Ricardo Castillón back after 5-year hiatus
02:52 PM CDT on Thursday, September 13, 2007
Ricardo Castillón talks about his Latin music comeback while munching on roasted chicken and Mexican rice at El Fenix in Uptown. The former lead singer of progressive Tejano group La Diferenzia mentions his love for music – Tejano, Latin pop, country, rock and even some hip-hop.
His new solo CD, Nueva Fusion, released on his Pueblo Entertainment Records, mixes cumbia with country, Latin pop balladry with mariachi, and even throws in reggaeton and rap."I'm not a rapper, though," says the 35-year-old Texas native. He laughs, then adds: "That's why I didn't rap on this album. We had two of the guys from the Kumbia Kings come in and do the rap."
Still, the mission of Nueva Fusion is clear: reintroduce Mr. Castillón and his strong, melodic voice to the masses. Not just the old masses, the ones who were fans of La Diferenzia during its mid- to late-'90s heyday. He wants today's kids, too.
"They are not listening to Tejano," he says of that new generation. "They aren't even listening to the regional Mexicano. They are listening to the rock, rap."
In the five years since Mr. Castillón's last studio album, 2002's Ricardo Castillón, he found himself forced to re-evaluate his life and career. While his wife of 16 years, Michele, recovered from a blood disorder that left her anemic and weak, he looked after his two sons, 16-year-old Ricardo Jr. and 12-year-old Ramiro. The couple has homes in San Antonio and La Pryor, Texas, where Mr. Castillón was born.
"I had to decide: keep going with my music or stay with my family and take care of my kids while my wife recovered," he says. "My kids were younger then. I thought it was gonna be a year. It ended up being much longer. But I found the time to record some and grow as a father, grow with my children. They really know who their father is now. But they were the ones that eventually told me, 'You gotta get back out there and do what you love to do.' "
Nueva Fusion is the beginning of Mr. Castillón's rejuvenated creativity. He co-wrote eight of the disc's 12 tunes. His pipes remain vibrant. He's always had more of a rich, Latin pop timbre than the usually monotone Tejano sound. He's youthful without pandering. Even during "Mala" and "Tambalea," the two songs that include rapping, he's able to effortlessly ride the hip-hop wave.
"Being independent is not the easiest thing to do," he says. "I just want people to know that I'm here, and I'm back. I'm doing it for the love of music, man. I never do anything if I don't feel it."
Even if while doing it he's walking opposite the mainstream. When La Diferenzia was at its hottest (1995 to about 1998), Mr. Castillón and his bandmates were clearly injecting international musical elements into its mix of cumbias and polkas. The sound was more polished, more textured and more advanced than the majority of the group's Tejano contemporaries. Success did materialize, however, in the form of radio hits, especially with "Si Lo Quieres" and "Linda Chaparrita"; a 1995 Tejano Music Award for most promising band of the year; and a Grammy nomination.
"It was a great opportunity. If those opportunities would not have presented themselves we would not be here now. That's the way things happened. It was the beginning of the future. Everything that happened with La Dif did happen the way it should have. I think that La Diferenzia was a little bit ahead of its time, and because of that, it wasn't easy. La Diferenzia was a group that was always fighting against the current, against what's going on whether it's norteño music, hard-core Tejano, country, whatever it is. La Diferenzia was ... different."
So is he. Mr. Castillón has radical ideas. In October he's bound for Nashville to record songs that mix classic country with Latin bolero. He'll also be scoping for a duet partner. While the Music City has had sporadic (at best) triumphs with merging country and Latin, Mr. Castillón feels the time is right to take another shot.
"There really isn't that much difference in the stories you hear in country songs and Latin pop ballads like from Alejandro Fernández," he says. "The only difference is you're gonna put in some steel guitar and maybe combine, say, Mariachi Vargas with country."
He smiles and offers a sly plug for his current CD.
"It's a new fusion, man."
Ricardo Castillón performs Friday at 11:30 p.m. at Escapade 2010, 2551 Lombardy Lane. $15. 214-902-6405 or 214-902-6411. Also, Saturday at 8 p.m. during the Consulate of Mexico's Fiestas Patrias at Smirnoff Music Centre, 1818 First Ave. Free admission and parking. www.sre.gob.mx/dallas.