La Mano Ajena

La Mano Ajena is a Chilean band founded in 2002 that mixes rhythms from Eastern Europe, Latin America, France and Russia, blending all these sounds in a pastiche that also unites the tendencies of each member of the band: rock, punk, Latin American folklore and theater music. This musical project is unique in Chile, and its hybrid sound has been called "klezmer a la chilena" by press.

Its first references were Jazz manouche, Klezmer, Balkan and Gypsy music, rhythms to which later they would incorporate Latin influences like Cumbia, Mambo, Cha-cha-cha, Tango and Rumba; creating a cosmopolitan sonority.

From its beginning, the band was a precursor in spreading the Gypsy, Balkan and Klezmer rhythms in Chilean stages; and today, after almost a decade, they are one of the most important and celebrated bands from the so-called “new culture of musical carnival” that has taken place in Chile in the last years.

La Mano Ajena has played in many stages abroad and inside of Chile, in countries as Denmark, Spain, Serbia and Argentina. In Santiago, they have shared stage with bands as Gogol Bordello and Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra.

In January, 2009, they became the first and only Latin American band to participate in the Küstendorf Film and Music Festival in Serbia, created by the twice Palme d'Or winner in Cannes and world famous filmmaker Emir Kusturica, whose band The No Smoking Orchestra is the main and most important reference concerning Balkan and Gypsy music in the world.

La Mano Ajena incorporates in its work a traditional repertoire sung in diverse languages: Gypsy language, Yiddish, Hebrew, French, English and Spanish. Its members are 8 multi-instrumentalists: Rodrigo Latorre, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, guitar, piccolo flute, keyboard and theremin; María Fernanda Carrasco, vocals, keyboard, melodica and minor percussion; Danka Villanueva, violin and marimba; Gabriel Moyla, accordion, alto saxophone and baritone saxophone; Jair Moreno, clarinet; Álvaro Sáez, drums, darbuka and djembe; and Cristian Aqueveque, electric bass and double bass. Most of them have been part of important Chilean theater companies.