Los Tigres del Norte // San Jose
San Jose’s own Los Tigres del Norte—doing a hometown show Feb. 15 at the SAP Center—are a major force in the Spanish-speaking musical world. From a 1965 beginning in Sinaloa, where Jorge Hernández founded the group, the band has combined traditional Mexican musical textures with relatable and modern lyrics.
7pm on Feb 15 at the SAP Center in San Jose.
“I think it’s very unfair for someone to say that [immigrants] are doing something wrong to this country,” he says. “So we’re gonna have to make a statement at some point.” And when they do, it’s all but guaranteed that the traditional musical values that inspired the group will accompany those pointed lyrics.
Biography:
The band’s distinctive corridos and romantic tales are showcased throughout its deep catalog, numbering more than 50 albums and garnering seven Grammys and a dozen Latin Grammys. And the band’s lyrics don’t shy away from controversy: narcocorridos about the lives and exploits of figures like Pablo “El Jefe” Escobar have set the group apart from other modern-day norteño artists.
With their piercing wails and songs that passionately tell of blue-collar hardships, love, loss, and the war on drugs, Los Tigres del Norte evoke plenty of gut-wrenching emotion in their repertoire. Boasting a career that spans more than five decades, these beloved norteños continue to inspire legions of fans from both sides of the border.
Armed with Jorgé’s mad accordion riffs, Hernán’s fuming electric bass lines, Eduardo’s brilliant sax, Luis’ snarling 12-string guitar fret-work, and Óscar Lara’s powerful drumming, their live performances are known to be riveting. They keep their sets lively and evocative with meaningful messages that build solidarity with the Latin diaspora. Impressively, their in-demand showcases even broke Cardi B’s attendance record at RodeoHouston in March 2019.
Los Tigres del Norte Background
No other norteño group tells the story of the immigrant experience in the U.S. quite the way Los Tigres del Norte do. Mexican immigrants themselves, they moved to San Jose, California, from Sinaloa, Mexico, in the late 1960s as teenagers. Led by vocalist and accordionist José Hernández, they started playing locally.
When the Hernández troupe of brothers and cousins caught the attention of aspiring music promoter Art Walker, he recorded their early material and made them the basis of his Fama Records.
In 1971, the frontman heard a live mariachi song about cross-border drug trafficking, a pivotal moment that would inspire Los Tigres’ heartfelt and cinematic songwriting. Their wildly popular first corrido, the polka-driven “Contrabando y Traición” (“Smuggling and Betrayal”) even inspired a movie of the same name in 1977.
Just about every year since their emergence, the prolific Northern Mexican cowboys have served as working-class heroes, narrating candidly the lives of the voiceless population in songs that transcend generations — hits like “La Jaula De Oro,” “La Bala,” “La Puerta Negra,” and the recent “Un Consentido de Dios.”
Los Tigres del Norte has always been about more than just making music that sounds good.
“We represent all the paisanos who came along into the U.S.,” says guitar and bajo sexto player Luis Hernández. But the group also makes music for a newer generation that is inevitably less attached to its cultural roots. “We’re very lucky to be surrounded by people who really understand what we’re trying to do with our music,” he says.
