when starting out as a reggae band in Argentina?
At first, the press in Argentina didn’t even care about us. We had our audience but in the mainstream, we didn’t exist. Releasing our first albums wasn’t easy. But then we went to Puerto Rico and other places where reggae was popular and found out that people were actually fans of Los Cafres. To know that people were actually listening to our music was incredible, it was an injection of energy and we didn’t feel so alone anymore.
If Argentina wasn’t the reggae Mecca, where did you look to for inspiration?
I lived in Toronto for a while and learned a lot about reggae over there. To see it live and be able to see a live performance was life-changing. People at first would ask us why we chose reggae but we didn’t. It’s not like we were trying to choose between rock, pop or reggae. It was just an impulse to play that type of music. What matters is the music and the message, not the genre. We love reggae and that’s what matters.
What do you take away from this tour and being able to perform at Ruido Fest?
Regardless of any troubles or adversaries, we did it. We accomplished our goal. It’s a type of reassurance for the band and also a good opportunity to re-connect with our fans and meet new people. It’s also a way to prove that there is a relationship between the Latin American people in the U.S. and Los Cafres. That’s magical!