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Los Tigres del Norte, the undisputed EMPERORS of norteño music, lend a stage to the immigrant story.

It is 1 a.m. and Los Tigres del Norte have just finished the first of two 90-minute shows at the Bedford Armory in Brooklyn. Clad in pure white suits trimmed with gold and rhinestone embroidery, these kings of norteño music descend the stage, quickly taking their place in a corner of this standing-room only venue where they will sign autographs and pose for pictures with hundreds, if not thousands, of fans.
The swelling crowd—a sea of cowboy hats and tight jeans—dutifully line up for a moment in the limelight, and some compulsive hugs and kisses, with their musical heroes. For the caballeros without bent-brims, Los Tigres frontman, Jorge Hernández, takes off his signature white felt hat and in a telling exchange of camaraderie, fondly places it on their heads.
“I love norteño music but Los Tigres are extra special because they are 100 percent real,” said Puebla native Mauricio Pérez, fresh from a photo-op. “They sing about what happens to us Mexicans when we come to this country. Their music reaches my heart and soul.”
Pérez’s emotional connection to the band resonates throughout this expansive yet tightly packed hall. The traditional photo session, like their popular music, is a testament to the fierce loyalty and respect Los Tigres have to their devotees, a multigenerational blend of families, bouncy teens and young lovers entwined.
During their nearly 40-year musical career, the Mexican-born, California-bred group has been merited the melodious voice of the people, and rightly so. Their corridos—or storytelling ballads—chronicle the real-life struggles of migrants trying to make it on this side of the border, the social injustices they will encounter along the way and of the sometimes forgotten cultural pride they should never abandon.
As often is the case during their live shows, the group’s impassioned words reach the masses and for a few magical hours underneath the spectacle of whirling lights, the avid listeners are made to feel that they are in a place with no boundaries, where they can celebrate their humanity in a safe and festive environment.
Tonight’s performance is no different.
“Who picks the harvest? Who works in the restaurants, hotels and in construction? Many times they don’t even pay us,” demands Jorge, raising his fist with conviction midway through, De paisano a paisano. “If only my song could destroy the borders so that the world could live as one nation.”
The 8,000-strong Armory crowd breaks out into jubilant cheer as Los Tigres continue their rollicking play. Their socially-conscious music, infused with the sounds of accordions, bajo sexto guitars, thunderous drums and mellifluous saxophones, never fails to bring the audience to its dancing feet. It is a boisterous scene quieted only for brief moments in between songs, when the band reads off notes sent to the stage by fans calling out to family and friends back home in faraway and at times no longer reachable places like Guerrero, Jalisco and Oaxaca.
Though Los Tigres del Norte have been singing about the immigrant experience since they formed in 1968, their music is perhaps more poignant today as it gains mainstream notoriety. As politicians hotly debate what to do with the millions of undocumented people living in the U.S., Los Tigres have come to serve as a beacon to the voiceless Hispanic immigrant, defending their rights through melody and song.
The band made up by Hernández brothers, Jorge, Hernán, Eduardo and Luis, and cousin Oscar Lara, are fundamentally aware of the challenges immigrants face, having themselves emigrated from Rosa Morada,
a small town in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, when they were very young to pursue their musical dream. Los Tigres, so named by a border official, first crossed the U.S.-Mexican frontera as children to play at a Mexican Independence Day parade in San Jose, California—a city they still call home.
“Our music has always been about uplifting the immigrants’ spirit and keeping their morals high,” said Hernán, Los Tigres’ electric bass player and vocalist. “That is why it is so important.”
Indeed, their musical significance cannot only be measured by their vast number of international fans (they have played before 120,000 people in Mexico) and the more than 32 million albums sold, but by the numerous accolades attained in recent times.
Their 2006 hit record, Historias que
contar (Stories to Tell) received both a Latin Grammy and a Grammy for Best Norteño Album. The awards add to the four other Grammys they have under their shiny vaquero belts.
Those recent wins were followed up this year on March 23 when Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI) presented Los Tigres with the distinguished ICON award, an honor bestowed in the past to such luminaries as Carlos Santana and Juan Luis Guerra. The tribute holds significant weight for the group because so many of their songs are spun from the real-life stories their fans share with them after shows and in letters.
