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5:00 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
PAVILION
FIESTA RAVINIA
MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE
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LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE
LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE
Decamping from Mexico for sunny San Jose,
CA, when he was barely a teenager, Jorge
Hernández, together with three of his younger
brothers—Hernán, Eduardo, and Raúl—and
cousin Oscar Lara, initially traveled north in
search of jobs to support their family back
home. However, in forming the band Los Tigres
del Norte, they found much more than steady
work as musicians, quickly earning a voracious
following with their original songs emphasizing
contemporary social issues and other themes
that spoke to the experience of Mexican-Amer-
icans.
e band began playing in parks and on
local radio broadcasts once the quintet arrived
in California in the late
s, but they were
soon given the opportunity to record their cor-
ridos and quickly tapped into a massive audi-
ence with “Contrabando y Traición,” a ballad
about a woman who shoots her drug-running
lover and takes o with the money.
e song
became so popular that it inspired a telenovela
about the ctitious protagonist. Always socially
conscious, Los Tigres set themselves apart from
other corrido performers by never glorifying
the criminals in their ballads. Los Tigres’ ascent
to fame turned their genre of norteno music,
previously localized to the Mexican-American
border, into an international sensation, with Los
Tigres as its foremost icon.
e band has also
since been named one of the most in uential
Latin artists of all time by
Billboard
, having also
contributed such modern touchstones as “Jaula
de Oro,” which tells of life in the “gilded cage”
of the United States and laments the erosion of
Mexican culture among the children of immi-
grants. In addition to having won several Gram-
my and Latin Grammy Awards across their vast
discography, Los Tigres have been named BMI
Icons and recently received a star on the Holly-
wood Walk of Fame. Los Tigres del Norte rst
played Ravinia in
and returned the past
two summers to headline Fiesta Ravinia.
MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE
Founded in
, Mariachi Flor de Toloache
was originally a trio of violin, vihuela, and harp,
but has since become a full ensemble with mem-
bers contributing musical heritages of Mexico,
Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Aus-
tralia, Colombia, Germany, Italy, and the United
States. Led by founding singers Mireya Ramos
and Shae Fiol, the group uses this cultural pot-
pourri to create an edgy, versatile, and fresh take
on traditional Mexican music, enrapturing au-
diences not unlike its namesake, the toloache
ower, which has historically been used in
Mexico in making love potions. While working
to preserve the similarly ages-old traditions of
mariachi, Flor de Toloache makes a mélange
with modernity to further the boundaries of the
genre and bring it to a new generation. In recent
years, the group has toured Europe and the US
as the opener for e Arcs, a new band by Dan
Auerbach of the Black Keys—following sold-out
performances in the UK, Germany, Holland, It-
aly, and France, they captivated crowds in their
home state of New York, as well as at First Av-
enue in Minneapolis,
e Vic in Chicago, and
the Ryman Auditorium (the Grand Ole Opry)
in Nashville. Mariachi Flor de Toloache earned
critical acclaim, as well as a Latin Grammy nom-
ination, for its eponymous debut album in
,
and the group won Best Ranchero Album hon-
ors from the Latin Grammys for its most recent
disc,
Las Caras Lindas
. e all-female group has
also contributed to albums by Chicano Batman,
Snarky Puppy guitarist Chris McQueen, and
Luba Mason. Following a highly praised perfor-
mance on NPR’s
Tiny Desk Concert
series, Ma-
riachi Flor de Toloache reteamed with e Arcs
for appearances on
e Late Show with Stephen
Colbert
, and BBC ’s
Later with Jools Holland
.
Mariachi Flor de Toloache made its Ravinia de-
but at
’s Fiesta.
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