LA HISTORIA DE LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE

     Los Tigres del Norte all began with a man by the name of Jorge Hernández. He formed the band with his brothers Hernán, Eduardo and Luis, as well as his cousin Oscar Lara. The members varied over the years but there are currently five family members in the band today.
     Their name arose when an immigration official called the boys "little tigers" as they crossed the border, eventually bound for San Jose. (Reference)

In 1968, the band of young teens moved from Sinaloa, Mexico to San Jose, California in search of better means of supporting their family following an injury that prevented their father, D. Eduardo Hernández, from ranching any longer. The group began recording and were sponsored by a local record company, Discos Fama. At first, the group was only locally popular but once their hit song, "Contrabando y Traición" (1974) was heard by the public, their career began to skyrocket. The song, meaning Contraband and Betrayal, is about a couple of drug runners, Emilio Varela and Camelia la Texana. There had been occasional ballads (corridos) about the cross-border drug trade ever since Prohibition in the 1920s, but never a song as cinematic as this. It features a woman smuggler who shoots the man and takes off with the money. It hit big time on both sides of the border and began one of the most remarkable careers in Spanish-language music. (Reference)

Click here to watch a quick video with more history on Los Tigres del Norte!