Last Saturday, immigration reform advocates marched on Monument Circle asking Congress to approve an upcoming bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in the Unites States. Reflecting on the contributions undocumented immigrants make daily in our country, it's clear we can no longer afford to ask if immigration reform is possible, but rather how soon can it happen?

Recent waves of Latino immigrants have exerted a particularly strong influence, revitalizing desolate neighborhoods through entrepreneurial investment. They've uplifted communities with their rich cultural tradition.

The music of Louisville's Appalatin provides a remarkably unique example of that Latino cultural influence at work right here in the heartland of the United States. With members representing Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Guatemala and Kentucky, Appalatin have reinvented traditional Appalachian music by infusing Latin rhythm and song into the rural folk form. It's a surprisingly seductive blend of bluegrass bolero and countrified cumbia.

I recently spoke with the band's two Kentucky natives, string player Yani Vozos and percussionist Steve Sizemore. Appalatin will appear at Birdy's on Thursday, June 20th.

NUVO: How did Appalatin form?

Yani Vozos: Steve and I had been playing music together in 2006. Around that time we met Marlon Obando who invited us to sit in on a gig he had at the Jazz Factory in Louisville. So we got together at Marlon's house for a rehearsal and we weren't quite sure what was going to happen.

We all like Latin music. So we started playing together - - it was a Cuban song we were playing on. We played the gig and didn't take it very seriously. We didn't say we're going to make a band out of it, but it happened. People who heard us kept calling us asking for more shows.

NUVO: Was the Latin-Appalachian fusion already in place at these early shows?

Steve Sizemore: It was never intentional in the beginning. I would say we've explored that more deeply in the last couple years. When you get a bunch of different musicians together, they kind of form their own language. It becomes a kind of pidgin or creole and we put our Kentucky twang on that.

Vozos: I remember a specific moment when it came together. At first we were just playing a lot of Latin music. When Fernando Moya joined the band he brought in a tune that mixed "Shady Grove," which is a traditional Appalachian style tune with a traditional Andean folk tune. When I heard that I was like "Wow, we've got something here that we can run with."

NUVO: Growing up in Kentucky, how did you two get into Latin music?

Sizemore: I started listening to jazz when I was thirteen. Through my interest in jazz I started listening to Latin jazz. Around that time I discovered Buena Vista Social Club and fell in love. Everything kind of branched out from there. Then I moved down to Argentina which completely entrenched the music in me.

Vozos: After college, I joined the Peace Corps and was placed in Honduras. In preparation for the move I made a lot of tapes of Latin music. Right about that time I heard the Buena Vista Social Club and was completely fascinated with their music. In the process of learning Spanish in Honduras I would reference their songs and lyrics to learn words. That's where it started for me, using music to learn the language and immerse myself in the culture. It's beautiful, passionate and emotional music. That's something I don't think anyone can resist.

NUVO: What sorts of instruments will we see in your live set?

Vozos: Everything from guitars and upright bass to charango, which is an Andean instrument that's a hybrid of the ukelele and mandolin. Fernando plays the whole gamut of Andean flutes, which are all handcrafted by him. He's a master musician. Steve plays a long list of percussion like guiro, congas, cajon and the Brazilian bass drum surdo. Our shows are almost like a Smithsonian Institute exhibition of musical instruments.

NUVO: You just released your second album?

Vozos: Yes, it's called Waterside. The album has a theme, which happened unintentionally. It's a theme of water - - the spiritual, healing power of water. Several of us came with songs we'd written and as we started working through them as a group we realized they were connected by themes or statements about water or rain. Every song touched on it.