Sergio Vega

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Sergio Vega

José Sergio Vega Cuamea (born September 12, 1969 in Ejido Hornos , Sonora , † June 26, 2010 near Angostura , Sinaloa ) was a Mexican narcocorrido singer. Since the mid-1990s he was known by the stage name El Shaka . In June 2010 it was rumored that Vega had been murdered. He denied this rumor on a radio broadcast. After the broadcast, he was shot on the way from the broadcaster to an appearance on a drive-by shoot .

Life

Childhood and career

Vega was the eighth of a total of thirteen children. He grew up in a family of musicians who brought him closer to Mexican folk music at an early age. He learned the guitar and sang with his family from a very early age. In 1988 he emigrated to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. There he founded the band Los Hermanos Vega with his brothers Ramon and Jesus . The group received a recording contract with Joey Records and was able to celebrate their first successes with pieces like "Corazón de Oropel" and "El Rayo de Sinaloa". The band was more popular in their Mexican homeland than with Spanish-speaking immigrants in the USA. In 1994 the brothers decided to return to Mexico and rename themselves Los Reyos del Norte . With the band name they also changed the label and signed with Digital Universal. It was around this time that Vega began to exhibit eccentric behaviors. In private, he could only be found in pajamas outside of his home and also went shopping and car trips. Vega began to change his style and instead of love songs to write more narcocorridos. The name of the genre is composed of " Corrido ", the popular heroic songs about the Mexican Revolution and "Narco", the Spanish word for drugs. The interpreters of these songs of praise to the drug cartels are mostly in the service of the clan chiefs and are financed directly by them. Vega was also suspected of having had good contacts with the boss of a drug cartel in Sonora.

In 1997 he renamed his group Sergio Vega y Sus Shakas Del Norte . He called himself only El Shaka , an allusion to the courage and heroism of the Zulu King Shaka , which Vega would also represent. Sergio Vegas' drug and alcohol problems became rampant until he retired from music altogether in 2001.

His comeback only followed in 2004 with the single Me Gusta Estar Contigo . She would remain his most successful until his death.

Music genre

Sergio Vega changed his style from sentimental love songs to the more folk melodies of the Narcocorridas without completely abandoning either style. Often, musically and lyrically, he combined the values ​​of the drug cartels with the description of love for a loved one:

" But there will never be doubts about his love,
because her loyalty is unimaginable
. It would never occur to him to betray her.
Because that, my friend, kills."

During his appearances, Vega was mostly dressed in the typical Narcorrida style, similar to the Texan cowboy clothing.

Threat to the Narcocorridas

In 2007, Grammy-nominated singer Sergio Gómez performed at a concert that Vega also played. When Gómez got in his car to leave the concert, a convoy of ten Chevrolets arrived and kidnapped Gómez. He was found tortured and strangled a few days later. After the murder, Vega stated on his website that he wanted to strengthen security measures. Although other performers of the genre took similar precautions, fourteen more narcocorrida singers were murdered by the day Vegas died. In 2010 a major government campaign against the Narcocorridas began. They should be ostracized, banned from the radio and eventually banned. The campaign had only moderate success. Most of the titles disappeared from the radio under pressure from the government, but their popularity remained unbroken. Nevertheless, Sergio Vega announced in early 2010 that he would like to concentrate more on love songs again, and produced the album Millionario de Amor . That has nothing to do with the government campaign, but is the result of the rampant violence that narcocorrida singers would also fall victim to.

In August 2009 the singer Carlos Ocaranza was shot dead in Guadalajara . When asked if Vega also sees himself as a target, he replied:

“ I cover dangerous subjects and it can be scary, but you have to put your hope in God. "

Vega had already foreseen his own end in one of his songs:

“ I'm going to ask you a favor.
Said Shaka to his people.
I want to make more coca paste .
Because that's what customers want.
And in the end, when it rains, I get wet. "

In the jargon of the Mexican mafia, "let it rain" means to sift through the victim with bullets.

assassination

In June 2010 a rumor surfaced in various forums on the Internet that Vega had been murdered. It held on so persistently that Vega decided to interview a radio station before appearing in Angostura to refute the rumor. He justified his spontaneous appearance with concern for his mother with heart disease and his fans.

“ This has happened to me for years now. Someone calls a radio station or newspaper and claims I was killed or in an accident. Then I always have to call my dear mother, who has a very bad heart, to calm her down and tell her that I am still alive. "

After the interview, he drove to the concert in Angostura in his red Cadillac , again wearing only pajamas, with a companion, Sergio Montiel Avila. On the journey, a white pick-up truck appeared next to them around 9:30 p.m., from which fire was opened on Vega. Over 30 caliber 45 bullets hit the car and its occupants. When Vega, injured, lost control of the car and came to a stop 50 meters from the road on a hill, the men got out and killed Vega with five shots in the chest and one final head shot in the left eye. His passenger was left injured. The police were at the scene minutes later, but were unable to solve the murder afterwards.

A lawyer for the Vega family stated on their behalf that they hold normal car thieves responsible for the attack. The police emphasized, however, that this was carried out in the typical manner of the Mexican drug mafia. She suspected that Vega was murdered by a rival drug clan. The local press, on the other hand, reported that the singer had a relationship with the wife of his cartel boss and that this was his undoing. The exact background has not yet been clarified.

The funeral took place the following Sunday with the participation of hundreds of fans. Who had spread the rumor of his murder hours before his death could never be determined.

Albums

  • 2000: Te quiero
  • 2004: Me gusta estar contigo
  • 2004: Top 10 series
  • 2005: Exitos eternos
  • 2005: Corazón de oropel
  • 2006: Grandes canciones románticas
  • 2006: Necesito dueña
  • 2006: Puros madrazos: Rancheras y corridos
  • 2007: Muchachita de ojos tristes
  • 2007: Dueño de ti
  • 2007: Cuando el sol salga al revés
  • 2009: Quién es usted
  • 2009: Puras Cumbias
  • 2010: Rey de la Banda y Norteño
  • 2010: Millonario de Amor

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mexican singer 'El Shaka' murdered hours after denying death ; in: The Telegraph on June 28, 2010 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d Mexican singer El Shaka killed after denying his murder ; Announcement on BBC News of June 28, 2010 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c biography  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on aol.com (English).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / music.aol.com  
  4. ↑ a b c d e Camilo Jiménez: Sing or die Hombre ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , edition of July 19, 2010.
  5. ^ Pablo Ordaz: Murió como en un narcocorrido ; in: El País , edition of June 27, 2010 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ a b Mexico mourns yet another slain Norteno singer ; AP article on yahoo .com on June 29, 2010 (English).
  7. ↑ From the song Disculpe usted
  8. ^ Abducted Mexican singer strangled ; Message on BBC News December 4, 2007 (English).
  9. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Vogel: Mexico forbids drug ballads: The poetry of crime ; Report on: taz .de from January 28, 2010.
  10. ^ Jo Tuckman: Mexico drug wars: Gunmen kill nine in clinic ; in: The Guardian , June 27, 2010 issue.
  11. ↑ a b c d Sergio Vega: The reports of his death were exaggerated ... at first ; in: The Independent on June 29, 2010 (English).
  12. ↑ Mexican singer shot dead just hours after denying reports he had been murdered ; in: Daily Mail on June 28, 2010 (English).
  13. ^ Caroline Black: Sergio “El Shaka” Vega Murdered Hours After Denying Reports of His Death ; Reported to CBS on June 28, 2010 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Vega, Sergio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES El Shaka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION mexican singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Ejido Hornos
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2010
Place of death near Angostura (Sinaloa)