Pepe Aguilar did not disappoint on stage. He asks for support to the new generations

Pepe Aguilar returned to the stage alone with a show that did not disappoint his fans in the Central Valley as he delighted his audience at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Saturday, July 22, with hits from throughout his career during two hours of pure Mexican music.

Aguilar, who was greeted with much enthusiasm and screams from his fans, took the stage filled with giant screens at 8:30 p.m. dressed as a charro and opened the concert with ‘Por Una Mujer Bonita’ followed by the song ‘Por Amarte’ with his Mariachi Zacatecano.

“Thank you for being tonight in a show that, well, is just beginning, because it is the second one we are doing with this configuration,” said Pepe Aguilar, who a day earlier had performed in Palm Desert.

“I needed to be alone with you,” said Aguilar, adding that although he enjoys performing with his children, horses, bulls and his Jaripeo Sin Fronteras show, being on stage alone in front of his audience is something completely different.

“I like it, I like it and I’m not going to leave so much time to do it because life goes very fast,” said Aguilar, who throughout his presentation addressed his audience in both English and Spanish in a pleasant way as if he were chatting with friends.

Pepe Aguilar had not toured solo in the U.S. since 2017.

Pepe Aguilar has performed in the Central Valley with his children Angela, Leonardo and his brother Antonio Aguilar (son), with the family show Jaripeo Sin Fronteras, a tour that has been traveling for five years in Mexico and the United States with great success, achieving recognition as one of the most eye-catching shows for all ages.

Aguilar said that the pandemic was “a very tough test”, and he feels fortunate to have survived it since many people left, and from his “trench” he continues to work to make a better world.

Among the many songs with which Pepe delighted the audience was ‘Tus Desprecios’, a song he composed during the pandemic with the vocalist of Calibre 50, Edén Muñoz, and which he recorded with Mexican singer Alexander García, better known as El Fantasma.

Universal language

Music “is the only universal language,” said Aguilar, who has been dedicated to Mexican music for more than 35 years.

“Let me tell you that I truly believe I am fortunate,” said Aguilar. “For being able, aside from being born to the parents I was born to and being raised in Zacatecas, being raised on the ranch and having had everything, so many blessings. Besides, God still gave me the fortune of being able to make music. No manches”.

“Music is, I repeat, the universal language because all human beings have feelings. It doesn’t matter what language you speak,” Aguilar said. “Everyone hurts if a guy gets stepped on. If the woman leaves him, if she is unfaithful. If the person is violent. In any part of the world it is the same eternity”.

“Those feelings are the ones that music brings, from music you understand it everywhere. That’s why all of a sudden, there are songs that you don’t even understand what it’s saying, but you like it and you play it and again and again and again and again,” Aguilar said. “That’s the beauty of it.”

“And Mexican music, with all due respect, for all the others, is some of the most beautiful in the world, because it has for all tastes. Mariachi, banda, norteño, marimba, trio, well and everything from all the things that have come out lately, right?”, said the Mexican music icon. “It’s really cool.

Breaking through

Pepe Aguilar said he is very optimistic about the future of Mexican music.

“Because now young people are doing it in a different way. You may like it or not,” said Aguilar, who was recently recognized with the Legacy Award at the Latin American Music Awards.

“Let them say B, let them say I don’t know what, everyone in their own way. I wouldn’t feel comfortable singing in my songs saying that nonsense, but everyone in their own way,” said the son of don Antonio Aguilar.

“I respect him. And they know that he is fregón. That the young people are breaking through,” Aguilar said. “The young people of now, whether we like it or not, how they express themselves, are making history in Mexican music.”

“So we have to support them,” Aguilar said. “We have to support them.”

Aguilar said he is sure there will be some parents who don’t like what their children are saying, “just like me too. But suddenly to grow up it has to hurt. That’s life.

“And right now we are growing up so fast. It’s hurting a lot in Mexican music,” Aguilar said. “And the one who understood, understood and the one who doesn’t, I don’t care.”

“But real Mexican music, mariachi, banda, ranchera music, will never die. It’s never going to die,” said the winner of several Grammys and Latin Grammys. “No more guys who dressed up as charros to sing that music.”

Pepe Aguilar said he believes there are only two, including him, who still wear the traje de charro on stage.

“And that’s it,” Aguilar said, adding in English “so let’s enjoy it. Because what’s next, there’s still ranchera music, there’s still mariachi, there’s still banda, there’s still another way.”

Aguilar said that the Pedros Infantes, the Jorge Negretes, the Antonio Aguilares, the Vicente Fernandez era was over.

“Let’s enjoy what’s left. And long live Mexico, chingado,” Aguilar said. “Because it goes on anyway.”

Aguilar said there are many young people now, like Christian Nodal who have “more talent than many artists in the last two generations.... He brings a lot to the table.

Aguilar also mentioned Carín León and Edén Muñoz.

“When have you ever seen so many regional Mexican artists at the same time at that level? It’s been a long time,” Aguilar said. “So we’re going to work hard to keep the music going so that it continues to be the universal language. No matter how it is dressed, no matter how it is seen. You support it or don’t support it.”

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