José Manuel Aguilera (born 14 February 1959, in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, Mexico) is a Mexican guitar player, singer and composer. He has been part of bands such as Sangre Azteka, Nine Rain and Jaguares. He is the founder and leader of rock band La Barranca. He has also collaborated with artists such as Julieta Venegas, Cecilia Toussaint, Ely Guerra y Lila Downs.

Career

Aguilera started playing with his cousins and guitarist Luis Arteaga in the band El Fracaso (The Failure) in the area of

Ciudad Satélite Ciudad Satélite (), commonly known as Satélite, is a middle-, upper-middle and upper-class area in Naucalpan, in the western part of Greater Mexico City, located some 14 km northwest of the Historic Mexico City Center. Officially, the n ...

, Mexico City. In 1986 he was part of the audience in the first gig of the band Sangre Asteka, in the

Museo Universitario del Chopo The Museo Universitario del Chopo (meaning, "Populus, poplar"; locally nicknamed ''Crystal Palace'' or simply ''El Chopo'', in Spanish language, Spanish) (''Chopo University Museum'') is located at Doctor Enrique González Martínez Street in the ...

. The next year accordionist Humberto Alvarez invited Aguilera to join Sangre Asteka. In 1994 Aguilera recorded the album ''Odio Fonky: tomas de buró'' with Mexican singer and songwriter Jaime López, which has achieved a cult status in Mexican rock. The album has blues, folk and

Danzón Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in USA and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork ...

influences and consists of 16 songs, including the classic ''Chilanga Banda'', which was covered by

Café Tacuba Café Tacuba (), stylized as Café Tacvba, is a band from Naucalpan de Juárez, State of Mexico. The group gained popularity in the early 1990s. They were founded in 1989, before they had the current lineup of Rubén Albarrán, Rubén Isaac Albar ...

in '' Avalancha de Exitos.'' Hugo García Michel, writing in ''

Nexos ''Nexos'' is a cultural and political magazine based in Mexico City, Mexico. History and profile ''Nexos'' was founded in 1978. The founders were a group of Intellectuals headed by Héctor Aguilar Camín. The magazine modeled on the ''New York Re ...

,'' described ''Odio Fonky'' as: "... an eminently urban work, with a taste of pavement, neon lights, vehicular traffic, rough neighborhoods, street soccer, homeless people and scavengers, office workers and secretaries and students and housewives, canteens with stained floors, seedy bars and dives, bucolic parks with yellowish trees, atmospheric and visual pollution, fog, alcohol and bohemianism, the slow rush to get nowhere." Aguilera was part of the initial line up of Jaguares, alongside

Saúl Hernández Saúl Alfonso Hernández Estrada (born January 15, 1964), is a Mexican musician, writer, poet, songwriter and the lead singer of Jaguares and Caifanes, two prominent Mexican rock en español bands. Biography Saúl Hernández was born in th ...

and

Federico Fong Federico Vicente Fong Pharris (born 1967) simply known as Federico Fong is a musician and producer, member of several bands in Mexico and the United States; these include Hip Hop Hoodíos, Jaguares,Kim, Jae-Ha (28 February 1997)Year of the cat ...

. He recorded their first albúm, '' El Equilibrio de los Jaguares'', released in 1996 and went in one tour with the band. According to Enrique Lopetegui from the ''Los Angeles Times'', Aguilera's guitar gave Jaguares most of their edge. In 1994 Aguilera and Fong had started La Barranca, and focused on this band after ''El Equilibrio de los Jaguares.'' According to Aguilera, La Barranca is part of the tradition of popular Mexican music, exemplified by composers such as Agustín Lara, Álvaro Carrillo y José Alfredo Jiménez. They released their first album "El fuego de la noche" in 1996 and then "Tempestad" in 1997. Aguilera's music and lyrics have been influenced by literature and film, for example Mexican writer

Juan Rulfo Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo (; 16 May 1917 – 7 January 1986), was a Mexican writer, screenwriter, and photographer. He is best known for two literary works, the 1955 novel ''Pedro Páramo'', and the ...

, but also Japanese authors such as

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and ...

and director

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilera, José Manuel Mexican bass guitarists Mexican rock singers Mexican rock guitarists Living people Mexican male guitarists 1959 births