Eugene Rodriguez

Eugene was born in Los Angeles and moved to Northern California in 1980. He attended UC Santa Cruz and the SF Conservatory of Music. In 1989, Eugene started what was to become the Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center because he wasn’t finding musicians to play the kind of music he wanted to play. So, he set out to train young musicians, and create a family like environment to where area youth could explore music. Eugene enjoys finding new, direct ways to feel traditional music and create bridges to other cultural music, and is excited that Los Cenzontles continues to evolve, both as a band and an arts center serving it’s home community. In 1994, Eugene was nominated for a Grammy Award for his production of Papa’s Dream with Los Lobos and Lalo Guerrero.