El Machetero

El Machetero is a Toronto-based poet/spoken word artist/MC/DJ and community activist who first began performing at open mics and slams in Toronto and New York City around 1997, after many years of being a steady fixture in the underground Hip-Hop, hardcore punk, and progressive/activist communities in Toronto.

Born Daniel Rojas-Orrego on April 29th, 1975, the oldest son of political refugees from Chile who arrived in Canada in 1978 after fleeing the regime of military dictator Augusto Pinochet, El Machetero first became known by many as a passionate and militant young activist who worked at the grassroots level around issues of racism, imperialism, police brutality, prisoner's rights and solidarity with various anti-colonial struggles throughout the world. A gifted orator and organizer from the time he was young, he shifted gears more towards the cultural field in the late 1990s and began to focus on his lyrical and poetic skills and gained prominence as a DJ who would blend Hip-Hop, Reggae, Afrobeat, Classic rare groove, Funk, breakbeat, Salsa and Alternative Rock at house parties, cultural/political events and assorted hangouts in downtown Toronto, and occasionally on the air at Ryerson University's radio station 88.1 CKLN FM.

Deeply desiring to stop just being a mere consumer/spectator of the art forms he loved and admired so much and heavily and equally influenced by legendary poets such as the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Nikki Giovanni, Pedro Pietri, Sonia Sanchez, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jean Binta Breeze, Mutabaruka, Miguel Pinero and Sandra Maria Estevez, as well as mid-1990s Hip-Hop acts such as Organized Konfusion, Freestyle Fellowship, De La Soul, , Wu-Tang Clan, Gang Starr, OutKast, Fugees, Souls Of Mischief and A Tribe Called Quest, he began writing and performing his unique brand of passionate explosive poetry, blending insights he was struggling to place in perspective about his own experiences with race, culture, street life, the criminal justice system, relationships, and the immigrant/refugee experience, with an angry, humorous, bombastic, passionate machine gun fire delivery and stage presence, which he was pleasantly surprised to find very well received by Toronto audiences, particularly as a fair-skinned South American active in a deeply politicized, culturally refined and primarily African/Caribbean scene.

His first known recording was the deeply introspective track "Lost Ones", produced by legendary UK expatriate DJ and poet Malik X (aka Ismail Malik Al-Ghazali), which appeared on the 1999 compilation "Return of the Style Exiles", which was never officially released, but which nonetheless enjoyed a healthy amount of play on college radio around that time. He released his first demo CD, Ona Hustle Ona Humble Inna Struggle in the summer of 2003, which sold quite well and was very well received by fans and critics alike. It featured stellar production by Rasul Phoenix of Blacklight Studios.

He released a full-length CD titled Clash Like Rock Smackin Tank in 2005, which contained remixed and remastered versions of some of the same tracks produced by Phoenix which appeared on his demo, as well as newer tracks produced by Gigz the Unknown Producer, Dov Shalyn-Gray, Masked Man and DJ Curtis Smith (host of CKLN's "Out Of D'Ordinary"), and which featured collaborations with poet Love Le Dream, MC Mindbender, poet/beatboxer Da Original One and DJ Sawtay. Although well-received by all who heard it and purchased it, it suffered from poor sales and distribution, and brought to light many of the difficulties faced by poets/spoken word artists looking to expand upon their art form and transition into the musical realm. All the same, he gained the great honour of being nominated for a 2005 Canadian Urban Music Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his semi-autobiographical track "2Pac Syndrome", which despite the fact that he did not win, he still viewed as being a proud moment in his career.

El Machetero's recordings tend to draw from his sensibilities as a DJ, embracing a wide variety of musical influences from free jazz to hardcore punk to dancehall reggae, but the most dominant element is a sound and production style quite similar to the dusty soulful sample-heavy "Golden Age Hip-Hop" sound most commonly associated with producers such as the RZA, 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, Da Beatminerz and Jay Dee, often with a smooth lush sound that contrasts quite nicely with his often abrasive rapid fire delivery.

He presently still lives in Toronto, where he continues to write and DJ, and is looking to release his second album (produced by Gigz the Unknown Producer and featuring the vocals of Amina Alfred) titled Permanent Underclass sometime in 2008. He plans to relocate to New York City sometime that year as well.

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