Saúl Viera, “El gavilancillo,” ten years later
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Today, April 11th, 2008, is the tenth anniversary of the death of one of the more famous singers from Los Ángeles, Saúl Viera. He was killed in the parking lot of a Denny’s in Bellflower by an unknown assailant; his girlfriend, who was with him at the time, was not harmed.
Chalino in 1992, Saúl in 1998… Both became inmortales for La Que Buena, the only station that plays their songs in L.A. To this day, you still hear La Que Buena playing their music. Go to Huntington Park, South Gate, Bell, or any of the cities nearby, and you’ll hear at least one car blasting their music.
Before reading any further, go to this MySpace page and listen to Viera’s “Los 3 compitas de L.A.” while reading the rest of the blog entry. It should be titled “Los 3 compitas de South Gate” since the only city named is South Gate, but then again, that’s just my own personal bias towards South Gate.
Saúl Viera’s music is as much a part of Los Ángeles as Toddy Tee and Los Lobos: they’re all music created by those who are not part of the American culture. Once they hit it big, the mainstream doesn’t notice. The mainstream didn’t notice Chalino and Saúl filling El Parral or El Farallon, selling cassettes like crazy in swap meets, but to the other “fringe” cultures that exist in Los Ángeles, they were the best, the top draws, the ultimate señores.
The gulf between the mainstream and the “fringe” culture was shown for all on TV when Adan Sánchez, Chalino’s son, died in 2004 (at the age of 20, the beginning of his own artistic career, and in Sinaloa, his Chalino’s home state and where Chalino was killed) and his family decided to hold an open wake in his honor in Norwalk. A large, large crowd gathered and there was no police presence because they did not expect large crowds to come to see Adan for one last time. A confrontation ensued, showing just how ignorant the mainstream is of the “fringe” cultures.
I’m featuring two songs of Saúl Viera’s songs, arguably his most famous, “Caja de muerto” and “Querido amigo”. They were supposed to be this week’s videos, but I decided to push them back and be their own blog spot.
“Caja de muerto” is such a spiteful song. It uses the word pinche and La Que Buena makes no intention to bleep it when they broadcast the song. I love it for the hate in Saúl’s voice.
“Querido amigo” is my favorite Gavilancillo song. There’s just something about the voices of el Gavilancillo and el Rojo de Sinaloa that makes this song for me. It’s also a welcome change from the typical corridos sung by Saúl. Slow, melodic, with a message of fraternal aid and care.
Tune in to La Que Buena today and listen for el Gavilancillo’s songs. I sure hope La Que Buena honors one of their inmortales. As for me, since I’m Boston, away from Mexican music radio stations and in a land where most of the Mexicans at the university have no idea who the fuck Chalino or Saúl were and are (even those from L.A.), I’ll blast Saúl Viera all day from my earphones and my speakers.
Good post. One of the best I’ve read in a while.
Elyery
April 11, 2008 at 3:24 am
Wow compa, me sorprende encontrar alguien con tan buen gusto y critica por la musica Mexicana (En General) como tu. Exelente reseña.
chFROMmz
April 11, 2008 at 3:40 am
Not bad Diegito. Can’t forget “Las Tres Mujeres” and “Catarino y Los Rurales”
Enrique
April 11, 2008 at 12:32 pm
great post! it’s really important to document this kinda thing because no one else is doing it and it’s super influential in a city like los angeles.
chimatli
April 12, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Elyery, chFROMmz,
Thanks for the compliment.
Enrique,
I didn’t forget “Las tres mujeres” or “Catarino y los rurales”. I’m saving those for later.
Chimatli,
I have yet to ask anyone from L.A. if La Que Buena did anything on Friday for el Gavilancillo. I checked many of the Saúl Viera tribute MySpace pages and didn’t find many who mentioned the tenth anniversary of his passing. Even his own fans don’t know about this… I think it’s also important that he, Lupillo, Adán Sánchez, and las Voces del Rancho, are the new faces of the music of L.A. They’re not immigrants, but born and raised in L.A. and updating the music from México with American influences. Adán’s cover of Luther Vandross’ “Always and Forever” is an example of this.
soledadenmasa
April 13, 2008 at 11:43 am
Nice to know theres people around the USA that know about this music!!..
Marlene
May 5, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Marlene,
There are a lot of people in the United States who know of this music. Sadly, not a lot of them talk about it online.
soledadenmasa
May 17, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Ten years ago. me and some heads from UCLA had a website on corrridos, interviews, lyrics, etc etc…way before this web 2.0 thing blew up…I was amazed how many e-mails we used to get. we ran it off our ucla.edu account. i remember we did a tribute thing to Saul, since that was the year i uploaded it (time goes by quick!!) and had really positive response. there was a whole network of cyber compas doing links…a guy from MIT from Sinaloa, etc etc. the technology wasn’t there for us to do the level of reporting you’re doing now,which is really good.
our boys down at UCI, Armando Rubio & his brother ran a Radio Show on 88.9 KUCI for many years while they went to school there. they’re from south gate…man they so put it down. look em up.
they had on air interviews with pre-”Star” Status Lupillo, El As, Almikar y Leonel. People like Los Razos would come jam in the studio. it was hot…fu***ng light years ahead of anything being done in this genre on the air.
metro_vaquero
July 31, 2008 at 8:03 pm
of course we’re talking about 1998. I”ll send you photos of the events…made Los Tigres del Norte throw up “Ws” (watts up) for some pics we took with them when they performed at UCLA Royce Hall in 98.
metro_vaquero
July 31, 2008 at 8:05 pm
MV,
Do send them! Should I email you first?
