Online: El Gran Silencio jumps into American music scene with new album
By Graciela Sandoval
Aug. 17, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Over 200 bodies clashed and sweated until 2 a.m. in a tireless
mosh pit as the band El Gran Silencio jammed and danced live for
three hours at JC Fandango’s in Anaheim earlier this
month.
Far from obscure, EGS has been making a ruckus ever since
brothers Tony and Chano Hernandez, on vocals and guitars, formed
the band in 1992, along with accordian player Isaac Valdez and
drummer Ezequiel Alvarado.
El Gran Silencio’s music is a hybrid of rhythms and beats
found in the bustling music scene of Monterey, Mexico, which has
produced bands such as Control Machete, Afrika Bambaataa, Zurdok
and Soul Sonic during the rockero explosion of the late ’80s
and ’90s.
“We don’t feel a part of the rockero (Spanish rock)
movement of Monterey. We feel part of all the Monterey
music,” said Chano Hernandez. “We are friends with the
rockeros but also of the norteños, the grafiteros (graffiti
artists), the hip-hop and the vallenato music. We feel a part of
all those movements; that’s why we’re different from
the purely rockeros.”
El Gran Silencio calls its music “free-style norteño
popular and international world beat,” which is a fusion of
ska, punk, hip-hop, raggae, Colombian cumbia, Mexican norteño
and its very own creation of ragamuffin, yesca-style music.
Touring in the United States after a two-year hiatus, EGS is
trying find a place for itself in the American music scene with a
new album “Super Riddim Internacional, Vol. 1.”
Every song on the silver-colored album originates from a
distinct style of music.
“Huapanator” is an instrumental norteño song
derived from the folkloric accordion, bajo sexto, bateria, and bajo
instruments of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Yet the inescapable punk and ska beats of songs like
“Super Riddim Internacional” and “Sound System
Municipal” created a tidal wave of bodies jumping up and down
to the loud and deafening stings of the electric and acoustic
guitars.
“Super Riddim Internacional, Vol. 2,” the gold
version, is due out in late fall 2003.
Not only is the music unique to EGS, but so is the album design.
Tony Hernandez loves to draw, having met Ezequiel Alvarado while
majoring in visual arts at Monterey University. The wings of the
EGS logo and album drawings were Tony’s inspirations. Chano
also helped design the layout of the CD. The microphone on the
cover represents a karaoki callejero (street) style that encourages
fans to voice their opinions about the music and the band to show
them why they should listen.
“Our music represents the liberty to play any type of
music which lends itself to be heard by any ear,” said Tony
Hernandez.
The Hernandez brothers ended the late night Anaheim concert
singing old-time favorites “Chicana” and
“Amor” to hip-swaying couples and body-smashing mosh
pit punks.
Surprisingly enough, in the hands of El Gran Silencio, Colombian
cumbias and Mexican norteñas make excellent mosh pit
material.
