Album produced by Tec graduate wins Latin Grammy!

Photos: Alejandro Salazar

“We won the Latin Grammys’ Best Banda Album. Congratulations Chiquis for the incredible album. You’re incredible!”, wrote Kinky keyboardist and music producer Ulises Lozano on his Instagram.

This is how the Tec graduate announced that the album entitled Playlist, by the singer Chiquis Rivera, on which he was a producer and recording engineer, was the winner in the Latin Recording Academy awards.

“I’m really excited. You don’t make music with the idea of receiving recognition, but it does feel very good to receive this award, which is one of the most important in the music industry,” the Tec graduate told CONECTA.

For Ulises, one of the reasons why the album won was the evolution and mixing of new trends in music with traditional genres, such as banda.

A trend-setting album

Lozano, who holds a degree in Economics from the Tec, described Playlist as a production with a new and different sound.

“It’s a very varied album, in which you can begin to see new trends in regional Mexican music, where the genre is obviously evolving.

“This is an album in which you can find banda music, but there’s also cumbia and norteño (...) everything was done in great detail. We were thinking about how we’d like to listen to regional Mexican music today,” said Ulysses.

He stressed that when working on the material there was good chemistry with Chiquis, the daughter of the late Jenni Rivera, which allowed the singer to engage in an experimental musical process.

“I think Chiquis is a very important person in capturing where musical trends are going. For instance, she includes R&B, electronic, and pop influences as well as, obviously, regional music which comes from her mother, Jenni, and her family,” he added.

“What’s more, as a young artist, she likes musical experimentation when making a record, like putting in cumbia, banda, and then norteño”, shared the musician.

Put his stamp on Playlist

Ulises is happy to have been part of a project including banda, one of the genres of regional Mexican music.

“For me it has always been very important to maintain my roots, the influences in my music, which are obviously very varied and come from electronic, cumbia, rock, and, this time, banda on Chiquis’s album.

“It’s very cool to have the opportunity to work within various genres in the music I make, and to have that work recognized as well,” he added.

During the production of Playlist, Ulises worked with other industry professionals such as Richard Bull and Luciano Luna, with whom he worked for the recordings that were made in Sinaloa, Mexico, and in Los Angeles, California.

“We were working together on everything; for example, Luciano helped us with all the banda part, and I recorded all of Chiquis’ vocals here in Los Angeles and also worked on the more experimental songs such as Ticket de salida (Ticket Out of Here),” he explained.

In addition to being a producer and recording engineer, Ulises also participated as an accordionist on some songs, and was one of the guest artists on the album, alongside his wife Amandititita, and others such as Becky G, Ely Quintero, and Helen Ochoa.

The Tec Community at the Latin Grammys

Ulises stressed that, like him, other members of the Tec community were nominated in the 21st Latin Grammys.

“I am very proud to be a Tec graduate. We’re always present in art, in the economy, in government, or in companies. That speaks very well of a university that’s providing society with people who are capable and have a human side,” said the Kinky member.

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