NPR Music - Alt.Latino: The Los Tigres Tiny Desk explained

Episode Date: October 21, 2026

Last week we published a Tiny Desk Concert that ended up being unusual for a few reasons.First of all, it was the final production of our sixth annual El Tiny series. This was a very emotional moment for a lot of reasons. People really love Los Tigres del Norte, to the point that playing their albums feels like sitting with family. And if you’ve seen the introduction I gave the band just before they played at the desk you can see that I wasn’t embarrassed to get emotional when I talked about what the band means to me. That emotional intro led to some changes in our process and format that resulted in a huge response from the audience that went viral. The result was a messy moment behind the scenes here at NPR and more than a little confusion for a lot of you.This week’s episode looks back at last week. First we want to share with you, directly from us, an explanation of what happened.But mostly we want to put the spotlight back on the band and their music because for decades they have been bringing out the kind emotions that got this whole thing started.Give it a listen and enjoy the music. Again. - FelixThis podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and edited by Jacob Ganz and Otis Hart. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

From NPR music, this is all Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisemay begin. And Felix, there's actually Chisme this week, which usually we don't have. And it's about you and us and the Tiny Desk. And I know it's serious because you just used your news voice. Guilty.

We're talking about the Tiny Desper performance by Los Tigres del Norte, which published late last week. And our introduction to the concert that became, a big conversation, and yes, even international news. We're going to spend some time talking about the amazing performance on this episode. Okay, I want to start with why we wanted to bring them in in the first place, because I first heard them as a teenager in California. And remember, I'm second generation Mexican-American or Chicano.

My parents were born here. Some of my mom's family is from New Mexico. And as the band sings in one of the songs, the border moved on them. My appreciation for the band has always been for them as storytellers, for the Mexican and the Mexican-American experience. So that's where I was when I said this. Our community is under attack, and it's not the first time. You can go back to 1848 when they changed the border.

You can go back to after Second World War during the so-called Operation Wetback. It takes away our humanity, okay? For as long as I can remember, these gentlemen have been giving us back our humanity. So it's a, I'm sorry, but it's a really big honor for us. For favor, Los Tigres in Northe. You can see in the video, Felix, for those who haven't seen it, I'm standing there right next to you, and we're both very visibly crying. And I'm going to get a little personal here, Felix.

On my side, I blame publicist John Riley because right before Tigres went on stage, he told me that my dad, who passed away a couple months ago, would never have. been more proud of me. And I think a lot of people feel that level of closeness to the Tigris, their family for so many of us. It's what I said in the video. And so usually we don't put those introductions the way we present a band into our videos. And we don't usually publish them on Instagram separately. We, for this particular show, did both of those things. And people responded amazingly. I saw so many comments of people echoing a lot of the sentiments that you and I are sharing right now. They said that it felt like they were being seen, like they were

being advocated for, like we care about them, which, as we all know, is a tricky subject in this country, Latinos in the media. Okay, first of all, I think you can tell how important the band is to me by the emotion in the intro. And honestly, like being there in front of them and explaining what they mean to me and why they mean so much to me, you know, that's, I think that's what pushed me over the edge, man. I lost it even though I tried not to. I told myself it wasn't going to do it. And, Anna, I know you've seen me cry a few times, but it was a different experience to have literally millions of people share that experience with me on social media, maybe even a little bit overwhelming, because within a day, the video was approaching two million views on YouTube and

over 14 million views on Instagram, which might be our fastest growing tiny desk video on Instagram of all time. But then something happened and then we have to explain that. And before we get into it, Felix, I feel like it's fair to say that that outpouring of love and community meant a lot to us. We care about this audience, our Latino audience, more than anything. And so we want to be as transparent as possible about what happened after we published the introduction. Some things didn't happen the way that they were supposed to. The intro was cut and then later restored, and we have to explain how and why. Okay, the truth of that moment is that I shared empathy with the community under attack. I included myself as part of that community.

