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

La chica banda
Café Tacvba Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Esta canción se llama la chica banda

Me he enamorado de una chica banda
Me he enamorado de su negra piel
Pelos pintados, flexibotas negras
Y es de las morras de la secu 23

Pelos parados como un penacho

Bailes como ritos a Xipe-Totec
Su piel morena chichimeca
Pero en el punk ella aún cree

Y yo le di mi amor en un concierto del atoxxico

Su padre vino de San Juan Chamul
Su madre vino desde Tzintzuntzan
Pero la lider de los sexmolcajetes punk
Ha nacido en la gran Tenochtitlan

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, disco

Me he enamorado de una chica banda
Me he enamorado de su negra piel
Pelos pintados flexibotas negras
Y es de las morras de la secu 23

Y yo le di mi amor, en el Unplugged del MTV, si

Overall Meaning

La canción "La Chica Banda" de Café Tacvba es una oda a una chica punk en la que el narrador se enamora. El narrador describe su amor por la chica que es parte de una banda de punk y que tiene una piel morena chichimeca y un cabello pintado con pelos parados como un penacho, algo que en la cultura mexicana es un símbolo de orgullo y resistencia. A pesar de sus orígenes y de que sus padres vienen de diferentes partes de México, la chica ha nacido en la gran Tenochtitlan, lo que resalta sus raíces culturales y la importancia de la ciudad en la historia de México.

Line by Line Meaning

Esta canción se llama la chica banda
This song is called the band girl

Me he enamorado de una chica banda
I have fallen in love with a girl in a band

Me he enamorado de su negra piel
I have fallen in love with her dark skin

Pelos pintados, flexibotas negras
Dyed hair, black flexible boots

Y es de las morras de la secu 23
And she is one of the girls from the 23 high school

Pelos parados como un penacho
Hair standing like a headdress

Bailes como ritos a Xipe-Totec
Dancing like rituals to Xipe-Totec

Su piel morena chichimeca
Her brown Chichimeca skin

Pero en el punk ella aún cree
But she still believes in punk

Y yo le di mi amor en un concierto del atoxxico
And I gave her my love at an Atoxxico concert

Su padre vino de San Juan Chamul
Her father came from San Juan Chamul

Su madre vino desde Tzintzuntzan
Her mother came from Tzintzuntzan

Pero la lider de los sexmolcajetes punk
But the leader of the punk rockers is from Tenochtitlan

Ha nacido en la gran Tenochtitlan
She was born in the great Tenochtitlan

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, disco
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, disco

Me he enamorado de una chica banda
I have fallen in love with a girl in a band

Me he enamorado de su negra piel
I have fallen in love with her dark skin

Pelos pintados flexibotas negras
Dyed hair, black flexible boots

Y es de las morras de la secu 23
And she is one of the girls from the 23 high school

Y yo le di mi amor, en el Unplugged del MTV
And I gave her my love at the MTV Unplugged

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jose Alfredo Rangel Arroyo, Enrique Rangel Arroyo, Emmanuel Del Real Diaz, Ruben Isaac Albarran Ortega

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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