Café Tacuba

Infobox musical artist
Name = Café Tacuba
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Background = group_or_band
Alias = CAFÉ TACVBA
Origin = Mexico City, Mexico
Instrument =
Genre = Alternative rock, Eclectic
Years_active = 1989–present
Label = Warner de Mexico (1992-1999) Universal (since 2003)
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Rubén Albarrán Emmanuel del Real Enrique Rangel Joselo Rangel
Past_members =

Café Tacuba (often stylized as CAFÉ TACVBA) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning musical group from Naucalpan, Mexico. They were founded in 1989, and since then have had the same musical lineup:

* Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega: (vocals, guitar)
* Emmanuel "Meme" del Real Díaz: (keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodion)
* José Alfredo "Joselo" Rangel Arroyo: (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals)
* Enrique 'Quique' Rangel Arroyo: (bass guitar, electric upright bass, vocals)

Mexican folk music player Alejandro Flores is considered the "5th tacubo", as he has played the violin in almost every Café Tacuba concert since 1994. Since the Cuatro Caminos World Tour, Luis "El Children" Ledezma has played the drums in every concert but is not considered an official member of the band.

Previously known as "Alicia Ya No Vive Aquí" (a tribute to Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), the band took its final name from a coffee shop (el Café de Tacuba) located in downtown Mexico City, which opened in 1912 and had its heyday in the 1940s and 1950's, and was representative of the Pachuco scene from the time, something the band would certainly acknowledge as an influence. The "Café de Tacuba" is still in operation on Tacuba street, in Mexico City's Historic Center.

In their first shows (prior to the release of their first album), people would scream "¡Pinche Juan!" ("Fucking John!") to Rubén because that's the name of one of the band's first underground hits, so he kept the name for the release of the first album. Two years later he got bored and changed it to "Cosme" (a disused name in Spanish) for the release of "Re". Since then, he has changed his name for every album and world tour.

Formerly graphic design students, Rubén, Joselo and Quique design their own album covers. [ [http://www.rockero.com/artists/cafe-tacuba/ Cafe Tacuba bio] - October 15th 2006]

Members

Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega

Vocalist and guitar player. Previously, until 2001, he played in an alternative band called "Villa Jardín". In 2006 he announced his solo debut, "Bienvenido al sueño" ("Welcome To The Dream"), it consists of electronic instruments with Buddhist influences and Prehispanic Mexican which he describes as "música protónica por no limitarlo o estereotiparlo" ("limitless protonic music which cannot be pigeon-holed").

He is also known as "Juan", "Pinche Juan" ("Fucking John"), "Cosme", "Masiosare", "Anónimo" ("Anonymous"), "Nrü" (pronunciation given as "Dshiu" in Spanish; perhaps intended to be IPA2|dʒy, [ [http://www.89decibeles.com/especiales/tributo/cafe_tacuba/cafetacuba1.php Café Tacuba] ] "Amparo Tonto Medardo In Lak’ech" or "At Medardo ILK", "G3", "Gallo Gasss", "Élfego Buendía", "Rita Cantalagua", "Sizu Yantra", "Ixaya Mazatzin Tleyótl" , "Ixxi Xoo" and now "Cone Cahuitl". He lived the first four year of his life in Monterrey. Studied at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)there he received a bachelor in Design and Graphic Communication. Ruben, or however he is now known has always pushed gender norms through provocative lyrics, and the occasional skirt worn on stage at concerts.

Emmanuel del Real Díaz

Emmanuel "Meme" del Real integrated in the band since the moment when they took the name Café Tacuba replacing "Beto". Since the beginning he became in charge of the keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodion)

During a long time he only was the chorus, but since the release of "Re" in 1992 he began singing in songs like "El Borrego" ("The Lamb") or "Pez" ("Fish"), he also began playing the guitar more than before.

When he appeared in "Avalancha de Éxitos" he played the guitar in "No Controles" ("Don't Control"), since that, moment he began playing the Jarana. He has composed some of the band's greatest hits such as "La Ingrata" ("The Ingrate"), "Las Flores" ("The Flowers"), "Aviéntame" ("Throw Me") and "Eres" ("You Are").

His father, Manuel Del Real, educated him in an early age about music, which has given him the stability the band demonstrates, he switches instruments during some songs, and also turns into the main vocalist.

Meme is known in the Mexican electronica scene as "DJ Angustias". He is part of the Noiselab collective and will release a solo album in late 2005. He also produced songs for many Mexican artists like Julieta Venegas, Natalia Lafourcade, Ely Guerra, Liquits, among others.

José Alfredo Rangel Arroyo

José Alfredo Rangel spent the first 9 years of his life in Minatitlán, Veracruz, until his family moved to Mexico DF were he studied industrial design in the UAM.During his youth he had various hobbies like comic books and design even though he decided music was his major pasion.While he was on the Metro he met a person with a peculiar voice and extravagant ideas, Rubén became his best friend and with Quique and Beto they formed a band called "Alicia Ya No Vive Aquí".

