El Gran Silencio

El Gran Silencio is a rock en español band from Monterrey, Mexico that blends a variety of rock, reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop influences with traditional Latin American musical forms such as cumbia, vallenato and Norteño. Their lyrics tend to be bohemian and often talk about life in the “barrio” or poor neighborhoods of Mexican cities, especially Monterrey. As of 2015, they have recorded seven albums, eleven singles, six soundtracks, five tributes and seventeen collaborations and have toured Mexico and the United States.

The music

They are unique on the Mexican music scene with their music being called world beat, cumbia grupero and rap but, their musical style crosses various genres and can combine any number including hip-hop, reggae, norteño, cumbia, rock-and-roll, polka, huapango and vallenato. Much of what keeps it together are Latin folk rhythms and the use of accordion licks. The band has called their work“freestyle norteño popular;” however, founder Tony Hernandez strongly links the music to rock as he says that rock showed that mixing genres is possible and they maintain rock’s rebellious nature.