By: Fredwill Hernandez
To commemorate their “fifteen years” musical [group] trajectory, “Popular Mexican Music” act Enigma Norteño, releases Que Siga La Fiesta (XV Aniversario), an album with nineteen songs which features [collaborations] by fellow Norteño singer/songwriters and colleagues that include among others, Pancho Barraza, Alfredo Olivas, Lennin Ramirez, Regulo Caro,Grupo Maximo Grado, Adriel Favela, Grupo Codiciado, and Roberto Tapia, a “trend started” in the Norteño realm [in my opinion] by Gerencia 360’s exclusive recording artist [Adriel] Favela with his album Señalado Por Costumbre which had “multiple artists features” and was basically an album full of collaborations, among them [coincidently] also featuring Enigma Norteño, on the song “El Samo.”
“Fifteen years seems easy but it’s a whole lifetime, fifteen years ago we had a dream [an idea] to form a group, and ten years ago we [finally] started bringing our music over [the border] here to United States. This album and our anniversary is a [big] big milestone. Pancho Barraza, [for example] when I was in elementary school — I would listen to his music, never in a million years could I have imagined that years later I [ or we] would have a feature [collaboration] with him,” explained Freddy Hernandez [the group’s accordionist and] one of three of the group’s original members. “Grupo Codiciado is fairly new, so to some of their fans they’ll probably hear our collaboration and think [“El Mago”] is a new song not knowing or [some even] realizing that the song was originally released [like] eight years ago, [so] these collaborations are important “in the sense” it will get us known or [could possibly] introduce us to some of their followers and fans or vice versa.”
During the intimate press conference, held at the Capitol Record Bldg., Universal Music Latin Entetainment’s [Fonovisa] executives surprised the group with a birthday cake as attendees joined in to sing Happy Birthday and Las Mañanitas in Spanish.
“Even though the songs on this album were “previously released” hits, we replayed everything — extending the songs and leaving [for example] extra bars on the bridge for the artists collaborating to make up and say something. During Alfredo Olivas’ participation, during the recording session he said “Que Siga La Fiesta” y que cumplan 100 años mas,” [Spanish for Let the Party Continue and hope you celebrate 100 more years], and that’s how the album got its name,” explained Ernesto Barraja, the group’s frontman, singer, and bass player, who added that the group plans on having a free concert in Culiacan, Sinaloa [Mexico], where the group is from in hopes that “all the artists” featured on the album can attend. “Yesterday we had coffee and discussed among other things a few dates with Adriel Favela. We also spoke to Jimmy [of Rancho Humilde] for dates [and concerts] with some of his artists’ like Los Hijos de Bárron and Los Alegres del Barranco for the franchise Los Reyes Del Corrido [tour] that will take us to plazas and venues throughout the U.S. we have never played at before.”
