Search - Los Tigres Del Norte :: De Paisano a Paisano

Huh? Que pasa?

12/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you already know Los Tigres, you already know that you either do or don't like them. I know of urban sophisticates from either side of the US/Mexican border who know enough of them to know they don't like them. My introduction to Los Tigres has been the title track of this album, which seemed to get hourly play on Fresno-area ranchera stations hourly for the latter half of 2000. Some seem to get down on the content of the lyrics, which aren't always complementry to the powers that be on either side of the US/Mexican border. The comparison that seems to work for me is that ranchera, tejano, and norteño are Mexican country and western music, and the best comparison I can come up with for these guys is Merle Haggard. Some people give Merle a great deal of credit for artistic integrity of a raw type, but few would consider him an intellectual. The mural that forms the cover of this album is interesting, "over the top", and invokes in me a certain nostalgia for murals created at the Iowa State University library in the 1930s by the WPA. One element is a sign saying "necesito mi libertad" being held by John F. Kennedy, César Chávez, Martin Luther King, Jr., Benito Juárez, Miguel Hidalgo, Pancho Villa, Sor Jauna Inez de la Cruz, and Doña Ortiz de Domíngez. On the other hand, "Necisito mi Libertad", while a nice slow, catchy waltz, is your basic "I'm leavin' ya, woman" song. So, if you've got'cha a college education and a start at being bilingual but you can still smile at "I've got Friends in Low Places", you might like this. If you wouldn't be caught dead listening to anything less than Miles Davis or Yo-Yo Ma, or if you're a Texas Republican, then click "next"."

The immigrant experience

Enrique Torres | San Diegotitlan, Califas | 11/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For more than years than I'd like to admit I've listened to one norteno band and that would be Los Tigres from you know where. I figure you might as well go with the best in a genre even if it is not your "everyday " music. That said I have always enjoyed the messages conveyed as these Mexicanos speak about the trials and tribulations of the immigrant experience. It is a music that crosses the border back and forth, played in old pick up trucks in the remotest of areas and new shiny trucks barreling down the dusty roads south of the Rio Bravo and in suv's on the highways an biways in El Norte(The North). This album , like many of their others, cuts through the pc world like a hot knife through mantequilla(butter) revealing the injustices, inequality and racism that is part of everyday existence in America, or more properly said, the United States. Just yesterday I was told to "go back to where you came from"(I was born in the US) as the coward locked his pretty mercedes benz after an arguement at a gas station. The music of Los Tigres hits on these daily occurences and much more. One of their favorite topics is the narco traficante(drug smuggler) whether he is an "innocent mule" or the big time boys who control politicians, cops and the local scene with the threat of death. Some of their songs have been banned. The music featured on this disc is like a freeze frame that shifts from song to song, suddenly opening the aperature to reveal a bigger picture. There is a certain innocence in spite of the harshness of the topics. This is down home music away from home. The title track "De Paisano a Paisano" (From Countryman to Countryman) finishes the song, after singing of the honor of going north and working the restaurants, cleaning hotels, picking the harvest and working constuction only to have the boss call(how convenient) the migra(immigration), by saying they would like a world without borders with one flag under one nation. They are not nationalists but dreamers. They sing about many subjects, as diverse and varied as Joaquin Murrieta , the internet and inflation to illustrate their postcards. Let the accordian , thumping bass and shoulder dip and swaying music fill your soul to feel the salt of the earth. Besides the great music the booklet included is fantastic. The cover is a beautiful mural featuring Los Tigres in the foreground amisdt such heroes as JFK, Caesar Chavez, MLK Jr., Benito Juarez, Pancho Villa, Miguel Hidalgo, Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz and others, including the everyday person represented in various forms in education and labor. The colorful, surreal futurstic mural is by Paul J. Botello and includes a three page artists statement on the mural. The mural is executed in the grand tradition of the master Mexcian(Rivera, Siquieros, Orozco)muralists of the the 1920-40 era. The lyrics to each song are included and no magnifying glass is needed! Unfortunately the lyrics are only in Spanish. Across from each page of lyrics is a blow up of a segment of the mural which really helps you see the detail from the original thirty by eighty foot mural. A terrific musical package that packs a punch for the downtrodden, this is Mexican country music for the soul. Even if you are not a big fan of norteno music these guys deserve a listen for the urgency of their message that shifts across the border daily in the form of the immigrant experience. "He who feels it, knows it"-Bob Marley."

The tigres are the best

G.V | oxnard,california.usa | 10/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"many people that havent followed the Tigres del norte throughout their fantastic career cannot be talking bad about them I've heard all their songs and i like them all not like other people that writes reviews not knowing nothing about the Tigres, but that shows how much you know about this cd and the rest of their music like just to mentined some "La Margarita" and "La Yaquecita" now those are cool songs."