la granja

When I first heard Los Tigres del Norte, during my teaching days in the little grape-growing town of Delano in south-central California, I didn't think much of them, even though I knew they were more than just a band -- more of a cultural force, really -- for a lot of my students. "Three-chord stuff," I thought at the time. "Nothing special. Kind of like what you'd hear at the local cantina."

I was right -- and wrong. Their elegant simplicity, obvious sincerity, and workers' origins and loyalties make Los Tigres not just musicians, but representatives and spokesmen for the nation of gentes bajos -- underdogs -- which stretches from the borderlands of Texas, Arizona, and California on up to Fresno and Salinas.

They've been working "dances" as they call their gigs (rather than concerts) for over 40 years, but now a new hit song (which has been banned in Mexico), and a laudatory profile in this week's New Yorker have expanded their horizons. This group's appeal is universal, and destined to spread way beyond MexAmerica, to a world-wide audience.

These four brothers and a cousin (the drummer, of course; drummers are always odd-man-out) really are outstanding musicians. When I first heard them the simplicity of their attack -- always three chords rendered norteño style, which is kind of a Mexican polka, deceived me, and I somehow underestimated the trumpet-like, powerful voice and flawless enunciation of leader and lead singer Jorge Hernandez.

"La Granja" (The Farm) is a barnyard fable in the tradition of Reynard the Fox and Orwell's Animal Farm, and like them uses cute, anthropomorphized beasts to lay bare gritty and sordid social realities: the death and devastation unleashed by borderlands narco-wars, the corruption, complacency, and sinister plotting of Mexico's moneyed and political elites, the silly and shallow narratives of ongoing disaster supplied by the clucking chickens of the media, and the fate of the helpless victims of all this -- ordinary Mexican farmers and workers who have no place to turn but northward, only to find a huge, newly-erected barrier blocking their escape.

Los Tigres are a great band, with a fantastic song, effective enough to be suppressed by a frightened government, and a knockout video version, which you can see here.

If your Spanish is as weak as mine and you're curious about the story details (this is an allegorical narrative) David Ortez's political blog has some solid analysis and a full translation. (H/t to my friend Rhett H.)

The New Yorker piece carried the news that Ry Cooder, the American guitarist who has become an international catalyst for re-energizing dormant musical traditions and sometimes bringing disparate cultures together, is now traveling with Los Tigres, which can only bode well for them. Cooder, who was instrumental in the launch of the Buena Vista Social Club in Cuba, has an unerring instinct for finding and facilitating the world's most happening music, and Los Tigres are definitely happening.