Celebrated Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte performed at Madison Sq. Backyard final week. It was their first present there, and their followers, a lot of them amongst immigrant communities, confirmed as much as have fun.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Los Tigres del Norte is without doubt one of the most celebrated Mexican teams on the earth, recognized for his or her corridos. Final week, they performed Madison Sq. Backyard for the primary time ever. NPR Music’s Anamaria Sayre has this report from the present.
(CHEERING)
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: For one evening, it felt just like the entirety of New York’s Mexican neighborhood descended on one of the historic venues on the earth.
EDUARDO HERNANDEZ: What occurred tonight at Madison Sq. Backyard, that’s, like, one thing that you simply by no means dreamed. You by no means realized in your complete profession that someday, you have been going to be right here at this place.
SAYRE: That is Eduardo Hernandez, a member of Los Tigres del Norte. The band has performed all over the place, from armories to rodeos, huge cities and small cities. However because the band’s Hernan Hernandez says, Madison Sq. Backyard is a touchstone second for his or her followers.
HERNAN HERNANDEZ: Our followers, our followers need to be in a spot like this. A few of the those that was right here, perhaps it was their first time right here, too, you recognize, like us.
SAYRE: Los Tigres have at all times made their followers – the immigrants, the folks on this nation who cook dinner within the kitchen, reduce the grass – the celebrated topic of their live shows. Lots of their greatest songs even take direct inspiration from followers’ extraordinary lives.
Elizabeth Vargas is a fan who identifies most with the tune “La Puerta Negra.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LA PUERTA NEGRA”)
LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: It is a tune about two younger lovers whose household does not approve of their relationship. “La Puerta Negra” – The Black Door – is a tool the household makes use of to maintain them aside, however the singer assures his lover that they may overcome it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LA PUERTA NEGRA”)
LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: Vargas shares that there was a black door in her personal life. Her Mexican household didn’t approve of her husband, who’s standing beside her, as a result of he is Cuban.
ELIZABETH VARGAS: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: “It doesn’t matter what occurred, the door at all times opened for us. That tune was like, wow, for me. Each time I heard it, it was for him.”
Jocelyn Romero heard her mother and father’ immigrant expertise mirrored within the tune “La Carta.”
JOCELYN ROMERO: You set their – you recognize, your self of their footwear. I perceive their complete life.
SAYRE: Within the tune, Los Tigres described delivering a letter from a son to his mom who’d been separated by the border.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LA CARTA”)
LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: The closeness she discovered along with her mother and father by means of Los Tigres impressed her to purchase them tickets to the present.
ROMERO: They have been yelling, oh, my gosh, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. Sure, I am unable to imagine it.
SAYRE: In latest months, there have been conversations within the Latin music neighborhood elevating issues that ticket gross sales and live performance attendance for artists like Los Tigres may be impacted by fears of ICE raids. For the band, this potential threat for followers is one thing they’re intimately conversant in. They shared with me that they beforehand lived on this nation with out authorized standing.
ERNESTO SANCHEZ: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: “I do know that individuals are just a little afraid.”
That is Ernesto Sanchez, a sombrero salesman who frequents Mexican cultural occasions and live shows all through town.
SANCHEZ: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: “However it’s one thing us Mexicans like – the worry, the motion,” he jokes.
Regardless of any worry, the evening present was bought out.
SANCHEZ: (Talking Spanish).
SAYRE: “Properly, right here we’re.”
Like many instructed me over the course of the evening, the band speaks for us. They sing for us. To have them supporting us on this nation proper now could be a factor of pleasure. Anamarie Sayre, NPR Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE SONG, “LA PUERTA NEGRA”)
LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE: (Singing in Spanish).
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