Home is Where the Noise Is

Leo Agira stands in the living room of his apartment in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Isabella Siqueria

Fusing elements of hardcore punk with those of salsa and cumbia, Afro-Colombian musician Leo Agira finds identity and community through a unique blend of sounds.

Agira, 27, is the vocalist of the hardcore punk band Basuko based in Los Angeles. He composes and writes lyrics for the band’s songs while incorporating his cultural identity.

“It’s a very rhythm bass band, especially taking basslines from cumbia and salsa, the things I grew up with,” Agira said. “Of course, it doesn’t sound exactly the same, but it's in the rhythm and the way the bass is written. You just got to change the notes a little bit and make it sound a little darker, and you got something different.”

While the genre of punk has been dominated by white musicians, there have been groups formed by people of color. One example, and one of many bands that have inspired Agira’s projects, includes Bad Brains.

According to a report by Maxwell Woods, an assistant professor from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Bad Brains, an all-Black fronted hardcore punk band formed in the 1970s, has helped “decolonize,” or undo, the domination white musicians have had in the punk scene.

Agira was born in Cali, Colombia, in 1997, but later moved to the United States with his parents in the early 2000s to Manassas, Virginia. However, many have misconceptions about his background.

“America didn’t even get the most slaves in the Mid-Atlantic Slave Trade. It was presumed there’s more Black people south of the equator than there are north, and that’s the truth,” Agira said.

Accustomed to Colombian culture, Agira recalls being unable to find much community during his early years in the U.S.

“There’s been times where I’ve been questioned for my ‘Latino-ness’ because of my skin color, and there’s some times where I’ve been challenged for my blackness because of the way I grew up,” Agira said.

One instance in particular occurred while Basuko was on tour last spring.

Inside a local venue in Seattle, Washington, Basuko was preparing to play the final show of their tour, “¡Un Berraco Tour!” Ready to perform for their fans, the excitement was interrupted by two racist remarks, one from the sound guy and another from an employee who questioned Agira’s girlfriend for being in an interracial relationship.

At the point of getting ready to return home and almost canceling the gig, Agira and his bandmates watched the venue’s owner fire the man in charge of operating the sound and the other employee who had made the comment. The owner begged the band to stay and play as scheduled, so they did.

As a Long Beach local, Maximus Foster, 20, Basuko’s guitarist and a close friend of Agira, recalls, it was “one of the most aggressive sets [Agira] had ever played.”

Having worked alongside Agira for some time now, Foster describes how the two had chemistry from the start.

“Something I appreciate about the way he is, is how driven he is, and how seriously he takes this, because it means a lot to him. I'm pretty much the same way,” Foster said.

According to Foster, one of the most memorable experiences he has had playing alongside Agira was during a recent comeback gig this January.

“The room was full of people. It was crazy. When we were setting up. The entire room was chanting, ‘Basuko, Basuko, Basuko’ and I don’t know, it was amazing,” Foster said. Agira then put on an intense and energetic performance, according to Foster.

Before being involved in the punk scene, Agira worked in the Marine Corps as a mechanic. Besides his cultural background, this aspect of his life helped him bond with others in the punk scene.

Born and raised in Compton, California, 21-year-old Jose Daniel Ramirez, Agira’s close friend who met him in the military, describes how the two immediately bonded because of their cultural background as Latinos and their occupations.

“In the punk rock scene, there’s a lot of prejudice,” Ramirez said. “They will try to bring you down because of your said ethnicity, but meeting Leo, an Afro-Colombian, was empowering.”

Ramirez initially met Agira online after watching him perform in the punk scene. “He is super passionate about what he does,” Ramirez said. “He doesn’t take anything from anybody.”

“I feel that the only way that people can feel differently is by letting them know that we exist in this capacity, by making your presence known in a way,” Agira said.

According to Agira, Basuko is currently working on an EP and can be expected to play more shows this spring.