“Songs come to me by the grace of God,” he explains.

“Like other pop juggernauts such as Earth, Wind & Fire or even the Rolling Stones, their music is so integral to a certain generation that I bet the children and sometimes the grandchildren of the original fans can hum along to ‘Tu Cárcel,’” says Felix Contreras, co-creator and host of NPR’s Alt.Latino program.īy his own admission, Marco has a habit of rhapsodizing about even the most mundane of things when asked about the inspiration behind his darkly romantic, sometimes hypertheatrical lyrics, he says the real creative juice flows from the fountain of the divine. The band chose “Tu Cárcel” to re-record ahead of the reunion shows, says Marco, “because that’s the essential Bukis sound - a song that came to me like an epiphany.” A work of tropical pop served cold as ice, the song, as well as its corresponding album, “Me Volvi a Acordar de Ti,” sold more than a million copies, achieving diamond status in Mexico. In the four decades since their inception, Los Bukis have earned their reputation as Mexico’s designated love doctors, through standout hits like the 1986 breakup ballad “ Tu Cárcel,” (“Your Prison”). (“And Mexico City,” interjects Cortéz.) “But we were kids, and we liked the sound of it.” “We’re from further south - Michoácan, Zacatecas,” says Marco. The name “Los Bukis” translates to “The Little Kids” in the Indigenous Yaqui language, which originated in northern Mexico.

“Everybody was Hermanos Nuñez, Hermanos Huerta,” says Joel with a laugh. I think a lot of our fans can relate to that.”Įventually, Los Hermanitos Solís realized they needed a more memorable name to stand out in Los Angeles, which was already teeming with regional Mexican bands. The beauty of being innocent is not being burdened with guilt. In fact, a helicopter came looking for us, but we weren’t afraid. “We had such a provincial innocence back then. “We didn’t know what degree of danger we were in,” Marco reflects. Los Bukis later chronicled the experience in their 1978 corrido, “ Los Alambrados,” or “Wire Fences,” which was dedicated to migrants who took the same perilous journey. So they embarked on a dangerous trek in 1977 without proper documentation, much less a backup plan, they made their way across the border with four others on foot. Upon releasing their 1975 debut, “ Falso Amor,” the Solís boys, still teenagers, booked a lucrative first tour in the United States. Previously named Los Hermanitos Solís, or The Brothers Solís, the band formed in Ario de Rosales, a town in Michoacán, Mexico, where founding members Marco and Joel were born and raised. Donning a white fedora, bassist Eusebio “El Chivo” Cortéz, 62, gazes towards a glossy grand piano, from which he later serenades the room with Babyface’s 2001 hit, “What If.” Meanwhile, Marco’s younger brother José Javier Solís, 60, conga player and jester of the band, teases the photographer by ducking behind his cousin, founding guitarist Joel Solís, and Los Bukis’ longstanding drummer, Pedro Sánchez, 63. “Pepe,” 62, who mans the saxophone and keys. He is flanked by the Guadarrama brothers - Roberto, 61, who plays trumpet and keyboard, and José, a.k.a. “Make sure you get the panza ,” says Solís, who pats his stomach. Dressed in crisp white shirts and matching pants, they take turns cracking jokes for a Times photographer between toothy smiles.

Inside Revolver Recordings, a studio in Thousand Oaks, the seven core members of Los Bukis are assembled for their first in-person rehearsal since their 1996 farewell show in Guadalajara. Upon adding a second date in Los Angeles, Los Bukis sold it out once more at lightning speed - then tacked on additional stadium dates in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Arlington, Texas and Oakland. “Mexico was our birthplace,” says Solís, “but California was the cradle.” Two-plus decades later, Hans Schafer, the head of Live Nation Latin, says that the band sold out the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium within minutes - faster than the Rolling Stones sold tickets to their SoFi show in October. In August 1995, Los Bukis performed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before 60,000 fans for what would have been their last-ever L.A.

“It didn’t give us much in the beginning, but it’s where we recorded most of our records. is very representative of us,” says Marco Antonio Solís, Los Bukis’ famously coiffed lead singer and songwriter, now 61. Earlier this summer, long-dormant Mexican superstars Los Bukis - whose ballads have soundtracked generations of Latino barbecues, weddings and Saturday cleaning sprees but who last performed some 25 years ago - shocked their fans by announcing a comeback tour, “Una Historia Cantada” (A History in Song).

Marco antonio solis el buki concion