Priscila y Sus Balas De Plata

Priscila y Sus Balas de Plata captured early notice as the first norteño act to place a woman behind the accordion. By staffing the band with handsome musicians still in their late teens, the group also signaled a shift away from the longstanding image of norteño ensembles fronted by portly middle-aged men. Born in Mexico City to a musical household, siblings Priscila (b. 1978, accordion, keyboards, vocals), Tirzo Jr. (accordion, keyboards, vocals) and Ursula Camacho (percussion, vocals) counted composer and producer Tirzo Paiz (born Tirzo Camacho) as their father. The Camacho children entered the entertainment world young: Priscila performed on national television at age five and appeared in two Mexican films before turning ten. Aspiring to follow her father’s path, she began studying guitar and piano at age ten with the intention of eventually directing her own ensemble. After the family relocated to Monterrey in 1991, a concert by legendary norteño accordionist Ramon Ayala prompted Priscila to take up the instrument herself. With support from her father and brother, she overcame concerns about potential mockery and started lessons at sixteen. By 1994 the siblings had assembled the rest of the lineup through auditions Tirzo Sr. conducted for bass, guitar and drums.

Tirzo Sr. spent the following year refining the young players before submitting a demo to FonoVisa in 1995. That submission yielded the Mexico-only release Corazonadas, whose opening single, the ranchera “Ay Corazón,” gained regional traction through its catchy refrain and a video that opened with Priscila and Ursula engaged in a taekwondo bout. The band cultivated a style they termed “pop norteño,” blending country shuffles and blues-derived guitar lines with the customary rancheras and cumbias while steering clear of the narrative corridos typical of the genre. On Corazonadas and its 1996 successor Busco Novio the lyrics centered on romance and adolescent infatuation; by the 1997 album La Cantante the themes had matured. Onstage the musicians added straightforward choreography, though they remained constrained by the need to perform on their instruments—unlike many of their elaborately staged Latin-pop peers.