Gabito Ballesteros and Eslabon Armado Usher in a New Generation of Music and Culture
Read this article in Spanish.
“Mercedes AMG… Clase G 63… lo que un dia soñé, todo ya me lo compré.” Gabito Ballesteros first performed in Tucson in 2014. Nearly ten years later, he returns as the messenger of a new musical genre: corridos tumbados.
If the dozens of murals outside The Neighborhood Downtown could talk, they would tell you about the epic, three-day pachanga that brought the biggest acts in corridos tumbados and regional music to more than 4,000 screaming Tucsonenses. In an era of musical collaborations like those between Peso Pluma and Becky G, Bad Bunny and Grupo Frontera, the Cinco de Mayo en el Barrio was also a creative collaboration. This is the story of how two restaurateurs and two event promoters came together to bring some of the most popular musical acts in the country right to Tucson’s front door.
One of the performers at the Cinco de Mayo en el Barrio was none other than Gabito Ballesteros. His song AMG is the quintessential corrido tumbado anthem. Once you hear the triplets coming off of the brass section you’re transported into a world of drinking, bling, twelve string guitars, tololoches, and sneaker culture. As hip hop culture crossed the border, it was only a matter of time before stories about hustling and coming up from the bottom mixed with corrido culture to create a new genre. Gabito knows a thing or two about crossing over. After attending high school in Tucson, he moved to Hermosillo to finish his degree in industrial engineering as a promise to his parents. It was there were he met Natanel Cano. Soon thereafter, Gabito signed on to Natanel’s label, Los CT.
Tucson was an important stop on Gabito’s road to making it. Gabito was barely old enough to be a chambelan at the time when he was performing at the Tucson Expo Center. Gabito’s look was clean-cut. Teen corrido hearthrob. Fast forward to 2023 and Gabito’s look has morphed: Puffy jackets, hoodies, sunglasses, todo blinged-out and hanging out con la plebada del Natanel Cano y Peso Pluma.
Eslabon Armado’s “Ella Baila Sola” a collaboration with Peso Pluma went No. 1 on the Global Billboard Charts a month before they performed it in Tucson.
Thousands of singing fans in downtown prove that regional music and corridos tumbados are having a moment.
125 E. Congress
I arrived at an unnamed storefront on Congress St. I knocked a few times and peeked through a small crack on the door. The space looked deserted. I looked down at the floor beneath me as I waited for someone to come to the door. Two words in gold and red were etched onto the floor: Betty Gay—a remnant of Tucson’s glory days.
Inside the building was a storage area for all sorts of restaurant supplies. Space heaters, flat screens, tables, signage, branded cases of bottled water—the kind of things that restaurants keep handy. Near the back of the building is a tight stairwell that leads into an office. In the middle is a conference table, and above it, a geometric light that gives the impression that this is a place where serious decisions need to be made. It was here where German Fuentes, Marcus Gonzalez, Ramiro Bojorquez, and Danny Cordova decided that Tucson needed a Cinco de Mayo event that was more culture and less caricature.
Self Made
Like Gabito Ballesteros, Danny Córdoba also knows a thing or two about being self-made. He has three businesses downtown under his belt. A fourth (Antojitos) is coming soon, and a brunch spot is also in the works. He and his partner German Fuentes are the founders of La Cruda, La Chingada, and The Neighborhood, the holy trinity of downtown Tucson hangouts donde se reune la raza. He is also one of the four organizers that brought the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta to the Viejo Pueblo. Among the list of performers: Eslabon Armado, Gabito Ballesteros, Josh Abbott. Algo pa’ todos, and quite the lineup for a smaller music market like Tucson.
Like many entrepreneurs, Danny got started young. First, selling audio equipment at the Swap Meet, and later starting his first restaurant with his wife on 29th Street (The OG Neighborhood). Today, Danny and his partner German Fuentes are next level. They have the attention of Tucson’s bilingual and bicultural community and the attention of the Rio Nuevo Board. The City’s Tax Increment Finance District gave the restaurant group $450,000 in financial support to develop several spaces to bring more life to downtown’s restaurant scene. If you go to the Neighborhood Downtown on a Saturday night, the party vibe feels like you’re in one of Gabito’s videos.
Above: Danny Córdova (far right) and German Fuentes (middle) on Day 1 of the Cinco de Mayo Festival.
Danny dipped his toe in the entertainment scene hosting bands at the OG Neighborhood. But to bring the star-power necessary to pack downtown Tucson, he would need collaborators. This is where Marc Gonzalez and Ramiro Bojorquez enter the picture.
“We had been wanting to align ourselves as a team for a while,” said Marc Gonzalez. “With 5 de Mayo en el Barrio, we had the right ingredients.” Marc was born and raised in Tucson, then went back east where he worked in the service and hospitality industry. He did a few stints managing managed Hi-Fi and El Charro. When he met German and Danny about three or four years ago, the three of them clicked. Having strong collaborations is key in a City where restaurants come and go. “This City is tough to figure out. A lot of things come to Tucson and leave,” added Marc. Listening to him I was reminded of something someone told me back in 2016 on a podcast about Tucson’s restaurant scene. Forget New York. If you can make it in Tucson, you can make it anywhere.
Marc Gonzalez (right) on Day 2 of Cinco de Mayo en el Barrio which included headliner The Josh Abbott Band, mariachi and folkórico performances and DJ DU.
With Cinco de Mayo en el Barrio, Marc and the guys put that theory to the test. They wanted to create a festival that was accessible, but that also included things like artwork experiences. Tickets ranged from $15-$35 for generation admission. Sunday, tickets ranged from $75 to $199 for VIP with various tiers that included food and artist ‘meet and greets’. This created a natural flow of traffic between the parking lot where the venue took place just west of the Neighborhood and the club. “The Neighborhood was rockin’,” recalls Marc. “Our vision was outside and inside, afterparties and a headliner each day.”
Marc and his partner Ramiro Bojorquez know this formula well. They are known for the Salt & Lime Fiesta and other out of state festivals. At Salt & Lime it’s not uncommon to see lucha libre, low riders and even a mechanical taco you can ride. It’s a little extra, but it speaks to the entertainment instincts of Marc and Ramiro.
The two have been working together for the last seven years. Ramiro works with clients like Google and Porsche and is known for managing infrastructure, event rostering, and important things like making sure events pass fire-code. Entertainment, hospitality and food run in Ramiro’s blood. His grandparents are Doña Olga Bojorquez and her husband Don Raul ‘El Pisto’ Bojorquez Moreno—the founders of El Trocadero in Nogales, Sonora. El Trocadero is located on the road from Nogales to Hermosillo and got its name from the numerous trucks that parked outside its dirt lot. It is a Nogales staple.
Marc Gonzalez (far left) and Ramiro Bojorquez (far right) pose for a picture with country music star Josh Abbott.
Marc admits that next year the foursome will probably incorporate more country into Cinco de Mayo en el Barrio. Considering the success of this year’s festival, we’re excited to see what they have planned for next year.
Now that Marc and Ramiro got a taste of the regional music scene they are looking to take the same formula to other parts of Arizona with http://belicofest.com/belicofest.com.
