Ramón Ayala says adiós to Houston with norteño classics & help from Houston-area mariachi musicians

Ramón Ayala fans don’t like to wait.

Doors opened at 7 p.m. for his Saturday night show at Toyota Center, part of the Historia De Un Final Tour, a farewell for the 79-year-old norteño icon. Just 10 minutes past the advertised 8:30 p.m. start time, the crowd was already restless.

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A man in the lower section stood up, clapped his hands loudly and repeatedly shouted, “Let’s go!” Another seated next to me asked if I knew when Ayala was starting.

“I took a nap for this,” he said.

When the venue began playing Ayala’s prerecorded music, the anticipation only grew. Just after 9 p.m., the stage came to life, a series of connected LED screens that morphed from a castle to a recounting of Ayala’s career of more than six decades, from Cornelio Reyna and Los Relámpagos del Norte to Los Bravos del Norte.

Ayala was walked out, waved to the crowd, then took a seat center stage, where he remained for the show’s roughly 90 minutes. He was in good spirits, his energy buoyed by the crowd’s nonstop enthusiasm. The show was far from a sell out, and the uppermost sections were closed off by black curtains. But the crowd roared along to “Un Puño de Tierra” and “Baraja de Oro,” making the venue sound entirely full. The LED animation was an explosion of bright colors and added to the vibe.

Soon enough, it was a full-on fiesta. Several couples danced in the aisles during “Seis Pies Abajo,” a ranchera Ayala described as a “viejita,” or old song. He recorded a version of the ’60s classic in the early ’80s. The baile started up again for the cumbia “Hay Que Pegarle A La Mujer.” The song’s title translates to “You Have to Hit the Woman,” but the clever wordplay is about hitting someone with the “force of love.”

The powerful corrido “El Federal de Caminos” was a highlight, a tragic story of a police offer killed in the line of duty. It was accompanied by scenes from the 1983 film of the same name starring Álvaro Zermeño. But the night’s best moments came during a tribute to Cornelio Reyna, Ayala’s former musical partner. Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte performed several of Cornelio Reyna’s solo classics alongside Mariachi Los Reyes De Jorge Alvarez from Los Angeles, including “Me Sacaron de Tenampa” and “Me Caí de la Nube.”

The mariachi accompaniment added depth and layer to the songs, including a gorgeous version of Ayala’s own “Rinconcito en el Cielo.” The mariachi lineup included Jose Longoria of Houston-based Mariachi Imperial de America, who called it “an incredible experience,” and his two sons.

“Tragos Amargos,” considered one of the greatest norteño songs of all time, exemplified a brilliant contrast, not just in Ayala’s music but the overall genre. Consider the devastating lyrics:

“Tragos de amargo licor (Shots of bitter liquor)
Que no me hacen olvidar (That don’t make me forget)
Y me siento como un cobarde (And I feel like a coward)
Que hasta me pongo a llorar” (That I even start to cry)

Yet they were completely at odds with the mood of the crowd, who was on its feet, cups in the air and voices raised together. It felt comforting and communal, like the perfect carne asada.

This article originally published at Ramón Ayala says adiós to Houston with norteño classics & help from Houston-area mariachi musicians.