Banda el Recodo

History

Cruz Lizárraga, a young musician, founded Banda El Recodo and gave it its current appearance, including the setting, style, shape and number of members that associated it with the State of Sinaloa on the Mexican Pacific. The group was named after the town where Lizárraga was born. In 1989, Banda El Recodo officially incorporated a vocalist into their line-up; before that year, the band and most other brass bandas recorded almost exclusively instrumentals.

Previously, Banda El Recodo had provided music on certain albums for solo artists such as José Alfredo Jiménez and Manolo Velarde. They were the first Mexican brass banda to perform in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America, and also the first Mexican band to play in the US State of Hawaii. On 17 June 1995, founder Cruz Lizárraga died in Mazatlán after a long illness at age 76; the band was touring in Europe at the time. Banda El Recodo is the only band to win the Latin Grammy nine times.

In 2003, they became the first Mexican band invited to perform at the Latin Grammy Awards, repeating in 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2017, making them the Mexican band with the most participation in those awards. They have received 12 Premios Lo Nuestro, becoming the band with more awards in its genre, and are winners of five Billboard Awards in the categories Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Master Tone. They are five-time winners of Premios Oye and winners of Premios Bandamax, where they also received the special award Productor y Visionario de La Música Regional.

In 1999, Banda El Recodo performed at the Plaza de Toros México in Mexico City before over 50,000 fans, with tickets sold out three days prior. In 2000, they gathered 135,000 people at Mexico City's Zócalo. In 2003, they performed three consecutive sold-out days at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City. In 2004, Banda El Recodo became the first band invited to perform at the White House in front of United States President George W. Bush during the festivities of Cinco de Mayo; that same year, they performed again at the Zócalo of Mexico City before more than 100,000 people.