Café Tacvba (often spelled Café Tacuba*) is a band from the Lomas de Sotel… Read Full Bio ↴Café Tacvba (often spelled Café Tacuba*) is a band from the Lomas de Sotelo neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico.

Their musical style covers a wide variety of genres, though it is most commonly labeled as Rock en Español. Their music has been heavily influenced by Mexico's indigenous population and folk music traditions, most notable the Jarocho style of the state of Veracruz, but also by punk and electronic music and other bands in the Mexico City scene. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their music is Albarrán's nasal voice, which, combined with his impressive lung capacity (as demonstrated on "La Ingrata", an homage to norteño music), makes for a very distinctive sound. They sing entirely in Spanish but have a significant Anglophone following regardless.

They have an especially eclectic sound, and it's commonly said that none of their discs is of exactly the same genre. For example, "Maria" is a bolero style ballad, "La Ingrata" is a mix of rock and "norteño" , while "Eres", a hit included in "Cuatro Caminos" album, is mostly pop-rock.

They were founded in 1989, and since then have had the same musical lineup:

* Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega aka "Pinche Juan" ("Fuckin Juan"), "Cosme", "Anónimo" (Anonymous), "Nrü" (pronounced "dshyoo", [dʃju] in IPA), "Amparo Tonto Medardo In Lak'ech" (or "At Medardo ILK"), "G3", "Gallo Gasss", "Élfego Buendía", "Sizu Yantra" (which is his solo moniker as well), "Rita Cantalagua", "Ixi Xoo" and many others. (vocals, guitar)
* Emmanuel "Meme" del Real Díaz: (keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodion)
* José Alfredo "Joselo" Rangel Arroyo: (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals)
* Enrique 'Quique' Rangel Arroyo: (bass guitar, electric upright bass, vocals)

Mexican folk music player Alejandro Flores is considered the 5th tacubo, as he has played the violin in almost every Café Tacuba concert since 1994. Since the Cuatro Caminos World Tour, Luis "El Children" Ledezma has played the drums in every concert but is not considered an official member of the band.

**Previously known as "Alicia Ya No Vive Aquí" (a tribute to Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), the band took its final name from a coffee shop (el Café de Tacuba) located in downtown Mexico City. The cafe, which opened in 1912 and had its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, was representative of the Pachuco scene at the time, something the band would later acknowledge as an influence. The Café de Tacuba is still in operation as a coffee shop and restaurant on Tacuba Street, in Mexico City's Historic Center. The band changed its name to Café Tacvba (changing the u for a v) in order to avoid legal issues with the coffee shop.
1989
Mexico City, Mexico

Andamios
Café Tacvba Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Muéstrame aquellos andamios,
Que hay detrás de lo real,
Eso es sólo una cara,
De lo que llamamos realidad.

¿Quién construye el escenario?,
Donde actuamos tú y yo,
Parece de cartón piedra,

Mira como se cayó,
Mira como se resquebrajó...

Muéstrame aquellos bocetos,
El blueprint de la creación,
Que está todo conectado,
Se rumora que no somos dos,
Uno sólo somos tú y yo.

Se rumora que no somos dos,
Uno sólo somos tú y yo...

Y si me salgo...
¿Qué pasará?,
Habrá regreso,
A esta realidad,
A este lado de lo real....

A esta realidad,
A este lado de lo real....

Overall Meaning

Café Tacvba's song Andamios is an insightful exploration of the construct of reality. The lyrics invite the audience to look beyond what is perceived as reality and instead explore the scaffolding that sustains it. The song begins with a call to action to see past the artificiality of what is perceived to be reality. Muéstrame aquellos andamios, que hay detrás de lo real, translates to show me those scaffolds that exist behind the real. The idea being that what one sees as a reality is only a facade of what exists in actuality. The concept of reality is subjective and subject to interpretation. The song delves into the idea that reality is only a construct and that what exists beyond it is what truly matters.

The lyrics go on to ask who constructs the stage where humans act out their lives. It is an invitation to reflect on the constructs of society and how they shape our view of reality. The lyrics hint at the fragility of societal constructs by comparing them to cardboard structures that can easily collapse. The refrain of the song highlights the interconnectedness of everything and how we are all a part of one creation. The message of the song is to examine what lies behind the construction of reality.

Line by Line Meaning

Muéstrame aquellos andamios,
Show me those scaffolds,

Que hay detrás de lo real,
That are behind what's real,

Eso es sólo una cara,
That's just one face,

De lo que llamamos realidad.
Of what we call reality.

¿Quién construye el escenario?,
Who builds the stage?,

Donde actuamos tú y yo,
Where you and I perform,

Parece de cartón piedra,
It seems like cardboard,

Mira como se cayó,
Look how it fell down,

Mira como se resquebrajó...
Look how it shattered...

Muéstrame aquellos bocetos,
Show me those sketches,

El blueprint de la creación,
The blueprint of creation,