La Sonora Santanera
La Sonora Santanera is a Mexican tropical music group formed in 1955 and based in Villahermosa, Mexico. Its repertoire and style draw on bolero, chachachá, cumbia, guaracha, latin, merengue, danzón, mambo and rumba, and its songs become part of Mexico’s collective memory.
Origins and style
The group is created by musician and trumpeter Colorado Tabasco Carlos Vera. It develops a distinctive tropical sound that combines several Latin dance and popular traditions, with bolero, chachachá and cumbia among its central genres. The act is also known as the Internacional Sonora Santanera and, later, the Única Internacional Sonora Santanera.
Members and continuity
At one point, only three original members remain with the Internacional Sonora Santanera: Don Sergio Celada, Don Arturo Ortiz and Antonio Toño Mendez. Rosita Gómez is listed as a member. The group continues after the death of Carlos Vera, with Silvestre Mercado taking over as leader. It remains active from 1955 to the present.
Key event and later development
On 25 April 1986, the group’s bus is struck by a trailer wagon near Tultitlán in the State of Mexico while travelling to a performance in Aguascalientes for the Feria de San Marcos. Carlos Vera dies in the accident, and other members, including Juan and Silvestre, are injured while the rest escape with minor injuries. In later years, the members continue the project with permission from Vera’s widow, Yolanda Almazán Ortíz, and place several songs on Mexican radio through performances, tours and appearances in mass media. Over time, disagreement with the widow leads to a name change to the Única Internacional Sonora Santanera.
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