Their New York stop marked the first leg of their 10-month-long tour where they will be unveiling their 40th album, Detalles y emociones, (Details and Emotions) due out March 27.
The forthcoming record continues in typical Los Tigres fashion with politically charged songs about recent immigration marches and the highly contested Mexican presidential election last year, along with more message-oriented compositions about living the correct path.
Detalles their first single off the album, is more of a romantic reminder to fans that material wealth should never be a substitute to the small details in life, like showing love and kindness to your fellow man.
“We’re trying to say that money doesn’t bring you happiness, it’s the little things like opening the door for a woman or bringing her a flower, that mean so much,” explained Jorge. “It’s a universal song.”
Los Tigres are used to expounding lessons through their art. Take their 1986 hit La jaula de oro (The Golden Cage), a song about how immigrants forget to instill their culture to their children in the face of economic progress.
A sure-fired highlight to Detalles y emociones will be the daring track El muro (The Wall) a song that challenges the notion of President Bush’s proposed 700-mile long fence along the U.S.-Mexico border by recalling that throughout history, walls built in places like Germany and China did not work. Jorge sings the song not only in his native Spanish, but in German, French, English and Farsi.
“A wall isn’t going to stop people from coming,” he declared.
Los Tigres del Norte are no strangers to controversy, having built their successes in part on songs that chronicle the lives of drug smugglers. They are among the pioneers of the musical style narcocorridos, songs about social pariahs that have been censored on Mexican radio. Their first hit in the early 1970s, Contrabando y traición (Contraband and Betrayal) launched Los Tigres into fame. The love song, as Jorge refers to it, is about the real-life accounts of Emilio Varela and Camelia la Tejana, a troubled couple who carry marijuana across the border in the tires of their car. Later, when Emilio wants to leave Camelia, she fatally shoots him seven times. Spanish novelist Arturo Pérez Reverte would turn the song into the book La Reina del Sur, in 2002.
The unassuming group retells the sordid tale while over dinner, sipping on herbal tea and honey. Far from the spotlight, Los Tigres appear tranquil and composed, trading their glittery uniforms for sweaters, slacks and blazers. They are a curiously humble band of brothers, familial and cordial in spirit, attentive and witty by nature.
“We’re not trying to glorify traffickers, we’re just singing about the truth,” says Hernán. “We get the stories from the people and we put it into melodies and lyrics.
Los Tigres del Norte have stayed true to that mission during the last four decades, one that has resultantly elevated norteño music to reputable levels worldwide. As the Hispanic population continues to grow in this country, so do the number of emerging norteño bands. Los Tigres embrace the competition—even if they reign supreme in the genre, one that they have modernized to fit their musical style.
“It’s good for the music,” says Eduardo, Los Tigres’ saxophonist, bajo sexto and accordionist. “The more groups there are, the music just gets stronger.”
That strength is not only fortified in their playing, but in turning to the past. To preserve the sound long after they are gone, the band formed the Los Tigres del Norte Foundation, donating $500,000 to UCLA to digitize 17,000 78-rpm records of traditional early 20th century Mexican music.
“Little by little all the artists from before are disappearing,” Hernán said. “No one knows about this music. We just want to help keep it alive.”
For now, with their vigor and the strong support of their fans behind them, Los Tigres will continue to play to sold-out crowds deep into their hearts and long into the night.
As the second New York show of the night ended after 3 a.m., Los Tigres were not remiss in taking another round of photos with their fans beyond 4 a.m. Later that same day, they would head to Washington D.C. to once again play into the small hours of the night. Tiredness is not a factor when it comes to their supporters.
“We’ve always loved them because they sing songs about us immigrants,” said Flora Cohetero, who brought her son, Yoboni, to the concert to realize his dream of meeting the band.
The 11-year-old boy who is bound to a wheelchair, stricken by cerebral palsy, had no problem expressing his admiration for Los Tigres del Norte.
“I like them very much,” he said with a wide-eyed smile. “Because they sing so nice, so true.”