And without going too deep into explaining our processes here in NPR or in journalism in general, you need to know that Tiny Desk is a part of NPR. NPR. NPR is known mostly as a news organization, an independent, listener-supported news organization, and the Tiny Desk is a branch of this big, tree. Now, all of us here at NPR have to follow the same ethical guidelines, regardless of what team we're on or what department we're in. It helps keep trust with the audience and with sources. There have been and will be a lot of conversations within NPR about how we navigate those boundaries, being a person and being a journalist. But on Friday, our standards editor felt my words compromise some of those guidelines, put some of those things at risk. So a decision was made to

cut the first part of my introduction. And of course, people noticed. It was literally national news in Mexico, Felix. Like the NPR equivalent in Mexico was reporting on it. It was all over the internet. And there were tons of viral videos of people asking a question. People thought NPR was censoring Latino voices. Without understanding what was happening behind the scenes at NPR,

it looked like we were cutting out facts about histories of Latino oppression. People expressed feeling unheard. They expressed feeling like we were lying to them. And they expressed that they thought we were intentionally trying to cover up truth. At the same time, conversations were being held internally, and there was a follow-up decision made to restore the video. Now, quoting one of our news managers who weighed in on this, I made a personal statement, and I also stated a fact of life for millions of people, including myself. Now, both things can be true at the same time, so it went back online uncut. I think it's safe to say that this was a really hard, emotional, challenging, frustrating experience for both you and I, Felix.

We have our own individual experiences and values and truths. And that's why we want to come here to both talk directly to our audience and explain to them that our priority in what we do is to always represent Latino voices, Latino stories, and most importantly do that through the art. we believe, safe to say, Felix, that we believe that music is truth and music is powerful. And that's why we do what we do. That's why we brought Los Tigres del Norte to the tiny desk. That's why we bring Latin artists to the tiny desk, why we do Latin Music Month. Our number one fundamental purpose here is to always make Latino voices be heard. And we continue to stay committed to that.

And as I said in my follow-up video over the weekend, you know, we appreciate so much the support and encouragement. love that we get from people who have been listening to All Latino. And hopefully now that more people are aware of what we do, hopefully we have some new listeners this week and then the week's coming who will also be able to listen in on what we do and what we have been doing. And we always welcome more people to the All Latino family. Okay, Anna, now it's time to talk about music, man. I'm now more excited than ever to dig into what made this Los Tigres Tiny Desk so special.

We've done this a couple times, do a little bit of like an unpack the Tiny Desk situation. no better artist to do it with than an artist with as much rich history as Los Tigres. So give it to us, Felix. Who are Los Tigres? Where do they come from? What are they about? Okay. Hardest question I've ever asked you.

Let me try to put in a very, very short amount of time, almost 60 years of history. I know you, Felix. It's not going to be short. Short history. And there I am, five hours later. Okay, let me see if I can do this in two hours. Okay, they are known as La Voce de Pueblo. Los Heifes de Heffes, they are the ultimate,

and they're almost approaching 60 years of being a band. They have a vast 500-plus song catalog. Numerous Grammys, Latin Grammys, recognition by industry peers, accolades, awards, and they're hardcore road warriors. They have performed all over North America, Central, South America, Europe, Asia, millions of record sales,

the checklist of traditional, music industry success. But the intangible is the most important. Because I can't think of any other band loved by so many different generations. When you go to their shows, you see Auelos with cowboy hats, you see parents of different ages.

You see young people, obviously from the hip-hop generation, even younger, and they know all the songs, man. I always think back to when you told me, Felix, about how they interview or talk to people at their shows to get ideas for the songs. Like, they are the essence of what it means

to be musicians of the Pueblo, musicians of the people. I've had so many friends tell me, like, listening to them sing, it's so accessible because it literally sounds like your Tio in La Peda singing. Like, it sounds like they're singing with you, not for you, not in front of you. And the fascinating and amazing and exceptional thing about them to me, Felix, is they're so beloved on both sides of the border. And this is something like that cannot be undersold and its uniqueness and its specialness, because it almost never happens.

