In Pepe Aguilar, two musicians coexist: one who is rooted in traditional Mexican sounds and the other who likes to explore rock, pop and other genres to find a unique imprint. In fact, the youngest son of Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre, one of the most emblematic couples in Mexico, He began his career as an artist on the fringes of rock.
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The path led him to stand out as a mariachi, the genre of his father and of all his lineage. However, José Antonio –his given name– has never abandoned the genre of his youth. And every now and then he mixes those worlds that seem so improbable and turns them into a sound that is very much his own.
This is heard on his most recent album, Let it rain tequila, which may seem like a traditional music album, but in essence it is something more than mariachi. In an interview with EL TIEMPO, Aguilar spoke about his career of more than 35 years, his children Angela and Leonardo, and the concert he will offer with them at the Movistar Arena on October 25.
‘Que llueva tequila’ is your most recent album and is a fusion of traditional Mexican music with contemporary sounds. For example, the video ‘Hasta que me duermo’ shows that duality between the charro and the rocker. How do these dualities coexist in you?
I have always been like this. From the beginning of my career I have fused instruments that are not necessarily from mariachi or regional Mexican music. I have balanced my career between very Mexican and folk music with more contemporary music, pop and rock. In the case we are talking about, it is more rock than pop. Fusion is something that really draws my attention and I don’t put limits on myself when it comes to making the kind of mariachi I make.
You come from a very traditional Mexican family, in terms of music. How hard was it for you to start exploring sounds other than mariachi? Did you have any clashes with your father because of that?
Although my father had come from a ranch, he wanted to do opera, he started in that genre. His story inspired me when I wanted to do rock. In fact, my first album was rock, I released it in 1986. When he saw that I was focused and serious, and that it was something real and passionate, he didn’t tell me that I had to sing rancheras. What he told me was, “I don’t know how well you’re going to do in that, like you do well with Mexican music, but it’s about what fulfills you, not what I believe.” He was a very wise man. He had me at 50 years old, so he already knew how to handle absolutely everything. He let me be, surely because they didn’t let him be at the time.
Pepe Aguilar followed in the footsteps of his father, Antonio, continuing the legacy of the mariachi family. His children, Angela and Leonardo, did the same.
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Being in rock helped me 100% because everything I learned from the genre I use in my rancheras and in the productions I make for other artists. I mean, rock is very educational, you have to do everything: compose, produce, direct, play, arrange.
How beneficial was it for your career to start with rock?
Being in rock helped me 100% because everything I learned from the genre I use in my rancheras and in the productions I make for other artists. I mean, rock is very instructive, you have to do everything: compose, produce, direct, play, arrange. And in rancheras, no. In rancheras it’s just Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Javier Solís, Vicente Fernández, Antonio Aguilar. They are singers, they didn’t produce their records, they didn’t write their songs, they didn’t play the music. They sang. So rock gave me the chance to get into more things and thanks to that I am what I am.
Why do you think your father told you that maybe you wouldn’t do as well with rock as you did with ranchera? Because of the closed audience? Because you were an Aguilar?
We weren’t that bad or that good, we weren’t going to break it either, and I think he saw that. Maybe the group would have evolved, but those were different times. In Mexico, there were no media outlets that played that kind of music, I mean, there wasn’t a single radio station that played rock in Spanish. Much less were there publications, magazines, newspapers. There was no Twitter, Spotify, YouTube. So, if you weren’t on the radio, people weren’t going to listen to you. And that’s what happened to us. There were many factors against us. And when my relationship with the record label that had signed me as a rocker ended, there were several offers, but as a singer of Mexican music. Because at the same time that I was doing rock, I was doing Mexican music. For me, it was very normal to be dressed as a charro and then as a rocker.
Did you become a producer because of rock?
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Aguilar has a 35-year artistic career.
