Los Tigres del Norte
photo: dwight mccann · cc by-sa 2.5 ↗Jorge Hernández and his brothers and cousins formed Los Tigres del Norte as teenagers in Rosa Morada, Sinaloa, before relocating to San Jose, California, where they were discovered playing local dances. Their 1974 single 'Contrabando y Traición' launched the modern narcocorrido and a career that has sold over 30 million albums and won more Grammys than any other Mexican act, built on plainspoken corridos about immigration, crime, and the border.
Growing up at fiestas in their hometown, the Hernández brothers were introduced to Los Alegres de Terán, the duo remembered as the fathers of modern norteño — their accordion-and-bajo-sexto corrido format is the direct ancestor of the sound Los Tigres del Norte built their career on.
listen forLos Alegres de Terán's 'Alma Enamorada' and Los Tigres del Norte's 'Contrabando y Traición' both ride that foundational bounce of accordion against bajo sexto underneath a plainly sung story.
Los Tigres del Norte came up listening to norteño groups like Los Cadetes de Linares, whose corridos about ordinary people's crimes and tragedies were part of the genre landscape the Hernández brothers absorbed before writing their own.
listen forLos Cadetes de Linares' 'Los Dos Amigos' and Los Tigres' 'La Banda del Carro Rojo' both spin a plainspoken tale of friendship and betrayal gone wrong over a driving norteño two-step.
At the same hometown fiestas that introduced them to norteño acts, the young Hernández brothers were also exposed to national mariachi and ranchera stars like Pedro Infante, whose warmly sung romantic ballads shaped the softer, bolero-adjacent side of Los Tigres' catalog.
listen forPedro Infante's tender 'Cien Años' and the romantic warmth inside Los Tigres del Norte's own bolero-adjacent ballad 'La Puerta Negra' share that same unhurried, plainly sung sincerity, even though Los Tigres built their name on hard-edged corridos.