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One of Mexico's most famous singers just wrapped a tour of the U.S. that included six sold-out nights at the Las Vegas Sphere. Carin León is best known for his regional Mexican music and for pushing boundaries musically and culturally. NPR's Eyder Peralta caught up with the singer in his hometown of Hermosillo, Sonora.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Carin León didn't always appreciate Hermosillo. As we drive across the city, he remembers the first time his wife saw the Sonoran Desert.
CARIN LEÓN: And she was taking photos with - through (ph) the saguaros and all that.
PERALTA: The saguaros are cacti that can grow as big as trees. Sometimes they can look like Alexander Calder sculptures. His wife was in awe.
LEÓN: I realized that I was living in paradise, always living in paradise.
PERALTA: He says he also found a new amazement for the music of Hermosillo.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN SONG, "QUISIERA SABER")
PERALTA: That's where his career started - at family barbecues in the desert. He sang for his parents and his uncles, and some of his first hits were Mexican classics.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUISIERA SABER")
LEÓN: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: He learned to love the heartbreak of mariachis, the horns of the big bands and the 12-string guitars, and he became a star in Mexico with that genre, sweeping the Música Mexicana prizes at the Grammys. But Hermosillo also sits along the borderland, so he grew up listening to much more.
LEÓN: You know, when I was a teenager, I was hearing Tupac. I was hearing Dr. Dre. I was hearing Bone Thugs.
PERALTA: As Carin León's career took off, he started pushing boundaries with music.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN SONG, "DOLIENDO BASTANTE")
PERALTA: He made duets with country stars and reggaeton stars. He put out pop singles and R&B songs. This one, "Doliendo Bastante," or "It's Hurting So Bad," was recorded live in Japan.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DOLIENDO BASTANTE")
LEÓN: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: "They say it hurts less with tequila, but it also reminds me of the good, like how good it felt to take off our clothes."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DOLIENDO BASTANTE")
LEÓN: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: He drives across town and stops at a strip mall where he just opened a high-end taco joint. It looks like a Texas barbecue place - wooden panels, stainless steel countertops. And of course, almost immediately, the chef drops a juicy taco at our table.
LEÓN: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Is this wagyu?
LEÓN: Mm-hmm.
PERALTA: So Japanese beef on the taco.
Carin León describes what he does with music a lot like what he does with tacos. With this one, he brings Japan to Mexico. When he sings R&B, he says, he wants to do it with Mexican ingredients.
LEÓN: With our instruments, with our bajo sextos, with our baterias, with our words, with our melody lines.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN SONG, "CASI OFICIAL")
PERALTA: From the outside, Carin León presents as the stereotype of the Mexican macho - cowboy hat, big buckles, thick black beard. But he's made a career out of songs that are the opposite of that - torch songs and ballads full of earnest pleading. I don't want to leave - he sings in "Casi Oficial" - just give me one reason to stay.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CASI OFICIAL")
LEÓN: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: I tell him that maybe another place where he's pushing boundaries is that, unlike the stereotype, he wears his heart on his sleeve, expresses his emotions. But he shakes his head.
LEÓN: I don't talk about my feelings, even though...
PERALTA: Really?
LEÓN: No, not even with my friends - it's not a comfortable spot for me. If you cry here - since you were a kid, if you cry, they're going to turn you into pieces.
PERALTA: He's afraid, he says. And in real life, someone might make fun of him for being vulnerable. But on stage, Mexicans, he says, are allowed to be vulnerable.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN SONG, "DE COMPAS")
LEÓN: And the music is the perfect excuse to be sad. And, you know, I keep all my emotions to the music or to my stage because it's the only part where I can do it and I'm not going to be judged.
PERALTA: What's more, he says, when he's on stage, Mexicans are allowed to cry with him. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Hermosillo, Mexico.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DE COMPAS")
LEÓN: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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