You can’t go far in the Coachella Valley without experiencing a slice of Latin culture—from the panaderias in Coachella to the Mexican music in Indio to the taco shops in Bermuda Dunes. This includes the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as in recent years, the event has started showcasing more Spanish-speaking artists.
Angel Chavez is a local who has attended Coachella for more than a decade; known as “Coachella Angel,” he has dedicated his YouTube channel to documenting, reviewing and offering survival tips at the festival. This Coachella historian is also extremely involved in the valley’s music scene, supporting artists through content creation and hosting shows under the Desert Underground name—all while proudly wearing his Mexican heritage proudly on his sleeve.
During a recent phone interview, Chavez talked about Coachella’s history with Latino artists.
“In 2018, you had Los Ángeles Azules—and Latinos know Los Ángeles Azules, as they actually come here all the time to the local casinos,” Chavez said. “They play cumbias, and cumbias are more universal to a general audience. Coachella started with them in 2018, and then in 2019, they added more Latinos with J Balvin and Bad Bunny, and then for Mexican artists, Los Tucanes De Tijuana and Mon Laferte.
“In 2022, that’s the first time they added corridos. They added Natanel Cano, who is one of the pioneers in that new generation space of Mexican music. Then you had Bad Bunny, the first Latino to headline Coachella in 2023, and, of course, Rosalía was brought in, Eladio Carrión, and DannyLux, the local who got a chance to play at Coachella.”
This rapid increase in the number of Latino artists at Coachella makes sense, considering how Spanish-language music has increasingly dominated the charts.
“Coachella became a global festival,” Chavez said. “It’s so big, and it represents all the music from around the world. … I’ve seen Latin artists on the rise through the charts and through Coachella—and now you start seeing more and more Latinos coming to the Coachella, because you have more Latinos playing Coachella.”
One of the Latinos who performed at Coachella this year was Eddie Zuko, an Imperial Valley native who uses English and Spanish in both his lyrics and genre choices. During an onsite interview at Coachella, Zuko shared similar sentiments on the rise of both Latino artists and Latino fans at Coachella.
“People like music from people who are like them or who talk like them,” Zuko said. “I think a lot of music is more global now, and I think streaming helps with that … so people want the Latin artists. I don’t think they just gave it out as a prize. I’m just happy to be a part of the group of other Latino artists who are here. I think it’s dope to see. I don’t think it’s only Latino people who want the Latin music; I think it’s other people as well.”
Why are people so drawn to this new era of Mexican music? Chavez offered some thoughts.
“One, it’s fast paced: the traditional Regional Mexican music, that style with guitars, it’s more slow and country like, and melodic, and it has cool ballads,” Chavez said. “This new style—they started adding trumpets and trombones, and then just a more upbeat tempo, higher BPM, so it gets you excited. It’s faster-paced, and it looks cool. In the music videos, they’re partying with a bunch of girls, and they have a bunch of money, and they’re driving fast cars. The general audience likes that—I don’t know why, but we’re human—so they show off flashy things in the videos, and it gets people excited.”
Zuko credits the draw of Mexican music to a blending of grooves.
“Corridos have always been big in Mexico, but I think they’re having a big moment here in America, because there are more Latinos … and it’s a little different than hip hop in the sense that it’s not 4/4; it’s 3/4,” Zuko said. “It’s a whole different groove, and there are hardly ever any drums in it. Hip hop is still huge—I think it’s the most important genre, and it sets the most trends—but I think it’s good to have this mix of other genres coming in and making a splash like corridos, Afrobeats and reggaeton dembow.”
Zuko himself is a prime example of how blending genres and cultures can lead to an appealing musical concoction.
“It’s hard when people ask me what genre of music I make, because I have so many different influences,” Zuko said. “I just tell them it’s hip hop, reggae, reggaeton, something. … I feel like I’m a good mix of it, and since people can’t really box me in, they’ll enjoy it.”
Chavez theorized that the pandemic played a big role in pushing Coachella in a more global direction.
“A lot of artists like DannyLux blew up on TikTok during 2020 when we were all locked up in our homes,” Chavez said. “All Mexican music is very simple … so it doesn’t take a full band to go viral. A lot of people started picking up the guitar, and they’re like, ‘Oh, damn, I’ve seen all these artists are rising; maybe I could do it too.’ Everyone feels they can see themselves in the people who are doing it, and maybe they get encouraged or they get motivated. … I remember when I was in high school 12 years ago, and listening to Mexican music was kind of frowned upon. We were paisas sitting on one side of the high school, and now, Mexican music is No. 1, at least for the Latino high schools and all that. I see videos on TikTok of people taking their guitars, playing at lunchtime, having performances and stuff, and you never saw that back then.”
Latin music is getting increasingly popular all over the Coachella Valley—from backyard shows to Acrisure Arena.
“You’re not reinventing the wheel; you’re just providing entertainment for the people who live here,” Chavez said. “At Desert Underground, if I have Mexican artists or Latino artists, I know more people will come than if I have a hip-hop show or something else. It’s kind of the same thing Acrisure started doing. … They’re trying to book more Latino artists … because of the demographic here.”
Zuko said he’s seen audiences respond to his lyrics because they’re so relatable.
“Literally the line, ‘Hot Cheetos with the chile’ (from “Made”), every time I play that song, somebody throws a friggin’ Hot Cheetos bag onstage,” Zuko said. “It’s not so much that I’m propping up Hot Cheetos, but I think it’s just so synonymous with the culture. It means more than just eating Hot Cheetos. I have a song called ‘Tamales,’ and it’s not really about the tamales, but it’s about what the tamales represent—like, your family coming together during the holidays and those types of memories you may have while you’re eating tamales.”
Zuko added that it’s not just Latin fans who are responding to his music.
“Obviously the first people who are going to be fans are Mexicans and other Hispanics or Latinos, because they can relate to it more,” Zuko said. “Now so many different types of people like my music. Going on tour last year opened my eyes to that, because I’m going to random places. There are a lot of Latinos in all these places, but it was such a mix of different crowds. … I say so many things that are inside jokes or allusions to the Latino culture, Mexican culture, and people just kind of pick up on it with my context clues.
Zuko said the rise in Mexican music’s popularity has motivated younger artists—and it’s helping those younger artists have a greater appreciation for their own culture.
“Whenever there’s a wave like that, other artists who might not sound exactly like the biggest artists … can join the wave,” Zuko said. “I think listeners are hungry for other artists who give some new sounds. You look at (2024 Coachella performer) Peso Pluma. We’ve had corridos for a while, but he went to the next level because of so many different things. It could have been because of his voice, or because of his look—and I think that new artists who come along with any wave like that, they also will benefit from the whole genre going higher.”
Peso Pluma is one of the hottest names in music right now—and Chavez said his prime-time set at Coachella this year was a big deal.
“Peso Pluma was … playing the second biggest card on Friday, so he had the second biggest budget at Coachella after Lana Del Rey on Friday,” Chavez said. “You’re able to do more with that budget to create a better set—and what he did was he paid tribute to the genre of corridos and all the legends who came before him. He was telling a story throughout his entire performance, and it was narrated by Morgan Freeman, and it was telling the story of corridos and how they were banned, and all the negative stigma behind them—and now there’s a revolution and they’re breaking barriers.
“During his last song, there was a slideshow on the panels on the screens, and it was just a montage of all the legends from Regional Mexicano music. They showed Jenni Rivera, Chalino Sanchez, Los Tucanes, and even newer artists like Natanael Cano and LEGADO 7. It was a montage of all the artists who have played that genre … and paved the way for someone like Peso Pluma to be part of that and take it to another global scale.”