Banda Sinaloense El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga, often referred to simply as Banda El Recodo, is a Mexican banda formed in

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

, in 1938. It has been under the direction of the Lizárraga family. Banda El Recodo has recorded with popular artists such as José Alfredo Jiménez and

Juan Gabriel Alberto Aguilera Valadez (; 7 January 1950 – 28 August 2016), known professionally as Juan Gabriel (), was a Mexican singer-songwriter and actor. Colloquially Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed Juanga () and El Divo de Juárez, ...

. The ensemble consists of four

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s, three trumpets, a tambora, a

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

set with cowbells and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s, a

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

, three

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

s, two

tenor horn The Tenor horn (British English; Alto horn in American English, Althorn in Germany; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the flu ...

s (referred to as , or in Mexico), and two vocalists.

History

Banda El Recodo was founded by Cruz Lizárraga, a young musician who also gave it its current appearance, including the setting, style, shape and number of current members that associated it with the place of their origin, the State of

on the Mexican Pacific. El Recodo was named after the town Lizárraga was born in. In 1989, Banda El Recodo officially incorporated a vocalist into their line-up. Prior to this year, Banda El Recodo and most other brass bandas recorded almost exclusively instrumentals. Banda El Recodo had previously provided the music on certain albums for solo artists such as José Alfredo Jiménez and Manolo Velarde. They were the first Mexican brass banda to perform in Europe, Asia,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, Australia,

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. They were also the first Mexican band to play in the US State of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. On 17 June 1995, Banda El Recodo's founder, Cruz Lizárraga, died in Mazatlán after a long illness, at age 76. Banda El Recodo was touring in Europe at the time of his death. They are the only band to win the

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...

nine times. In 2003, Banda El Recodo became the first Mexican band to be invited to perform at the Latin Grammy Awards, repeating their performance in 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2017, which made them the Mexican band with the most participation in these awards. They have received 12 "

Premios Lo Nuestro The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro ( Spanish for "Ours") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by TelevisaUnivision, and is carried by its Univision network in association with its related radio sta ...

" in their career, becoming the band with more awards in its genre. They are winners of five

Billboard Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

throughout their career in the categories "Album of the Year," "Song of the Year" and "Master Tone." They are five-time winners of Premios Oye. They are winners of Premios Bandamax, where they also received the special award "Productor y Visionario de La Música Regional." In 1999, Banda El Recodo performed at the Plaza de Toros México in Mexico City, which was attended by over 50,000 fans. Tickets were sold out three days prior to their performance. In 2000, Banda El Recodo gathered 135,000 people at Mexico City's

Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...

. In 2003, Banda El Recodo performed three consecutive sold-out days at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City. In 2004, Banda El Recodo became the first band to be invited to perform at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

in front of

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, during the festivities of

Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo (; ) is an annual celebration held on May 5 to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, ho ...

. That same year, they performed once again at the Zócalo of Mexico City before more than 100,000 people. Banda El Recodo has been the only band that has attended four

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s (Japan 2002, Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Russia 2018) to support the Mexican national soccer team with their music during the official games. In 2006, Banda El Recodo participated in Televisa's soap opera ''

La Fea Más Bella LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'', where they also sang the closing theme song. Banda El Recodo made a small appearance in Hollywood cinema for the first time in the movie '' Babel'', which was directed by

Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu (born 15 August 1963) is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama (film genre), psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include ''Amores perros ...

, who decided to use their song "La Fea." In 2007, Banda El Recodo's music appeared again in a Hollywood film. Their song "Qué Te Ruegue Quien Te Quiera" was used in one of the scenes of the movie ''

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name the Italian Stallion) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the ''Rocky'' franchise. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in eight of ...

''. 9 October 2008 was immortalized as the day of the Banda El Recodo and the day of Cruz Lizárraga, in the city of

