“You put the keys where you’d usually hear violins - that’s what makes it more Bukis.”

“It’s got the same characteristics, but the instruments have different voices,” says Roberto Guadarrama. This synthesis of old and new hurtled Los Bukis, as well as Ana Bárbara and Joan Sebastian, towards pan-Latin American stardom. Although the traditional song structures of regional styles like norteño, banda, cumbia and mariachi remained intact, traditional instruments like the accordion and strings were jettisoned in favor of electric guitar and synths. “If a song came to me in the middle of the night … I’d just go back to sleep.”Īs a band, Los Bukis also shepherded the rise of grupera, a hybrid of regional Mexican and pop-rock sounds that first emerged in the 1970s. “I can’t do what he does,” says Joel of his cousin. “Even if it’s 6 a.m., and I only have one of those little hotel notebooks to write on, I have to answer the call.” “Songs come to me by the grace of God,” he explains. “Like other pop juggernauts such as Earth, Wind & Fire or even the Rolling Stones, their music is so integral to a certain generation that I bet the children and sometimes the grandchildren of the original fans can hum along to ‘Tu Cárcel,’” says Felix Contreras, co-creator and host of NPR’s Alt.Latino program.īy his own admission, Marco has a habit of rhapsodizing about even the most mundane of things when asked about the inspiration behind his darkly romantic, sometimes hypertheatrical lyrics, he says the real creative juice flows from the fountain of the divine. The band chose “Tu Cárcel” to re-record ahead of the reunion shows, says Marco, “because that’s the essential Bukis sound - a song that came to me like an epiphany.” A work of tropical pop served cold as ice, the song, as well as its corresponding album, “Me Volvi a Acordar de Ti,” sold more than a million copies, achieving diamond status in Mexico. In the four decades since their inception, Los Bukis have earned their reputation as Mexico’s designated love doctors, through standout hits like the 1986 breakup ballad “ Tu Cárcel,” (“Your Prison”). (“And Mexico City,” interjects Cortéz.) “But we were kids, and we liked the sound of it.” “We’re from further south - Michoácan, Zacatecas,” says Marco. The name “Los Bukis” translates to “The Little Kids” in the Indigenous Yaqui language, which originated in northern Mexico. “Everybody was Hermanos Nuñez, Hermanos Huerta,” says Joel with a laugh. I think a lot of our fans can relate to that.”Įventually, Los Hermanitos Solís realized they needed a more memorable name to stand out in Los Angeles, which was already teeming with regional Mexican bands. The beauty of being innocent is not being burdened with guilt. In fact, a helicopter came looking for us, but we weren’t afraid. “We had such a provincial innocence back then. “We didn’t know what degree of danger we were in,” Marco reflects. Despite the band’s immense popularity with SoCal’s Mexican American community, says Flores, “I didn’t think that tickets would sell out so quickly.”

He surprised his mother with passes to the SoFi show, which he had ceremoniously hand-delivered to her by a Solís impersonator. “Los Bukis are the Mexican Beatles,” says Erik Flores, 27. Upon adding a second date in Los Angeles, Los Bukis sold it out once more at lightning speed - then tacked on additional stadium dates in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Arlington, Texas and Oakland. “Mexico was our birthplace,” says Solís, “but California was the cradle.” Two-plus decades later, Hans Schafer, the head of Live Nation Latin, says that the band sold out the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium within minutes - faster than the Rolling Stones sold tickets to their SoFi show in October. In August 1995, Los Bukis performed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before 60,000 fans for what would have been their last-ever L.A. “It didn’t give us much in the beginning, but it’s where we recorded most of our records. is very representative of us,” says Marco Antonio Solís, Los Bukis’ famously coiffed lead singer and songwriter, now 61. Earlier this summer, long-dormant Mexican superstars Los Bukis - whose ballads have soundtracked generations of Latino barbecues, weddings and Saturday cleaning sprees but who last performed some 25 years ago - shocked their fans by announcing a comeback tour, “Una Historia Cantada” (A History in Song).

Cristy solis sexy