Hear this: With 'Mañana Es Para Siempre,' Omar Naré looks for an evolution of mariachi

Plus, Ice Cube returns to this year's Fresno Fair, and Kinzie Rose kills Mother's Day.

Omar Naré has spent the last half dozen years trying to create a new genre; working title, “nuevo mariachi.”

In that time, he’s created not only a catalog of songs, but more importantly, a template for bringing the traditionally Mexican folk music into its next phase. With his latest release, “Mañana Es Para Siempre,” Naré pulled in Adrian Vaca, a known composer, arranger and producer from Los Angles, who is also the music director for Mariachi Angelenos.

The pair put together an all-star band of players and set them up at Interface Recording Studios, a place with a history of creating hits for the likes of Mariachi los Camperos, Sol de Mexico, Juan Gabriel and Jenni Rivera. They did the song live, over several takes with the players together in the same room, the way things used to be done before the days of digital tracking and infinite overdubs.

The result is an epic, almost orchestral retelling of the moment Naré’s grandfather left his family in Mexico to prepare a better life in the United States. In terms of sentiment, it mirrors Naré’s ambitions for mariachi.

You can read the full story of the song (including its connection of Garth Brook’s songwriter Larry Bastian) over at The Fresno Bee and listen to it below. It is also available on all your favorite digital platforms.

Big Fresno Fair locks in its first seven performers

The Big Fresno Fair this week announced the bulk of its entertainment lineup for this year.

We know that the fair works hard to keep its appeal as broad as possible (knowing that its demographic runs equally wide) and this list is exactly what we’ve come to expect over the years (in a good way).

There’s some country music (Dwight Yoakam), some pop(ular) country music (Midland), a Christian artist (Phil Wickham), a classic-area rock/funk band (Tower of Power), some rappers (Ice Cube ,Baby Bash) an R&B singer (Ashanti) and a pair of comedians (Paul Rodriguez, Dana Carvey).

We can expect the lineup to be filled out with a least two Spanish-language acts and a heavier rock/punk/metal band of some sort.

What stands out: It makes sense to we see Ice Cube returning. Fresno loves its old school hip hop and Cube sold when he played the fair in 2019. Expect a big crowd Oct. 6.

Also makes sense we see Midland on the lineup. The band was slated to play last year, but canceled last minute after a crew member tested positive for COVID.

The fair did some collaborations with its entertainment this year.

Both Tower of Power and Paul Rodriguez are playing as part of KMJ’s 100th Anniversary Celebration and seem like a perfect treat for the radio station’s listeners.

The Ashanti and Baby Bash concert is being billed as a Ladies Night Out, which some will recognize as a Brad Jaurique production.

Kinzie Rose, “Mama,” featuring Patrick Contreras

I’m not sure that anyone is going around making mother’s day playlists, but they could certainly, and if they did, the new single from Kinzie Rose would be a good addition.

One assumes “Mama,” is an ode to Rose’s own mom, a woman who gave (and continues to gives it sounds like) no shortage of love/support/advice/some physical backup.

“Mama was there to always pick a fight with anyone who tried to take my rights. And she was there always by my side and mama helped me see the light.”

The song comes off less like some of the R&B pop Rose has done before like a pop country tune. That’s mostly Rose’s vocal melodies (and maybe the lyrics, some?) and the instrumentation, including violin work from Patrick Contreras.

For his part, Contreras sits in the background some, but also loose and locks into his signature style, especially toward the end.

You can stream the song below or find it on digital platforms now.

That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com