Lalo Salazar

Lalo Salazar grew up in Santa María de Guadalupe, Jalisco, where he first heard the mariachi music that would shape his approach. He started playing early, and by the 1980s had formed a band under his own name. Their 1988 album 'Currículum' gave them a national audience, with the title track becoming a standard.

Salazar's music often works with traditional Mexican forms and instruments like the jarana and vihuela, but he's never treated them as museum pieces. Songs like 'No Sé' and 'Pensé Que No Era Fácil Olvidarte' show how he can frame familiar feelings in arrangements that feel both rooted and quietly inventive.

He has recorded with other artists, including Chavela Vargas and Lila Downs. Beyond the music, he has been an outspoken voice on social issues, which has sometimes drawn attention away from the work itself.