Episode 2 of series: Encore! Trío Los Panchos – The early years 1944-1950
This is a sequel to the series we broadcasted before about the famous Trío Los Panchos, an ‘Encore’ this time in which during three episodes, we look at their earliest work
Listen here for episode 1
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. They didn’t get any attention in The Netherlands until after this early period, but with this series we’d like to put this right.
This second episode is all about the beginning, when the trio started with the bolero “Ay, mi vida”, recorded in 1949. The lead singer at the time was Hernando Avillés and they were travelling through all of South America. They weren’t present in Mexico itself then, funnily enough, even though they played the famous Mexican songs. The second song you’ll hear this show comes from Cuba, a guaracha: “El guarapo”.
During the festive season, they even played Christmas songs – the son-huasteco “Navidad y Año nuevo” is a nice example, which was composed by Chucho Navarro. They also recorded music from Chile, like the tonada “Oro purito”. The Cuban son “Chon, chon, chon” was recorded together with an orchestra.
Though boleros weren’t part of the standard set, they did play them at the time, such as “Problema”. In the pure Mexican corrido “Allá en el Rancho Grande”, the trio is accompanied by an orchestra, as in the guaracha from Venezuela: “Quién mató a Consuelo” (Who killed Consuelo).
If you were from the Bojalil Gil family or even from the Martínez Gil family, you were part of one of the most musical families in Mexico. Brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, they all played in each other’s ensembles, even before the trio Los Panchos started – and it wasn’t easy to tell them apart! The playlist continues with a bolero, a corrido-cantinero and a canción-bolero, all recorded in the late 1940s: “Eternamente”, “Pelaos éstos” and “Qué bonito”.
Chucho Navarro was part of the social circles around the Gil family. He was co-founder of the Trio and continued to be part of this world-famous group until the end. Their success was in part due to Navarro’s talent as a composer of famous boleros, “Te espero” being one of them. Our playlist continues with the huapango “Pelea de gallos” and then another guaracha, titled “Pensé que no”.
So, the bolero wasn’t the biggest part of their repertoire in those early days; the bolero wasn’t even known as such in the west at the time. We continue now with a son-huasteca “Pro-co-ton”, followed by a bolero “Tú bien lo sabes”.
We end this episode with a corrido “Por ellas (y aunque mal paguen)”, and a guaracha “Silverio, Facundo y la luna” (with extra orchestra) and yes, another bolero “Una traición”. Next time, the third and final episode in this series on Trío Los Panchos.
Playlist
- Ay, mi vida, bolero (Gabriel Luna de la Fuente) (Avilés) 2’32
Columbia 6488-X (1949)
- El guarapo, guaracha (Avilés) 2’37
(1948)
- Navidad y Año nuevo son huasteco (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) 2’56
Columbia 6516-X B (1950)
- Oro purito, tonada (Avilés) 2’06
- Chon, chon, chon, son (Marcelino Guerra) cn Orquesta Columbia (Avilés) 2’59
(1946)
- Problema, bolero (Mario Tereso Chevalier) (Avilés) 2’38
Columbia 6571-X) – (1949)
- Allá en el Rancho Grande, corrido (Avilés) 2’41
(1945)
- Quién mató a Consuelo, guaracha con orquesta (José Reima) (Avilés) 2’31
Columbia 6255 (1948)
- Eternamente, bolero (A.Harris-Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) 2’37
Colubia 6572-X
- Pelaos éstos, corrido-cantinero 1 (Avilés) 2’28
- Qué bonito, corrido (Avilés) 2’00
- Te espero, bolero (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) 2’46
Columbia 6434-X (1949)
- Pelea de gallos, huapango (Juan S. Garido) (Avilés) 2’51
Columbia 6523-X (1946)
- Pensé que no, guaracha (Alfredo Sabbat, Alfredo Gil) (Aviés) 2’54
Columbia 6336-X (1946)
- Pro-co-ton, son-huasteca (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) 2’42
Columbia 6209-X (1946)
- Tú bien lo sabes, bolero (Guillermo Venegas Llovera) (Avilés) 2’43
Columbia 1787-C + 6561-X (1950)
- Por ellas (y aunque mal paguen), corrido (Chucho Navarro) (Avilés) 2’38
Columbia 1223-C (1946)
- Silverio, Facundo y la luna, guaracha (Avilés) 3’00
- Una traición, bolero (Claudia Estrada) (Avilés) 2’45
Columbia 1438-C (1949)