I’m thinking of joining the campus radio station and getting my own Mexican music radio station on it. There is a growing number of Mexicans in Boston, and they might just need me to make their day…
soledadenmasa
July 31, 2008 at 9:19 pm
dang, i gotta find the album (before digital cameras) and scan them.
you should open that radio station. the success in Irvine was that the majority of the workers on campus were Raza…worked the night shift in the dorms, cleanup of buildings, etc. so there was a captive audience of Raza that would tune in on the FM. Not too mention, KUCI had a good radius of frequency so people from Santa Ana, Anaheim would call in. It was like Art Laboe’s show, people would send shout outs, “la flor de dalia” pa mi novia en Fullerton etc. When the UCI workers called in, that was the sh**.
metro_vaquero
July 31, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Wow!This is really good =) I KNEW he was killed in the parking lot of a Denny’s in Bellflower…And yeah, his dad passed away last year(i think).
I’ve been listening to Saul V. and Chalino since i was in 6th grade. Now im a Senior..lol..It’s really good music, I’d rather listen to this than what other girls usually listen to like rap or reggaeton…(Yeah im a girl and what!)…
And I almost have all Saul’s CD’s..what can I say, I’m a diehard fan…
Xtina
September 11, 2008 at 6:08 pm
saul viera’s dad did not die!! (his real dad i mean) i dont know if he had a step dad but i know his real dad and hes alivejus seen him last weeknd …
..MENSA!
jen
September 15, 2008 at 6:02 pm
estas si eran canciones no chigaderas como las de hoy y ariba nuevo mexico putos
fernando
September 28, 2008 at 2:19 pm
arriva Mexico y todos los plebes. Puros corridos perrones ago “bump” en mi truck. Puro pa delante mi raza!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ps: Arriva el contrabando
Juan
October 17, 2008 at 9:48 pm
i think he is cute
monisa
November 13, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Y NO SE OLVIDEN DEL CORRIDO DEL SAPO UNO DE MIS FAVORITOS! Y ARRIBA TEPATITLAN JALISCO COMPAS!!!
EL YEYO
December 19, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Mi familia vivia en Paramount,CA. igual que Saul a.k.a.PASE kids coe chillin y tambien como ADAN Y CHALINO pero la linea divisoria en Paramount y SouthGate era muy dificil como quieran llamarle estos tres cantantes eran de mi ciudad hace mucho cual era Paramount,CA. d.e.p. mis vecinos viejos.Soy DUREK 1
noe bracamontes
March 13, 2009 at 10:46 am
Unos de mis favoritos corridos de Saul Viera es Las 12 Hectareas. siempre le subo a todo volumen en mi carro a esta cancion! Y ARRIBA AGUASCALIENTES,MEXICO COMPITAS!!!
El Hidrocalido
March 25, 2009 at 3:24 am
you are right about voces, lupillo having american influences. i happen to have been voces’ and lupillo’s sound engineer for quite some time and it is true. voces listen to metallica, slipknot, chili pepers and so on the list goes on. they take what they feel might work and try to twist it into norteño music. just listen to the bass line in micaela and that double pedal eight notes on that track. all metallica influences.
juan M
April 20, 2009 at 12:54 am
REALLY GOOD POST COMPA!FOR REAL MAN,YO VIVI EN PARAMOUNT CA Y SI NO ME EQUIVOCO EL VIDEO DE 20 MUJERES SE GRABO EN EL PARQUE AL LADO DEL FREEWAY,VIVIMOS CON MI FAMILIA SOBRE LA GARDENDALE,COMO A TRES ESQUINAS DEL PARQUE,QUE DESCANCE EN PAZ EL COMPA SAUL VIERA,Y QUE SU FAMILIA HAIGA ENCONTRADO LA TRANQUILIDAD EN SU CORAZON,SALUDOS A MIS COMPAS DE PARAMOUNT,ALEX VELA,ISRAEL,REY DOG,DAVID,TWEETY,Y TODA LA CLICKA DEL SUR.DEL COMPA ”TAZ”
TAZ
June 10, 2009 at 10:29 am
puro pa delante raza y zero aguite pa la familia del gavilancillo.savemos que saul, en donde se encuentre se siente orgulloso de su gente,porque hasta la fecha se tocan sus corridos y canciones y sigue pegando machin.yo a mis 13 anos empeze a escuchar sus corridos,y la neta no abia nadien como el.era esa voz y ese stilo unico que le ponia a sus corridos y canciones que llamaba ala gente y hasta la fecha.soy orgulloso de ser mexicano y ser el #1 fan de mi compa gavilancillo yo todavia escuho y canto sus corridos.mucha gente dicen que tengo su voz,e cantado en el parral,y abel orosco dueno me quiso contratar.
angelino1
August 23, 2009 at 9:04 am
Great post my man. I always see how proud dominicans and puerto ricans are of their music, and sometimes us as chicanos or mexicanos, we seem to act as if we dont know who we are. I’m proud of our great music, artist such as Javier Solis, Pedro Infante, Jose Alfredo Jimenez and so on and so on. I love Chalinos music, and el Gavilancillo. Keep up the great blogs man. By the way, i hate reaggaton!! lol! I had to get that out of me.
So_Cal_Man
October 16, 2009 at 8:32 am
You’re still getting comments on this post… Crazy.
Elyery
October 26, 2009 at 8:14 pm
yea iam a big fan of saul viera he is my favorite artist my favorite song from him is caja de muerto well i like all his songs i think saul and chalino were the best
mauro
November 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm