Бронко: Мексикалық груперо тобының тарихы

Mexican grupero band

Bronco is a Mexican grupero band originating from Apodaca, Nuevo León. Their modern take on regional Mexican music in the 1980s and 1990s helped earn them international recognition with original band members José Guadalupe "Lupe" Esparza, Ramiro Delgado, Javier Villareal, and José Luis "Choche" Villareal creating music that would go on to top record charts. The band is well known for their use of modern instruments, particularly the synthesizer and musical keyboards, as part of the incorporation of pop style music. As with many grupera bands, members wore matching jumpsuits.

The band began by the name of Los Broncos de Apodaca (The Broncos of Apodaca), formed and fronted by José Guadalupe Esparza, whose origins lay within a band by the name of "Cheyenne," which he had started with his childhood friends in secondary school. “I have always favored the names of Indians and although we never played professionally with that group, it helped us learn to play with cardboard boxes”, Esparza once stated in an interview about his beginnings in music. This eventually proliferated into Los Broncos de Apodaca. Esparza was joined by childhood friend Erick Garza and brothers Javier and José Luis "Choche" Villareal. Esparza was the vocalist and frontman, Javier was the main guitarist, Jose Luis played drums, and Erick on keyboards. Esparza occasionally took to percussion. At that time, they played Chicano music, whose rhythm is very similar to norteño music found in Northern Mexico, including Nuevo Leon, only that the organ is used instead of the accordion; it was considered to be a fashionable musical trend at that time, they also played cumbias and boleros. The members of what would become Bronco went by the name Los Broncos de Apodaca since it was customary to include the state or region from which they originated. The inspiration for the name came from Estadio Adolfo Lopez Mateos stadium, which hosted the Broncos de Reynosa team of Mexican League baseball, and was known colloquially as "Estadio de los Broncos". Their first professional gig was precisely in Agua Fría, Nuevo Leon, a town within the same municipality as Apodaca. They recorded "Quiero Decirte" and "Grande de Caderas" on sides A and B respectively. The members of the group visited radio stations within the City of Monterrey, fronting themselves as a "Bronco" and requesting their music be played on the air. Their single was only aired on AM station XEOK.

Their first complete album was recorded for Fama, and included the song "Quiero Decirte". This is the only production in which Manuel Caballero acted as drummer, leaving the group shortly after. Esparza left the role of playing percussion to his brother, Aurelio. In 1985, the song "Sergio el Bailador" album Sergio el Bailador became a radio hit. Songs like “Pilar de Cantina” and “Maldito Corazón”, both from the same album, also experienced vast commercial success of their own in Mexico and the United States. Due to health problems and to dedicate more time to his family business, Erick Garza decided to leave Bronco. His place was taken by Ramiro Delgado, a member of another group, Los Cazadores, who was recommended by Bronco's producer from BMG Ariola, Homero Hernández. The first studio album recorded with Delgado was 1987's Bronco Super Bronco, which included tracks "Lo Tengo Decidido", "No Nos Vamos a Olvidar", and "La Rompidita". In 1987, the group had garnered local fame within the State of Nuevo León and was invited to Salon la Fama in Monterrey. The event attracted a crowd exceeding capacity, with 9,000 people attending the hall with a maximum capacity of 4,000. "It was a tall, long room, it had no windows and it had no emergency exit," according to one of the members of the band at the time. Police officers fired rounds into the air, causing a stampede in which hundreds were injured and seven died. The track "Cumbia Triste" on the 1989 album Un Golpe Mas was dedicated to the victims of the event. Bronco experienced international fame with help from their international hit single "Que No Quede Huella" ("May No Traces Be Left") from their 1989 album A Todo Galope, for which they toured in the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, and Peru, amongst other countries. After the release and widespread success of A Todo Galope and the midst of the creation and distribution of Bronco Amigo, Bronco were acclaimed as the most eminent group in their category in both Mexico and the United States. In August 1997, they received the keys of the City of Dallas for their popularity amongst the Latino community. For their final performance in Monterrey, band members considered Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey but ultimately decided to use the local exposition in July. A final concert in 21 December in the Estadio Azteca stadium in Mexico City, attended by roughly 100,000 people, was held. The concert caused the stadium to reach full capacity. By the end of 1997, Bronco had received 37 gold and 20 platinum records.

In 2003, the band members announced a return to the public in May 2003 as El Gigante de America after baseball champion's Arturo Gonzales's final game with the Monterrey Sultans before his retirement. The band had recorded "Estoy a Punto" as the lead single for their new album by that time. José Luis Villarreal ("Choche") died on September 30, 2012, at age 55, in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. He had suffered for his last few years with cirrhosis.

After negotiation between their record labels, including Sony Music, and their former manager in 2017, they have been legally permitted to perform as Bronco in Mexico. In April 2019, Ramiro Delgado left the band and filed a lawsuit against Lupe Esparza, accusing the latter of fraud and monetary mismanagement. Esparza was interviewed and claimed that all debt owed to Ramiro Delgado was being taken care of. Delgado's son, Ramiro Delgado Jr., replaced his father as Bronco's keyboardist and accordionist. On January 5, 2021, Ramiro Delgado Jr. left the band on his own accord, with Esparza claiming that the rest of the band attempted to convince him to stay, but ultimately respected his decision, as it came as no surprise. In September 2019, Bronco: La Serie, a Spanish language television series first aired, featuring the history of Bronco with the use of characters based on real individuals, while also making use of fictional characters loosely based on their counterparts in Esparza's book, Cicatrices de un Corazón Bronco. Bronco has sold over 12 million records as of 2017. On January 12, 2021, Arsenio Guajardo was presented as new keyboardist and accordionist for the band. Guajardo previously worked with Los Trotamundos and Los Humildes.