I mean, you know, we did our series, Felix, on Mexican Regional. We talked about the band Yadizza and Suisencia and them having a lot of controversy around things that they said around Mexico. And it brought to light this tension, right, around like American kids, gringo kids playing banda versus veradero Mexicans, like real Mexicans, as people would put it, playing it. And I think what it did is it made it clear that there's a really strict line around who can play what music. and Los Tigres crosses that line back and forth all day long. Everyone, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, feels seen in that. They make that line disappear on it.

And the reason, the songs. The stories in the songs are the stories of the fans. the challenges, the joys, the sorrows, the tragedies, the celebrations, all of that, everything that comes along with the immigrant experience, that's why they're called Labos del Pueblo. Now, Anna, going back to 2021, we did that series that you alluded to on the resurgence of Mexican regional music. We went to the small town of Mokorito in Sinaloa.

Los Tigres del Norte are from an even smaller town near there called Rosa Morada. That's where four brothers, Hernan, Luis, Jorge, and Eduardo, though they started the band. They were later on joined by their cousin, Oscar Lara. They had their first gig here when they were invited to a performance in 1968. And as they were coming across the border, the immigration official on the U.S. side

asked them the name of the man, and they didn't have one. They were just known as the local band. So the American guy told them about young men with ambition here in the United States were called tigers. So I'm going to call you Los Tigris del Norte. And the rest is history?

Not really. because hard work, constant traveling, standing up for themselves the Spanish language music industry, which can be tough. Not to mention Felix, just their beautiful energy, their persona. The day they played their show, Felix, I remember walking by the green room and hearing them, like, calling the grandkids to see how school had been the day before. Like, they really are that embodiment of groundedness. I said that day, they are the example of what every artist should be,

really upholding and singing for the values of their community. Okay, Anna, do you remember the first time hearing or hearing about Los Tigres del Norte? I don't know, in the womb, as an embryo. Like, what kind of question is that? Do you remember first meeting your mom? No. Do I remember hearing Los Tigres? No.

Tell me your answer's different. When do you remember first hearing about Los Tigris del Norte? Well, it's slightly different because I'm a little older than you. I guess so. I forget that part. You know, I was in junior high school, and I had a friend of mine, my good friend, Carlos Marlene,

he was the same age as I am, he was an aspiring and wanted to be drummer, and eventually became a very good drummer. But his dad had a Mexican conjunto, an accordion band. And so his dad had all of these 45s, 45 records, and we would listen to, we weren't old enough to go with his dad to these bars and caninas and stuff where he played.

So we would just, just listen to, in addition to listening to Santana and all of the other stuff, it's like, Carlos, what is this stuff over here? And we put on the 45 spindle when we played these 45s. And there were all of these different bands, Ramona Ayala and everything, but Los Tigris always stood out, man. That's when we first heard it, middle school, junior high. That was only a couple years ago, right, Felix? Just recently. Just really recently. And then you ended up getting kind of close to them in a career or in a journalistic sense, right?

You did a pretty important story about them. You know, in 2018, I was invited by the band to go with them to Folsom Prison in Northern California. And it was a combination of things. They were marking the 50-year anniversary of a very famous Johnny Cash record that he recorded at Folsom Prison. And it was right about the same time where they were marking. marking 50 years of being in a band. So I was able to go with them into maximum security prison for a day and spend some time with them in a very famous chapel

that was part of the Johnny Cash song. They met with some of the prisoners. They had like a meet and greet with some of the people. I stood in the prison yard while the band played. About 800 denim-clad men stand in the prison yard under wispy clouds in the bright blue sky and the watchful eyes of correctional officers on the ground and in five gun towers surrounding the yard.

