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Genre:
Latin
Release Date: 04/01/1994
Los Tigres del Norte made their name with 1972's
"Contrabando y Traición," a song that essentially launched the
narcocorrido genre. However, the band's appropriation of the
corrido as a vehicle for contemporary tales of drug smuggling is only one of their pioneering contributions to
norteño music; another important dimension of
Los Tigres' work is their portrayal of the immigrant experience.
Jaula de Oro (1984) features two of their most memorable treatments of that topic. The working-class Mexican immigrant's ambivalent relationship with the U.S. -- lured north by the promise of economic progress, nostalgic for Mexico, and yet not belonging fully to either culture -- is part of
Los Tigres' own story; in 1968, the barely teenage bandmembers left Sinaloa for California, later settling in San Jose. This album's centerpiece is the title track, which deals with the experience of undocumented immigrants and the irony of life in "the golden cage": the protagonist enjoys the material trappings of U.S. life but is afraid to leave his house lest he be deported; he wants to return to Mexico, but his children reject that heritage.
"Pedro y Pablo" tells of the immigrant who, having gone north to fund his brother's education, comes back to discover his sibling has married the fiancée he left behind. Although
Los Tigres display a sense of irony when addressing serious issues, elsewhere on
Jaula de Oro their intentions are purely comic, as the playful
Don Juan tale
"El Agente del Amor" shows. Romance falls victim to betrayal on bittersweet
ballads like
"Que Te Hizo Olvidarme" and to death on
"Por Qué Me Quité del Vicio," a dramatic adaptation of
Carlos Rivas Larrauri's poem about an alcoholic widower. From socially aware songs to universal stories of unhappy love,
Jaula de Oro captures the multi-faceted appeal of
Los Tigres del Norte.
~Wilson Neate, All Music Guide
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