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. On this day, they were awarded with two stars on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars (one for Banda El Recodo and another for its founder, Cruz Lizárraga). In 2013, Banda El Recodo released their production No. 200 "Haciendo Historia." On 14 October 2014, 50-year-old trumpeter Aldo Sarabia went missing for over a week. On 22 October, he was found dead. Authorities said Sarabia was shot in the neck and had been punched several times. The Attorney General of Sinaloa, Marco Antonio Higuera Gómez, announced that Sarabia was murdered by his wife, Alma Delia Chávez Guerrero, and her lover, Jair Alfredo Sandoval Estrada. Sarabia's funeral was held on 23 October 2014 and he was cremated. In 2015, Banda El Recodo's single "Todo Tuyo" was the opening theme song for the soap opera '' Mi Corazón Es Tuyo'', which attained the highest ratings for El Canal de las Estrellas. Through this new single, the band created a great campaign in social media which no other band had ever done before. The campaign consisted of celebrities and thousands of fans posting a photo simulating the figure of a heart with their hands. This caused great commotion amongst social media users and thousands of retweets that made the band and its campaign a Twitter trend. Banda El Recodo surprised once again on 19 July 2015, by performing in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain. Cruz Lizárraga once said: "I will not cease until the music of Banda El Recodo is heard throughout all the world," and this performance in Spain made that dream a reality once again. Two thousand people gathered at the Circo Price in Madrid to dance, sing and delight themselves with every song of Banda El Recodo. These were also the songs that several years prior had taken them to the Old Continent before any other banda. That night was full of surprises, which included a duet with David Bustamante, a prominent singer in Spain. In February 2016, Banda El Recodo made history once again by touring in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Thousands of Guatemalans awaited anxiously to sing and dance with the sound of the ‘tambora.’ In April 2016, Banda El Recodo broke a record of attendance at the "Semana Internacional de La Moto." They proved that their music has no barriers or borders, and that it goes beyond trends, by having a great acceptance from the 'bikers.' Banda El Recodo made it to

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

in 2016, with two large shows in "La Plaza Taurina Humberto E Isabel Mungrio" in Juigalpa and another one in the "Estadio Noel Gamez" in the city of

Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and Municipalities of Nicaragua, municipality within the Estelí Department, Estelí department. It is the 8th largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its ...

. More than 16 thousand people gathered to once again make the dream of their founder, Cruz Lizárraga a reality to continue touring to take their music to every possible place in the world. Also in 2016, Banda El Recodo presented their record production ''Raíces'', an album of nostalgia in which Poncho and Joel Lizárraga, along with the rest of the members of Banda El Recodo, tried with all their pride to bring to the new generations the old notes that their father directed for several years. These notes were brought to life with new musical arrangements, maintaining the essence that led Cruz Lizárraga to position himself as the leader of the genre. Cruz Lizárraga started his career playing in fairs, and then joined international artists who already had a name in the musical industry. These artists saw Banda El Recodo as the way to become known within the banda's music. In August 2016, their ''Raíces'' album took over the No. 1 position of the Regional Mexican chart of the Billboard magazine and No. 2 of Latin album charts. In September 2016, Banda El Recodo had great success by transcending borders thanks to their great effort and work to look for innovative ways to present new music. Proof of it was their song "Las Fresas" featuring the singer Wisin. This song placed for many consecutive weeks in the first place of Chile's important popularity charts. In November 2016, Banda El Recodo took their music to Chile for the first time. They stayed in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...

for four days, where they visited several radio stations: Radio Corazón and Radio Carolina, where they were very excited and anxious to have in their facilities for the first time a Mexican band visiting Chile. Banda El Recodo also made a

Facebook Live Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...

with the newspaper La Cuarta, where they played a couple of hits, among them "Las Fresas." Banda El Recodo also performed at the television program " Mucho Gusto," the most important morning show in the country. The band was an absolute success with the audience. The production received so many calls from the audience that they ended up performing four songs instead of only one total, which no artist had ever gotten to do in that program. The magazine ''Lideres Mexicanos'' celebrates its 25th anniversary, and in their special edition of November, this renowned magazine dedicated for the first time six pages to a worthy representative of Sinaloa's music: Alfonso Lizárraga. People had the opportunity to know more about Alfonso's background, which also served an opportunity for him to share a message of leadership, promoting the culture and effort, work, trust of ideals and the highest human values. Alfonso is very clear on these and has them very present in his daily life, which has led him to be both one of the leaders of Banda El Recodo and a great Mexican leader. Banda El Recodo closed 2016 with great news. The band recorded a song composed by Mario Quintero Lara, which was used as the main song of the

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

series '' El Chema''. The soundtrack tells the story of this controversial character in recent times. 2016 was a big year for Banda El Recodo. The band was nominated for the sixth time for an American Grammy. Their successful album ''Raíces'' took them to their ninth Latin Grammy. In 2016, they also achieved enormous popularity with the songs "Mujer Mujer" and "Vale la Pena." Banda El Recodo started off 2017 with the release of the single "Me Prometí Olvidarte," a ‘ranchera’ song that talks about deception, anger and lack of love. To close 2017, Banda El Recodo won their 10th Latin Grammy, in the "Best Banda Album" category for their album ''Ayer y Hoy''. Aside from celebrating their win, the band performed completely live on stage at the Latin Grammy 2017, a medley that included the songs "En Mi Viejo San Juan" and "Viva Mexico." This was a tribute to both