Many sing along, others shout out requests, and a few more dance alone. It was a very emotional time because when Johnny Cash played during 1968, the prison population was mostly white and poor. And fast forward 50 years, the prison population is mostly Latino. So the prison system made an effort to bring the band in

and they were happy to go in because, believe it or not, That very first gig that I talked about in 1968, they played down the road at Soledad Prison along the Central California coast. So it had so much meaning to them that performance. There is a Netflix documentary about that trip, and you can see all of the emotions

because they also played a women's prison within the same compound. Go check out that video, because it's really emotional. It's very impactful, and you can see what they did. And if you look closely on like half a second when they make a pan across the prison yard to show the prisoners listening, I'm out there somewhere. But it really was an emotional

trip. It was an honor to be with them. And you know, Felix, I do want to point out this thing that you say about them playing in prisons and speaking to this audience, like not only have they been an important audience

for the Latino community, for the marginalized, but they own that. Like, that is something, it's a thing of pride for them. And I think, like, that is one of the key tenets to me is not just, oh, that that's their audience, but that they're proud that that's their audience. And that in turn makes people, makes all of us be proud of who we are. And, you know, I covered them actually a couple years ago when they played Madison Square Garden. And it was this beautiful full circle moment because they'd always played on the outskirts in New York, right? They played all the armories.

They played where their audience was. And so to be in, take that energy, right, of like we're important, we're valuable. And to play in that space was like a whole other level of valuable and to see how people, that made everyone feel so proud. And that's always an essence to me that it makes me proud. I mean, of them as a band, that they exist, that people care about them. That's why people love them. That's why we all love them.

They feel like they're ours. Let's think about that. Let's take a break. And then when we come back, we can get into some of the music they performed at the tiny desk. Okay, now it's time to get into some of the music from the performance. Let's start with Somos

Mexicans. Somos Mavicanos. We covered it last week on the show, so if you really want to hear what Los Tigris have to say about it in their own words, he should go to last week's episode and check it out. But we can't talk about Los Tigres El Norte, nor their Tiny Des performance,

without at least mentioning this song, because this song, Delix, is literally the essence to me of who they are. When they sent me that set list, and I saw that this was going to be at the top, I was like, oh, now this is what Tigres Tiny Desiades should be. You know, the last time I saw them, when they performed here in Northern Virginia, people were throwing flags up from the different countries.

okay, from Central America, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico. Like, the spirit of being indigenous, being part of America writ large, the continent, Central America, Xera. It was so powerful. That was a highlight for me. And it's really, it's simple, it's facts, it's history. And then it's saying these cutting lines, these feelings that I think voices the sentiment of so many. I love this line where he says, I'm a extraanero in my

Tierra. I'm a foreigner in my land. And like, that's all he has to say. And anyone who gets it, gets it, and anyone who feels it, feels it, and knows it and lives it, it's in their bones. And I just, as a performance note, too, I love how Jorge sings this song.

Like, he has this hand expression to him, Felix, that it really feels like what I mentioned about them collecting these stories. Like, he's communicating. He is, like, almost, like, preaching to his people. Because he knows. Like, he knows that that's what people need. He knows what that's what that's what.

people are listening for for that hope, for that story, for that voice, for that acknowledgement. It's a stunning, stunning song. Okay, next up, Gulpz de Corazon. This song, it's another example of something we talk a lot about here, not Latino, and different forms of music from Latin America. It's another example of using romantic love as a metaphor for a non-romantic story. And this time, it could be a meditation on, like, you know, maybe things aren't as good here. here in the U.S. as I was told.

I've been deceived and my heart is broken. And, you know, Felix, a couple of weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a few friends and I was commenting how I've noticed, like, there aren't really today many Mexican, quote-unquote, protest artists. And if there are, they're more like,

almost anthropological. They're kind of like making these very direct statements. And I've always said the most effective way to make a statement in art is to, make it the personal and to use the personal as that vehicle. And the beauty of Tigres is they kind of do both. And I've never really actually seen, or I can't actually think of another band off the top of my head that does this, where they both are so successful at like telling these really beautiful and kind of like deeply evocative personal stories and also having a song,

like Somos Mas Americano. And it's all kind of a political statement. It's all them sharing their experience, which is them advocating for the Latino community and representing the Latino community. But in all these really interesting, nuanced ways, and they do them all well. Yeah, it's part of that tradition. Again, we've talked about this on the show, but when I think of people writing songs about social problems, I always think of Ruben Blades in the way he writes stories. We're involved in characters. And that's what Los Tigris do. They're all about people and people experiencing things that other people may be experiencing. and that's where the message is.

