Los Tucanes de Tijuana Essentials

Just like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Los Tigres del Norte and Los Tucanes de Tijuana are the two pioneering groups that define the very identity of a genre: in their case, norteño music. Los Tucanes are the younger of the two, formed by Mario Quintero Lara in 1987. Their home base of Tijuana has provided inspiration for a thousand stories of migrants and bandits that seem straight out of a magical realism novel. Los Tucanes embellish these tales-alternately sordid and humorous—with electrifying accordion riffs and an almost military precision at the service of snare-drum timekeeping. Their concerts are legendary and life-affirming, and this playlist of hits is the next best thing to seeing them live.