Orkesta Mendoza

Born in the cultural crucible of Tucson, Arizona, Orkesta Mendoza coalesces around multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger Sergio Mendoza, who also works with Calexico. Raised between the two Nogales on the U.S.–Mexico border, Mendoza built with Orkesta Mendoza a project nourished by musical flows on both sides of the border. The group, conceived as a collective with variable geometry, first formed in Tucson in 2009 to perform a mambo repertoire at a party before becoming a lasting ensemble. Orkesta Mendoza’s music blends the tradition of Latin orchestras, cumbia, mambo and elements of ranchera with more contemporary inputs from indie rock, 1960s instrumental pop, surf, brass, accordion and electronic textures. This cross-pollination produces a dense yet lucid sound, driven by percussion and ensemble arrangements, where Mexican and Latin American references converse with a sensibility rooted in the American Southwest. Over the course of their career, Orkesta Mendoza has become part of the Tucson scene while regularly performing beyond Arizona and releasing several records on the Glitterbeat label.