From playing in a venue to conquering big stages

Almost four decades ago, a young Enrique “Quique” Rangel went to one of the few places in Mexico City where live rock was played to see new bands, like the one he himself was about to form, Café Tacvba. The place was called Tutti Frutti, it could hold about 200 people, and one of the novelties he found there was called Caifanes, it was 1987.

“I saw Caifanes in ’87, at the end, before they released an album,” he said. “I remember that time, I liked one called La bestia humano, which is a song from their first album. Of course, Mátenme por me muero, also from the first album, I love them, they blew my mind when I heard them (live) ) and then hearing them on record, and then seeing them grow, is very important.

Eventually, Café Tacvba, completed by Rubén Albarrán, Emmanuel “Meme” from Real and Quique’s brother, Joselo Rangel, also appeared at Tutti Frutti in their first shows.

Now they are on a joint tour with Caifanes through the United States and Canada. After successful presentations in cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Albuquerque and El Paso, they will continue with dates in Dallas, New York, Toronto, Chicago and Indianapolis. In the tour concerts, each group plays approximately one hour and some of its musicians, such as Del Real and Diego Herrera from Caifanes, have exchanged bands to perform some songs.

“I love this idea of ​​touring groups,” Rangel said. “With Zoé we did a tour a few years ago. It enhances the call, the expectation. It makes something more special.”

Café Tacvba’s most recent release is La bas(e), a song with lyrics inspired by children’s games with which they pay tribute to the public that follows them in the United States.

“Several of the phrases that Joselo took to make the song, to write it, are phrases that Rubén uses to celebrate this enthusiasm that people show when we are at the shows there,” said Rangel. “The people who live there, who left, who have had families and have gone to work, find there in our concerts… it becomes a celebration of identity.”

Rangel announced that La bas(e) will be part of a group of songs that they will release in the coming months. “We don’t know if it will become an album, I guess at some point we’ll compile it,” he said.

Recently, Draco Rosa included a version of Café Tacvba’s hit Eres on his album Reflejos de lo siempre. Rangel welcomed this version.

“Just as we on the album Avalancha de Hits took other people’s songs and made them our own, people have the right to do what they want with ours, whether we like it or not,” he said. “I think our music is enriched by other people’s interpretations and, if not, it’s a compliment that they want to interpret our songs anyway.”

Rangel also takes time to continue listening to new artists, he was a guest at the first concert of Bu Cuarón, the daughter of filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, in Mexico.

“Alfonso Cuarón invited several of his friends to see the premiere of Bu at the Emblema Festival,” said Rangel. “I already had some reference to what he had done, he made a song for a tribute album of (the film) Roma and I had heard two other songs… I think there is talent, I think there is a search to find his voice, but I think that There is a delivery and management of the stage, which I could not believe that this is the second time he has performed professionally.”

At the beginning of the year, Rangel collaborated on a song for Osvaldo Benavides’ first film Noche de bodas, in which, in addition to directing, the actor co-stars with Ludwika Paleta.

“I would like to work for a series or a movie doing more of a score (original music),” Rangel said about his taste for audiovisual media. “There is concern about continuing to make music elsewhere.”

Rangel is a member, along with the musician Mike Sandoval, of the Dos Contrabajos project with which they have made music for installations by artists such as Abraham Cruzvillegas or Luis Felipe Ortega, as well as for a short film by the actress Chula The Clown, plays and music for a movie.

“It’s a more experimental project, more of a search,” he said. “This project is improvised music where we generate atmospheres, percussive issues, all from our instruments.”