CSUMB student to perform at NPR Tiny Desk Contest show

By Marielle Argueza

Floating around in the recesses of YouTube is a video of CSU Monterey Bay student Alejandro Gomez, aka Flaco el Jandro. Crooning into a mic, he sings the lyrics of his self-penned song “Nadie,” backed by his band, Los Perros Callejeros, which harmonizes and plays its distinct brand of Frankenstein-ed cumbia, rock and reggae.

The band plays on a tiny stage, lit by moody pink and purple lights. The performance, directed by Gomez’s friend Freddie Avila, takes place in CSUMB’s music department. The shots of a stuffed toy otter opening and ending the music video are a cheeky reference to the university. 

Gomez submitted the video to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest “On the Road” series. He is one of three CSUMB students from the Music and Performing Arts program who did so. Of those three, his video was the only one chosen by Tiny Desk, and he will perform with other musicians, culled from thousands of submissions, at the series' (sold out) San Francisco show June 22 at the Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 

“I was really honored to be picked,” Gomez said. “Everyone came together as a team and worked really hard on the submission.” 

NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts is a long-running series of radio and video performances known for showcasing the unadulterated talent of some of the world's best musicians in tiny office settings. 

“The Tiny Desk concert series features big artists from pretty much every genre imaginable and reaches a huge audience,” said CSUMB associate professor of recording and technology, Lanier Sammons.

From Usher and Paramore, to H.E.R. and Ludovico Einaudi, the series has launched careers of lesser-known talents and brought listeners a sense of intimacy with some of the biggest pop stars. According to NPR, since it started in 2014, over 40,000 artists have submitted to the contest-style series.

Other CSUMB submissions came from MPA students Roxy Ortiz and Paul Bright. Ortiz, with her electric guitar, ultra-feminist lyrics and cool-girl style reminiscent of Mazzy Star and Japanese Breakfast, submitted her original work “RIOT.” Bright’s submission was an acoustic version of his co-written song “Those Eyes.” Bright’s piece was featured in the Tiny Desk's promotional material. 

It is no small task to submit to a nationally-recognized radio and YouTube series. The competition is stiff.

“One thing folks might miss is the wide range of work that goes into just the submission for Tiny Desk,” Sammons said. “You have to be a polished, confident performer. You need to have a song that really stands out. And you need to present all that in an engaging, exciting way.” 

Gomez said he was fortunate to find a space on campus to produce his submission.

“I was looking around at what we had: a studio, a performance space that is hardly used,” he said. “Getting in-studio space and time to engineer songs like this is really expensive in the ‘real world,’ so I used it.”

Department chair and music professor, Jeff Jones, said he’s not surprised that CSUMB students were recognized for their unique musical styles and hard work. 

“They've spent time developing their artistic vision, understanding who they are as well as what they want to share with the world and how they will share it,” Jones said. 

Tickets to the Tiny Desk concert in San Francisco are sold out, but the “Nadie” video can be viewed on Flaco El Jandro’s YouTube channel.