The banda star's rapid ascent was fortified by Mexican regional music pioneers like Los Tucanes de Tijuana. No group, though, has dominated the norteño scene longer than Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizarraga, whose tuba-led onslaught and realist lyrics foretold Ortíz's own violent narcocorridos. His romantic side, meanwhile, connects directly to lachrymose mariachi deity Vicente Fernández.