DENVER (AP) – The trials of young people brought to the U.S. before they are old enough to know what it means to be illegal are the themes of an album being released Thursday featuring Shawn King of the Denver-based group DeVotchKa.
The music was first created for Antonio Mercado’s play “Dreaming sin Fronteras,” or Dreaming without Borders, which has been performed in Los Angeles and Denver. He recruited percussionist, trumpeter and composer King, who brought in lyricist and singer Raul Pacheco of the Los Angeles band Ozomatli. Their independently released album, titled “Los Dreamers” and available nationwide, is rapped and sung in English and Spanish by U.S. and Latin musicians.
Their tracks are inspired by the stories of young people who were children when they came to the U.S. illegally and are known as dreamers. The music of King’s DeVotchka is gypsy folk, while Pacheco’s Ozomatli performs a multicultural mix that includes salsa and hip hop. Their album is a melting pot of styles and moods.
Millions of dreamers were made eligible to work legally and were exempted from deportation under an order signed by President Barack Obama in 2012. A second Obama order expanded those protections to a larger group of dreamers, immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. But that action is on hold while two dozen states pursue a federal lawsuit to block the order.
“These are people who are trying to survive,” Pacheco said. “To be healthy, to have food, to support yourself and your children, people do drastic things. We can all understand that.”