And it's honest and relatable to the culture when one day I write my dissertation on the Mexican man, I'm like that classic, like, to heal my pain, I will be going to find another love immediately. It's just so stereotypical. What do you have to say for yourself, Felix? Dissertation, Mexican man? Okay.

Now you're scared. I have too much doubt up. What have I told you? the best. Oh, my gosh. He's on everything you've ever since me.

Okay. Just get back to the music, man. You know, Anna, the other thing that really stood out to me was the crowd engagement, man. As we mentioned, as we mentioned last time,

a lot of people brought in their family, their parents' stuff. And the video, when you watch folks, you can see people and our friends, people who are invited people,

they're in the audience singing, man, and having a good time. And, I mean, speaking about breaking form, another thing we did with the show is we typically don't keep encores. We typically don't allow for encores. And everyone was kind of like, Anna, like, show's over. It's been too long.

But like, who am I? I have Jorge Hernandez looking at me like, but one more. And I'm going to tell Los Jifes, the Jephes no. I was like, so we let them keep going. And it was amazing. They played one of the most classic, maybe my favorite song from them, La Puerre Negrra. Also, that Madison Square Garden show I did. I would say 80% of the people I interviewed mentioned that song in particular.

It's just like that classic heart-wrenching. Like, my parents won't allow me to have this love, but I want this love. And honestly, there's just nothing more Mexican than that. Okay, I've got to get music geeky for just a second. It's such a classic form of Mexican corrido. And just a sidebar for a second, you know, Los Teens de Norte personally, as a band, they're paid to have all the music. digitized in the Strachowitz Frontetta Collection, which is the most complete collection of historic

Conjonto recordings. It was gathered by a guy named Chris Strachowitz, and he had a record label called Our Huli Records, and they are so dedicated preserving not just what they're playing right now, but the history. They digitize this music, and it's available as an archive at UCLA, but it's also available through Smithsonian Folkways Records, where you could buy some of that stuff and have it in your own collection. So that's what this music reminds me of. And then another geeky point when you hear the alto saxophone. Okay. That's a reflection, again, of history. During the Second World War, when Mexican-American Techano musicians went to fight in different places around the world during Second World War, they shared space with African-American musicians. And remember,

this is in 1940s. So the African-American musicians were listening to jazz, right? Big band jazz, everything. So when some of these Tejano soldiers came back, they said, hey, you know that accordion line? What if we play this alto saxophone? Wow. Let's play that, right? And that's, I mean, that you can go all the way up to Selena. You can all the way up to Little Joe and La Familia. That's where it came from, and that's the, that's the tradition they maintain. That's the beauty of this song. But boy, oh boy, Felix, do they play it so different than they play it in jazz?

They play it like we play everything. You're like, bha, bha, bha. It's pretty there. It's pretty there. Okay, Anna, this has been a memorable tiny desk concert. Maybe the most. Yes, and for a lot of different reasons. All good reasons.

It's all positive. It was really an honor to be able to present them and have people reacting the way they did. And also to present the entire, you know, again, we talked about it last week, with the Latin Music Month, every single thing had something special and magical about it. And we're just so, so grateful for all the musicians to share their talent and their space with us here at the tiny desk. I'm really proud of this show, Felix.

Yeah. I'm proud of the music we got to present. I'm proud of what it meant for people to see this music represented. It's really special to feel this connected with the Latino community and to be able to bring. bring the things that that means so much to us to a platform like this. So I think, I don't know. I think we're grateful, Felix. Absolutely.

I think that the reaction that we got for all the things that happened, I think it just shows how beloved this band is, more than anything. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our producer is Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of MPR Music is Surrey-Mohamed. Special thanks this week to editors Jacob Gant and Otis Hart. And the vice president of MPR music is Sonali Menta. I'm Felix Contreras.

I'm Anna Maria Sayre. Thank you all for listening, man. Thank you so much.