PHOENIX — A Valley band was surprised when they received a call from the Phoenix Suns requesting a song in Spanish.
“We were on the road between Tucson and Phoenix, we came out with the lyrics in 10 minutes,” said Emmanuel Coria, founder of Banda la Alterada.
Coria, along with the lead singer, wrote a traditional "corrido," titled "Este Año es El Nuestro" which in English means "This Year is Ours."
“They loved it, I heard the people at the Phoenix Suns loved it,” said Coria.
Coria, a Phoenix native, says he grew up watching the Suns and playing basketball in high school. To his disbelief, the Phoenix Suns also wanted the band to present the song virtually and record the music video inside their arena.
“It was great, they gave us jerseys. It was cool seeing us up on the big screen,” added Coria.
The band presented the song virtually in May during the Phoenix Suns game versus the New York Knicks at halftime. So far,their music video has over 30,000 views on YouTube, and Coria says its cultural significance has brought fans closer together.
But, what’s a "corrido?"
“A corrido is basically a story. I mean there's stories about everything, there's corridos about bad people, good people, and now about the Phoenix Suns,” said Coria.
He thinks having the band write a song with such cultural significance for Mexican and Mexican Americans in Phoenix was meant to be.
“This year is our year. You can say that we called it early, but a lot of people knew that this year was going to be special for them,” Coria said of the team.
Coria says just like this year is the Suns' year, it is also the year for the Latino community with player Devin Booker representing them.
“He’s Mexican-American. In our song we call him, just like Kobe told him, to be legendary, so we call him ‘the legendario.’ He’s a legend.”
All the members of this band come from Mexican immigrant families, so for them, being able to play a song for an NBA team is a dream come true.
“This is what we are, this is who we are. So, I hope this song goes to all over the country. We're following our dreams,” said Hugo Lugo, the lead singer for the Banda La Alterada.
Lugo is an immigrant from Sonora, Mexico and hopes their song can help to represent the Latino community in the Valley and to perform live one day at a Phoenix Suns game.
