La Arrolladora Banda el Limón de René Camacho

One of the greatest Mexican bandas of the 20th and 21st centuries, La Arrolladora Banda el Limón de René Camacho arose from the splintering of the storied Banda el Limón. That group originated in 1965 in El Limón de los Peraza, Sinaloa, Mexico, where it played a mix of corridos, ballads and norteño for local audiences. The banda thrived under Salvador Lizárraga’s leadership starting in 1976, but after Lizárraga suffered a stroke in 1996, clarinetist René Camacho took over. Disagreements ensued under his leadership and Camacho and many other band members left and started their own band, La Arrolladora, in 1997. (Lizárraga’s band continued life as La Original.) But despite the disputes and personnel changes, the music never suffered. La Arrolladora climbed the regional charts, presiding over the horn-heavy genre’s growing importance in Mexican music and serving the same enraptured audiences as its rival. La Arrolladora has thrived thanks to René and brother Fernando Camacho’s canny ability to bet on the era’s great songwriters. Its stable of muses runs deep: Horacio Palencia’s “De Ti Exclusivo” became a smash hit for the group in 2007, the first of many Palencia penned for them. The banda also began leaning on the troubadour Espinoza Paz, starting with 2003’s Gracias por Creer and the hit “El Ruido de Tus Zapatos”. In 2009, Más Adelante became La Arrolladora’s first Billboard Top Latin Albums chart-topper. While the banda retains its traditional instrumentation, it has developed a more contemporary and pop-oriented vocal presence, embracing cumbias, ballads and romantic lyrics to continue pleasing its many fans.