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The eleven-person band is made up of musi6ans
<br /> ~~S`~P. ~ f'Ja~sa ~li ~~1E' ~OSL' (.r~!'~N playing saxophone, flutes, trumpets, congas, bongos,
<br /> Ifyou zre ever in the mood to dance or listen to a high timbale, and guitars. Cesar plays the lead guitar; a ten
<br /> energy Latino band, then you may want to meet Cesar string steel guitar called the Cuatro Puertorriqueno.
<br /> Gutierrez, and his band SonMelao. Cesar was born in Mazatlan, Mexico, and at the age of
<br /> Cesar woi~s as a gardener at a Owen Rose Garden, and 17 moved to Culiacan Mexico where he got his degree in
<br /> in his off time, plays in a 11 person band called SonMelao. Soil Science. After college, he worked for the Federal
<br /> Even the band's Warne provokes interest to folks that don't Government In the Water Ministry and Agriculture
<br /> speak Spanish. ~Son,° means old style of Cuban folk music, Management Department in Mexico City. His main role In
<br /> and 'Melao." meaning type of molasses. Put the two the agency was feld work in forest soil management
<br /> together, "SonMelao," and you get Sweet Music. When section and the replanting of trees in the areas surround-
<br />
<br /> : asked to describe the type of music, "SonMelao,' plays, ing Mexico City.
<br /> Cesar says "it's best described as a Latin American Dance When Cesar had free time he would start playing gigs
<br /> with a sCong African influence," or more commonly at night in Mexico City, and hanging out with a guitar
<br /> described as Salsa. maker who wanted Cesar to be his apprentice. This further
<br /> instilled his affection for music and his love for perform-
<br /> ~,j~' t'
<br /> ; t ; ~ ; ing.
<br /> ~ ~ ~ ~3z ~ ...t~1E After spendingthree and a halfyears in Mexico City,
<br /> ' Ey - ~ ~ ~ ' Cesar accepted a scholarship to go to Canada as Forestry
<br /> c
<br /> x ~ ~ Technician student Cesar's only comment about this
<br /> ~~t adventure was, °It's too cold up there!" After a year in
<br /> Canada, he went back to Mexico where he did some
<br /> s-. .e ~ freelance work in soil conservation, while still playing his
<br /> = ~ guitar. In 1988, he received a grant from the Aprovecho
<br /> ~ Research Center, where he studied Permaculture. This was
<br /> >,i ' ~ his introduction to Eugene.. Cesarfinally settled in
<br /> ~ i ~ ~ ,i , ~ Eugene, where he met his wife and got a job working at
<br /> r°i':, - ' Owen Rose Garden. Cesar, his wife Cybele, and their two
<br /> ~ boys Maceo and Lucio now reside In Eugene.
<br /> _ So, if you ever happen to be at the Owen Rose
<br /> ~ - Garden, stop by and say "hi" to Cesar Gutierrez. And, if
<br /> ~21~~ ° you're ever in the mood for some hot Latin American
<br /> dance music, look up his band, °SonMelao." The group
<br /> :~`r y ~ ~ ~ ~ plays regularly at Sam Bond's, the Wow Hall, Luna's, and
<br /> ~t,~ ..,~~"'_~~k~ ~ ~ john Henry's.
<br /> C17rG.~lr~rreti
<br /> 6Y
<br /> here all think alrke, no one thinkr very much. _ l~/alter Lippmann
<br /> ~06~TUaG' ~~~U1~8l1Cf18 Cl1~-~at~f~~s be used as weapons in their militaryservice -their native
<br /> On June6,1944„D-Day, a special group of soldiersin the ~ language. Using their native language in a coded form, the
<br /> Fourthdnfantry Division, FourthSighalCompany; made an Comanche Code Talkers were able to send communications
<br /> amphibious.landirig with Allied troops along the Utah throughout their division that were faster than any of the
<br /> Beachhead on the Normandy coast of France. On that day, then-existing Anglo-coded forms. The codes were never
<br /> 250,p00troops of American, British, Canadian, Free French,, broken by the Axisforces during the war.
<br /> Polish; Norwegian and other nationalitiesstormed the Duringthe next eleven months, the Comanche Code
<br /> beaches. That special group of soldiers from the Fourth Signal Talkers played a contributing role in the Allied war effort.
<br /> Company was the Comanche Code Talkers. They transmitted coded orders and messages in a form that
<br /> The Comanche Code Talkers were an !the Germans, Italians and even other
<br /> elite group of~roung Native American Comanches not trained as code talkers
<br /> In the Comanche !an ua e, the word
<br /> % S
<br /> men who used e could understand. The Germans didn't
<br /> their khowledge'of th
<br /> "bomb" doer not exist. The code
<br /> Comanche Ian ua ealon .with trainin break the code until marry ears follow-
<br /> g g' g g "U/ho-chew-no-ah I/uk-kuta" ' y
<br /> they were given'by the United States ing the war.
<br /> ( re Want air lane) zvar used to
<br /> Army, to send critical messages that p g p In 1989, the French Government
<br /> confused the enemy during WorldWariL derCYibe "bombeY." honored the survivors of the group for
<br /> Seventeen men were trained ineommuni- their important contribution with the
<br /> cations, fourteen were dcpioyed tothe European theater. "ChevalierdeL' Order National du Merite." The United
<br /> One of those men was Forrest Kassanovoid, an uncle bf Cliff ~ States government has not offered any special recognition
<br /> Clark, from the Wastewater Division. for the group.
<br /> Although the Comanche soldiers underwentmueh of the - Sources of information for this article were obtained from
<br /> same military tralningas their peers, and performed many of ~ the Comanche Language and CulCural Preservation Commit-
<br /> the same duties, they were uniquely different from most Anglo tee and the book, The Comanche Code Talkers o{World
<br /> soldiers Inaddition to their contrasting culturai background War ll by William C. Meadows, who included a special
<br /> and upbringing; these men brought a rare and specialskill to ~ dedication to Mr. Kassanovoid in his book.
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