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Yes, I have had to do almost everything I am because life has forced me to do it. I became a producer because if I didn’t become a producer, I wouldn’t have a way to make my group sound. In Mexican music I also became my own producer because I didn’t have one. The first and only mariachi producer I had was Joan Sebastian, who was charging a lot more to make my second album, after the tremendous success of Remember me pretty in 1992. He was absolutely right. At the time, I took it as an affront, as something personal. And I decided to produce myself. From that album, which was called ExcellentI made all the albums myself. With Excellent We got to first place and that gave me a lot of confidence and showed me that I could do it, that this was the way. And it’s even better, because I write my records, I make them, I put the songs that I like and that’s it. In rock I became a producer and then life put obstacles in my way that led me to become other things.
As a producer, you have to be very aware of trends. What do you listen to to stay up to date with what’s happening in the industry?
You have to listen to what’s new by genre. I look at a lot of new alternative rock, electronic music, regional Mexican music, classical music, which are the genres I like the most. But you also have to see what young people and the new generations are doing. The most important thing is not to lose the essence. If you listen to an album of mine from 30 years ago and one from now, obviously you’ll notice the evolution in my voice and in my music, but they keep the same essence. In short, I listen to all kinds of music, even the one I don’t like.
Like which one?
I’m not going to say it, but it’s music that says bad words. Call me old-fashioned, very conservative, but I don’t know, it seems to me that we’ve lost the ability to do something poetic or that makes you think. And that’s very fashionable. But well, the new trends teach you what you don’t want to do.
It’s been a long career, and now you mentioned that your music retains the essence from your first album to ‘Que llueva tequila’, what else stands out about your career?
They will only be presented in Bogotá.
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This gives me a chance to ask a question I had planned about how much you put aside your career as an artist to devote yourself to your children and their careers…
I never gave up my career, there are the numbers and the thousands of shows I continued to do. But there was a time when my priority was them, to train them. So I did get distracted a little, but never to the point of showing it. I have been doing at least 60 shows a year for 25 years, in arenas, in large theaters, in stadiums.
Are there similarities or differences between your relationship with your father and yours as Leonardo and Angela’s father?
There are many that are the same and there are others that have nothing to do with it. My father had his
I have a way of thinking about family. I have it too, and as far as career goes I think we do many things exactly the same, like, for example, taking the family on tours. That’s not very common. Another thing that I have the same as my father is the tremendous love for traditions, it’s like an obsession, I start to cry when I hear Mexican music. For my birthday (August 7), a friend brought me a mariachi and, although I have a mariachi and I’m dedicated to this, it was the best gift, it brought tears to my eyes. With that I think that what I do is what I’m passionate about, what I should continue doing.
Speaking of your children, what stands out about each of them?
Although Angela has trained her voice and has not stopped preparing, she was very talented and in tune from a very young age. It came very naturally to her. I don’t know how many people have experienced that, being 12 years old and singing a song that is more than 150 years old at the Grammys, the whole audience stands up to applaud her. Today she dominates the stage better and sings better and better. Leonardo, on the other hand, is more like me in that we had to develop our art, it didn’t come to us naturally. I wasn’t born with the angel from the factory, I had to make it. That’s what happens to him. Leonardo composes more songs than his sister, he plays more instruments, he has had to work harder and that has made him a more complete artist for the moment, but he doesn’t have the success of his sister. It’s a very strange thing. Nobody knows what’s going on. Each one has their own thing. That’s the good thing, they are not cut from a mold, I let them be. That’s one of the other things I do like my father. He let me be. And even though it hurts sometimes, I let them be.
What can your fans expect from the concert you will give with your children?
It is a 100% rancheras and mariachi show and of great quality. Everything around it is super technological with artificial intelligence. Although it is a Mexican music show, it is different from any other. That is why you have to come and see it for yourself, because I don’t know how to compare it with anything else. There are 30 musicians on stage, the costumes, the dancers, us singing as a family, which is beautiful. Come and celebrate the brotherhood that exists between Colombia and Mexico with this show, I am sure you will like it. It is from my family, to the Colombian family. It is a dream to be back.
Natalia Tamayo Gaviria
SUNDAY EDITORIAL
X: @nataliatg13
