What I will always appreciate from my experience working in the kitchen of a tiny Mexican restaurant is the beautiful music that blared from the local Spanish language radio station. Through the cloud of banging pots, shrill commercials, and my limited Spanish vocabulary, I eventually realized that only six songs were playing in constant rotation, and no less than four of those were by a group called Los Tigres Del Norte. I remember their signature cumbia-meets-polka rhythm infectiously pairing with unmistakable vocal harmonies and soul-tickling accordion work. The fact that I didn’t understand the linguistic intricacies of their dramatic operas was of little consequence because the sentiment was so pure. Los Tigres have been spreading this powerful norteño vibration over countless albums and nearly half a century performing, creating a fanbase that’s made them living legends in the world of Latino music. CHRIS SUTTON