Later on, with the arrival of Emmanuel the band became Café Tacuba with him playing the electric guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals; However Joselo decided that during the first 13 years with the band, they created some really personal songs which he then decided to launch himself as solo. He managed to launch two albums, the first album was entitled "Oso" ("Bear") 2001 which used to be Joselo's childhood nickname, the second, titled "Lejos" ("Far") 2005, was produced by ex-"Los Tres" Álvaro Henriquez.

Enrique Rangel Arroyo

Enrique Rangel Arroyo plays the bass guitar, electric upright bass and does vocals for Café Tacuba.

When the band began Café Tacuba he brought Emmanuel to join them on the keyboard, thanks to Joselo he began learning the guitar, with time he stopped being a designer to dedicate himself to other musical projects with other bands and designing covers for books and the covers of Joselo's albums "Oso" and "Lejos". Quique now plays in a band called Los Odio ("I Hate All of You"), which includes Paco Hubidoro, Jay de la Cueva, and the drummer from La Lupita. Just like Emmanuel he has produced some of the bands greatest hits.

Alejandro Flores

Alejandro plays Folk music, he is considered the "Quinto Tacubo" ("Fifth Tacubo") since he has played the violin in almost all concerts of the band since 1994. He has also participated in two LPs of "San Pascualito Rey".

Luis Ledezma

Also known as "El Children", plays the drums in every concert except for the songs of their last album "Sino" but he is not considered an official band member.

Genre

Their musical style covers a wide variety of genres, though it is most commonly labeled as Rock en Español. Their music has been heavily influenced by Mexico's indigenous population and folk music traditions, but also by punk and electronic music and other bands on the Mexico City scene. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their music is Albarrán's nasal voice, which, combined with his impressive lung capacity (as demonstrated on "La Ingrata", a homage of norteño music), makes for a very distinctive sound. They sing entirely in Spanish but have a significant Anglophone following regardless.

The song "Chilanga Banda" has a hip-hop beat under a stream of Mexico City slang, "María" is a 'bolero' balad about a somewhat romantic ghost, "El Fin de la Infancia" a brass-heavy 'banda ranchera' sound that reflects the influence of 'banda sinaloense', "Desperté" has a tango-driven melody that could have been stolen from a latinamerican soap opera while "El Borrego" is pure speed metal.

Discography

Every studio album released by the band so far has been produced by Gustavo Santaolalla except for "Cuatro Caminos" which was produced by Santaloalla, Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Weezer) and Andrew Weiss (Ween). "Cuatro Caminos" was featured on several Top Albums of 2003 charts, including Rolling Stone, New York Times, Blender Magazine and won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.

tudio albums

* "Café Tacuba" (1992),
* "Re" (1994),
* "Avalancha de Éxitos" ("Avalanche of Hits", 1996),
* "Revés/Yo Soy" (actually a two-album vocal/instrumental collection, winner of a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album of 1999).
* "Cuatro Caminos" ("Four Paths", 2003).
* "Sino", October, 2007.

Other albums

*"Tiempo Transcurrido" (2001) - "best-of album with DVD included"
*"Vale Callampa (EP)" (2002) - "tribute album to Chilean band Los Tres"
*"Un Viaje" (2005) - "15th anniversary concert"
*"MTV Unplugged" (2005) - "Recorded in 1995"

Appearances

* Emmanuel Del Real and Chetes wrote and produced "16 De Febrero" ("February 16"), the (title song for the film Fuera del cielo ("Beyond The Sky")). [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415964/soundtrack Fuera del cielo (2006) - Soundtracks ] ]
* The song "Eo" from Cuatro Caminos is featured on Electronic Arts' FIFA 2004 videogame.
* The song "Futurismo y Tradicion" is featured on Electronic Arts' FIFA Street 2 videogame.
* The band played at The Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago, IL on August 5, 2007 and were greeted by an enthusiastic audience. Following their 45:00 set, they were brought back for three encores.
* On July 17, 2007, Cafe Tacuba unveiled a new song entitled "El Outsider" on a taping for Mun2's television show Vivo.
* They have contributed to movie soundtracks like "Amores Perros", "Y Tu Mamá También", "Piedras Verdes" and "Vivir Mata" as well as tribute albums to Jose Jose and Los Tigres del Norte. Café Tacuba also collaborated with different artists such as Plastilina Mosh, Kronos Quartet, David Byrne, Celso Piña, Maldita Vecindad, Sekta Core, Enanitos Verdes, and Control Machete. They have played live with Beck, Incubus and Los Tres.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.cafetacuba.com.mx/ Cafe Tacuba Official Web Site]
* [http://www.latintake.com/noticias.php?ver=333 Interview] with Cafe Tacuba
* [http://www.rockero.com/artists/cafe-tacuba/ Cafe Tacuba] [Fan Site]