Nuestra Historia Series Opens with Los Tucanes de Tijuana
Which music dominates the L.A. radio airwaves? Some folks might be surprised to learn that regional Mexican outlets like La Nueva 101.9 FM have long dominated the scene. The phenomena dates back a good 15 years when La X 97.9 FM (now La Raza) broke into the top spot in the ratings, a first for a Spanish language station. Since then, the popularity of such stations has only grown, a reflection of not only the increasing Spanish speaking Latino population in the area, but also the appeal of the music.
On Thursday night, the GRAMMY Museum hit one out of the park with the genre's fans by featuring Los Tucanes de Tijuana to kick off the Nuestra Historia series -- the museum's first program to be held exclusively in Spanish.
Affectionately referred to as the band that sells records before getting airplay (due to the fact that much of their popularity has come by way of grassroots and word-of-mouth efforts), the group's popularity largely stems from its often simple, colloquial lyrical style to which many fans can relate. Over their 22 year history, the group has produced over two dozen albums with numerous hits, the vast majority of which have been written by band leader Mario Quintero Lara.
The packed house at the GRAMMY Museum's 200 seat sound stage was certainly a testament to their appeal. Cheers went up the moment the band was visible and they only got louder once they finally made it on stage. Once on stage, Lara talked about the band's beginnings in Tijuana and how the name had been suggested by a relative whose intention was to join the group, but ultimately never did join as he never learned to play an instrument. Equally comical was Lara's recounting of how one of the group's early hits, La Chona, took him five minutes to write and was meant to appeal to an Ensenada DJ so as to get some airplay.
On a more serious note, Lara also touched on narcocorridos, songs talking about drug runners and their deeds, to which Lara stated that while some people may not like that said music exists, he feels that people have the freedom to listen to what they like and they are merely giving people the music that they want to hear.
As the night progressed, Lara continued to share stories behind some of the hits, and together with the rest of the band, played excerpts of those songs that made Los Tucanes famous. The program was briefly interrupted as Universal representatives presented the group two new Gold records, adding to the large collection of awards the group has already amassed.
Sidenote: many of their older albums are being re-released by Universal/Fonovisa. Fans should expect new releases every two weeks.
The program closed with the band playing full length versions of some of their hits. That seemed to energize the crowd further and it wasn't long before it started to look like a big party. Unfortunately for fans, all things must come to an end, but Los Tucanes played on until the very last second and their fans loved it.
Keep an eye out for future Nuestra Historia listings at the GRAMMY Museum as they certainly look like they will be lots of fun for fans.