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and Mexico, who had been recently affected by severe natural disasters. For this medley, the band was joined by the Mexican singer Lila Downs, who, like Banda El Recodo, has been a precursor of Mexican music and culture throughout the world. On top of continuing weekly with their tour of shows throughout Mexico and the United States, Banda El Recodo created the festivities that mark the 80th anniversary of the creation of "La Madre de Todas Las Bandas," which was celebrated in mid-2018. In July 2020, Banda el Recodo inaugurates the new Estadio de Mazatlán, home of the soccer team Mazatlán F.C. that plays in the

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

and it became one of the team's sponsors, portraying the band's name in the game uniforms.

Current lineup (2018–present)

* Luis Alfonso Lizárraga Lizárraga (

and musical director) (1990–present) * Joel David Lizárraga Lizárraga (

) (2001–present) * Jesús Bernardo Osuna Ostos (

) * Jorge Alberto López Montoya (

) * Jesús Geovanni Mondragon Vidriales (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

) (2012–present) * Ricardo Yocupicio Ulloa (

) (2018–present) * Mario Alvarado Villaseñor (

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

) * Jesús Abel Moreno Romero (

) * Jesús Omar Rodríguez Orrante (

) * Omar David Castro Cuadras (

) * Oscar Álvarez Otañez (

) * Luis Fernando Ibarra Gallardo (

) * Victor Alfonso Sarabia Huitrón ( tambora) * Josue Dueñas Mejía (

) * Gustavo Pimentel Leal (

) * Gabino López Esquerra (

) * Edilberto Moreno García (

)

Discography

*'' Banda El Recodo'' (1958) *'' Que Siga La Tambora'' (1963) *'' Los Invito a Mazatlán'' (1967) *'' José Alfredo Jiménez canta al Recodo'' (1969) *'' La Mejor Tambora del Mundo'' (1975) *'' El Sinaloense'' (1979) *'' Banda El Recodo Vol. II'' (1981) *'' A Bailar con El Recodo'' (1985) *'' El Alma de Sinaloa'' (1986) *'' El Apartamento'' (1990) *'' Ahora Mejor Que Nunca'' (1991) *'' La Número Uno... Ahora Con Puras Rancheras'' (1991) *'' 13 Rancheras y Cumbias'' (1992) *'' El Bato Machín'' (1992) *'' La Pelea del Siglo'' (1992) *'' Serie 20 Exitos'' (1992) *'' 16 Rancheras y Cumbias'' (1993) *'' Pegando con Tubo'' (1994) *'' Picosito y Ranchero'' (1994) *'' De México y Para el Mundo'' (1995) *'' Pa' Puros Compas: Por Una Mujer Casada y Otras Rancheras'' (1995)

Discography with Fonovisa

*'' Desde el Cielo y Para Siempre'' (1996) *'' Tributo a Juan Gabriel'' (1996) *'' De Parranda con la Banda'' (1997) *'' Histórico: Banda el Recodo En Vivo'' (1997) *'' Tengo una Ilusión (60 Aniversario)'' (1998) *'' Lo Mejor de Mi Vida'' (1999) *'' La Historia la Escriben los Grandes... Plaza de Toros México (En Vivo)'' (2000) *'' Contigo por Siempre...'' (2001) *''

No Me Sé Rajar ''No Me Sé Rajar'' ( Eng.: ''I Do Not Know How to Give Up'') is a studio album released by the Mexican banda ensemble Banda el Recodo. This album became their first number-one album in the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart and also received ...

'' (2002) *'' Por Ti'' (2003) *'' En Vivo Ciudad de México-Auditorio Nacional'' (2004) *'' Hay Amor'' (2005) *'' A Las Mujeres Que Amé'' (2006) *'' Más Fuerte Que Nunca'' (2006) *'' Que Bonito.. ¡Es lo Bonito!'' (2007) *'' Te Presumo'' (2008) * '' La Historia de los Éxitos'' (2009) *'' Me Gusta Todo de Tí'' (2009) *'' Las Número Uno'' (2010) *'' Vive Grupero El Concierto'' ( 2010 ) *'' La Mejor de Todas'' (2011) *'' Haciendo Historia'' (2013) *'' Mi Vicio Más Grande'' (2015) *'' Raíces'' (2016) *'' Ayer y Hoy'' (2017) *'' 80 Años de Musica Entre Amigos'' (2018) *'' Sones Raíces'' (2021) *'' Esta Vida es Muy Bonita'' (2021)

References

External links