Calibre 50 () is a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...

band founded in the city of

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding ''municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of ...

, Sinaloa in 2010. Their style is Norteño-Banda, a hybrid of Norteño, which uses an

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck The ...

tololoche The tololoche is a traditional musical instrument from southern Mexico. Its name comes from "tolo loch", from the Mayan language: tolo (bull) and loch (embraced), which would later become tololoche. It is similar to but smaller than the Europe ...

for the low notes and replaces it with a

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was designed to be easier to play than ...

(tuba), which is typically used in Banda for the bass notes.

History

Before establishing Calibre 50, Edén Muñoz had been the accordionist and vocalist in the Norteño-banda group, Colmillo Norteño. With Muñoz, the group scored the hit songs "Sueño guajiro" and "Hotel El Cid" in 2009, among others. Nevertheless, conflicts with the other members of the band led Muñoz to quit Colmillo Norteño in early 2010, and he founded his own band later that year, recruiting Armando Ramos as guitarist and backing vocalist, Martín López as sousaphonist, and Augusto Guido as drummer. The name of this new band was "Puro Colmillo Norteño", and they recorded their first album, "''Renovar o Morir''", under that name, as well as their first single ("El infiernito"). However, the original Colmillo Norteño sued them over the name, and after a legal dispute Muñoz' band was forced to change their name later in 2010. They chose the name by which they are known today: Calibre 50. The name of the band comes from the comparison "with an element that will symbolize the strength and impact that the project has on the lives of the members, as well as those who like the

genre." Calibre 50 first achieved notoriety for their controversial songs, among them corridos. Their first nationwide hit was "El tierno se fue" ("The nice guy is gone") in 2011, a ranchera written by Lalo Ayala which contains many

innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

s and describes a sexual act in detail. Throughout its history, the band has recorded different styles of songs such as rancheras, corridos,

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, cumbias, charangas,

boleros Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

, and huapangos. In January 2014, drummer Augusto Guido left the band to work on his own group, "Los de Sinaloa"; he was replaced by Erick García. Two months later, sousaphone player Martín López also left the band to work on another project, "La Iniciativa". He was subsequently replaced by Alejandro Gaxiola. In March 2017, Calibre 50 made history when the band became the first Regional Mexican act to perform on the Conan show on an episode that took place in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Calibre 50 made their Rodeo Houston debut on 11 March 2018 to a sold out crowd. On 26 April 2018, Calibre 50, along with Colombian

Urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

singer

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. He has been referred to as the " Prince of Reggaeton" (from Spanish: "Príncipe del Reggaetón"), and is one of the best-sell ...

, received an award from

Pandora Radio Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the " Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indi ...

for being the first artists to surpass a billion streams on that platform. In October 2020, the group broke the record for the most number-one songs on the ''Billboard''

Regional Mexican Airplay Regional Mexican Airplay (also referred to as Regional Mexican Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. It was established by the magazine on October 8, 1994, with "La Niña Fresa" by Banda Zeta being the first number-one so ...

chart with 17 songs. As of 2022, they have since broken their own record with five additional songs reaching No. 1, totaling 22 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Regional Mexican Airplay chart. In late January 2022, Edén Muñoz left Calibre 50 to embark on a solo career. On 1 March 2022, after several auditions, the band presented in a press conference their new lead vocalist, Tony Elizondo. On 8 April 2022, Calibre 50 presented in another press conference their new accordion player and additional backing vocalist, Ángel Saucedo.

Members

*Tony Elizondo,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

*Armando Ramos, backing vocals and

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

*Angel Saucedo, backing vocals and

diatonic accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody-side keyboard contains one or more rows of buttons, with each row producing the ...

*Alejandro Gaxiola,

*Erick García,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Past members

*Augusto Guído, drums * Edén Muñoz, lead vocals and

*Martín López,

Discography

*2010: '' Renovar o Morir'' (Originally issued under the name "Puro Colmillo Norteño", later reissued as Calibre 50). *2011: '' De Sinaloa Para El Mundo'' *2012: '' El Buen Ejemplo'' *2013: '' La Recompensa'' *2013: '' Corridos de Alto Calibre'' *2014: '' Contigo'' *2015: ''

Historias de La Calle ''Historias de la Calle'' (''Stories of the Street'') is a studio album by Regional Mexican band Calibre 50 Calibre 50 () is a Regional Mexican band founded in the city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa in 2010. Their style is Norteño-Banda, a hybrid of N ...

'' *2016: '' Desde El Rancho'' *2017: ''

En Vivo Desde El Auditorio Telmex En or EN may refer to: Businesses * Bouygues (stock symbol EN) * Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN, but now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island) * Euronews, a news television and internet channel Language and writing * E ...

'' *2017: '' Guerra de Poder'' *2018: '' Mitad y Mitad'' *2019: '' Simplemente Gracias'' *2021: '' Vamos Bien'' *2022: '' Corridos de Alto Calibre, Vol. II''

Awards and nominations

References

{{Authority control Mexican musical groups Mexican norteño musical groups Musical groups established in 2010 Mazatlán 2010 establishments in Mexico Universal Music Latin Entertainment artists Musical groups from Sinaloa