Exitos Musicales

The Mexican trio Los Panchos have been around for 50 years and are the most renowned trio internationally in performing the romantic bolero.

They started in 1944, when bosom buddies Alfredo Gil (Alfredo Bojalil Gil) and Chucho Navarro (Jesús Navarro Moreno) discovered the Puerto Rican Hernando Avilés (Hernando Avilés Negrón). It was the beginning of a world-wide mania, especially in Latin America, but also world-wide. Hundreds, if not thousands of trios started and imitated Los Panchos.

Their first performance was at the Theatre Hispano in New York, on the 14th of May, 1944. They then continued to perform mostly at military bases but also performed for CBS radio for three years.

They were hugely successful from the start. Their repertoire was originally “just” Mexican folklore with its corridos and huapangos, with songs popular in that time like Guadalajera, La cucaracha and Cielito lindo. The number of records the threesome made at Columbia exploded. Even the most fervent collector can only guess at how many, but we’re looking at more than two thousand recordings during their entire career.

It took a while before the bolero took off, not until Hasta mañana proved a sensational success. Music lovers elsewhere, for instance in The Netherlands, were familiar with their records, mostly through seamen or tourists, bringing the records from Latin America with them. The trio didn’t have a proper breakthrough in The Netherlands until 1951-1952. Imagine sitting at that time in an old cinema in Amsterdam, watching the black-and-white newsreel followed by a Donald Duck cartoon, when during the break you hear the bolero Un aventura más from the Trio Los Panchos coming from the speakers, loud and clear. This was something exceptional at the time. You wouldn’t know that this song was actually from Los Panchos’ second period.

The entire career of the trio can be divided up into periods, named after the seven consecutive dominant voices. The first in that period, 1952, was the Bolivian singer Raúl Shaw Moreno (Raúl Shaw Boutier, who had never been in Mexico even). The very first voice though was Hernando Avilés, but he had left in September 1951 because of the differences in personality between him and Alfredo Gil. Yet, they had lots of hits (36 recordings in one year), even acting (16 films) and performances in almost every Latin American country and even Japan. In The Netherlands, their EPs and LPs started selling. Most people couldn’t keep track of the singers; by now the covers also showed Julio Rodríguez, the singer in their next period.

So, these three episodes are about the first period. Many recordings from that time haven’t always been discovered by listeners out there, but they form the foundation of this incredibly successful trio. The bolero became popular when Hasta mañana was released on 25 cm (10″) LP in Mexico in 1950, but it is only a part of their repertoire. And then after 1950, it really took off…

Playlist

1. La bamba, son-jorocho (Martínez Serrano) (Avilés con Chucho Martínez Gil) – 2’41
   Coda 5014 – Musidisc 30 CV 993 (1945) 1)
2. Borracho enamorado, ranchera (Avilés con Chucho Martínez Gil) – 2’44
   Musidisc 30 VC 993 (1945) 1)

1. Compadre Pancho, rumba (Avilés con Chucho Martínez Gil) – 2’42
   Seeco 600-A – Musidisc 30 CV 993 (1944) 1)

1. Soy ranchero, ranchera (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés con Chucho Martínez Gil) – 2’39
   Coda – Musidisc 30 CV 993 (1945) 1)

1. Guadalajara, huapango (José ‘Pepe’ Guizar) (Avilés) – 2’55
   Coda 5014-A (1945)

1. Cielito lindo huasteco, son-huasteco (Manuel Ponce) (Avilés) – 3’04
   Coda 5013-A (1945)

1. La Malagueña, son-huasteco (Elpidio Ramírez-Pedro Galando) (Avilés) 3’13
   Coda 5012-A (1944)
2. Lilongo, son veracruzano (Felipe ‘El Charro’ Gil) (Avilés) – 2’51
   Coda 5015- B (1945)

1. Si, si, si…..No, no, no, corrido (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) – 3’04
   Coda 5013- B (1945)

1. La cucaracha, canción (Trad) (Avilés) – 3’22
   Coda 5015-A (1945)

1. El guayabo, corrido (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) – 2’59
   Coda 5012-B (1944)

1. Hasta mañana, canción-bolero (1e) (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) – 3’01
   Coda 5014-B (1945)

1. Angustia, bolero (Orlando Brito) (Avilés) (1957) – 2’49
   Caramelito, guaracha-Cuba (Mercedes Valdés) (Avilés) (1948) – 2’51
2. El pajarito, son-jarocho (Mexico) (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) (1946) – 2’04
3. Negrita, son mambo (Marcelino Guerra) (Avilés) – 2’39
   Columbia 6513-X (1950)

1. La feria de las flores, ranchera (Mexico) (Chucho Monge) (Avilés) – 2’07
2. Mi pueblito, son-huasteco (Mexico) (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) (1945) – 2’52
3. Lejos de Boríinquen, bolero (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) – 2’52
   Columbia 1149-C (1948)