Ernesto “Matute” Lopez

Drums  |  Nicaragua

Ernesto López, better known as Matute, is a versatile, award-winning drummer, ecologist, and social/environmental activist. After picking up the drums by assembling salvage parts as a seven-year-old, Matute went on to develop an eclectic sound rooted in Latin traditions and influenced by funk jazz, ska, reggae, funk, salsa, rock, and cumbia and toured across the US and Latin America in more than forty bands, including California-based groups Afrolicious, Ginger Ninjas, and LoCura, and Tunisia’s MC Rai. His music career includes a 2016 GRAMMY Nomination as a member of the first Nicaraguan band receiving such a nomination, La Cuneta Son Machín.

He is co-founder and currently directs Apapachoa Foundation, an eco-cultural oasis in the primarily indignenous commutniy of Santa Julia set amid a 2,300-acre natural forest reserve outside of Managua. Apapachoa is creating a sustainable development community through reforestation, sustainable bio-intensive agriculture, permaculture, micro-entrepreneurship and economic development, education, and music, arts, and culture.