Los Tigres del Norte made history by offering a concert for inmates at Folsom State Prison, California., in 2018, 50 years after Johnny Cash recorded an album in that same place. The emotional presentation was recorded for posterity by a Netflix team and is now part of the platform's catalog as the documentary The Northern Tigers at Folsom Prison.
“Our idea was to respect what Cash was saying about why to play here: to bring light to a dark place. These human beings lost their original path and perhaps will not find it again, but we believe that there is the possibility of hope and redemption. Our contribution is, on this day of visit, to give them that and, in return, we take away reflections on the beauty of freedom and the hardness of being a prisoner,” Hernán told GQ in 2019, the year in which the documentary premiered on the platform.
To hold the concert in Folsom, The Tigres del Norte were selected by Johnny Cash's family, among 103 requests from international artists. Then, they had to carry out a political campaign to receive permission to record the presentation.
“They could not allow any type of profit or commercialization related to their institution. So we went to Jerry Brown, then governor of California, although they gave us the same answer. We already had the support of the Cash family and our last option was to go to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where the secretary Ralph Diaz turned out to be related to our musical history and we got his support to do it”Hernán revealed.
By the time the documentary directed by Tom Donahue was presented, 43% of Folsom inmates were people of Latino originwhich was a significant statistic for the members of the Mexican group to make such an effort to carry out the presentation in prison.
“As my brother Hernán says, In the United States, Latinos have a tough time. It doesn't matter if you are legal or not, they put you in the same situation when they see you on the street. We are accused of being the worst. When we came to live in the American Union, we were illegal and we lived it. So we came away with mixed feelings from hearing stories like that. And we understood that, for an hour, we were there to feed their hope,” Eduardo said.
The Los Tigres del Norte concert at Folsom Prison
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 50 years after the Jhonny Cash concert, The Northern Tigers appeared at Folsom Prison in front of more than two thousand inmates who identified with their songs. “We are very happy to be here with you,” greeted the brothers Jorge, Hernán, Eduardo and Luis Hernández and their cousin Óscar Lara when they went up to the stage located outside the Greystone Chapel, inside the prison.
The Mexican singers also lived with the inmates and listened to their stories.
Instagram @lostigresdelnorte
On the day of the Los Tigres del Norte concert, the prison population enjoyed 13 songs, among them The golden cage, Countryman to countryman, blows to the heart, The black door and Three times wet. Furthermore, during his presentation, They invited the inmate Manuel Mena to accompany them on stage playing the accordion and performed their own version of Cash's song Folsom Prison Bluescall Folsom Prison.
Additionally, they performed for 400 female inmates., who are in a separate facility, but are part of the population registered in the prison. Folsom Jail has housed inmates such as Charles Manson and actor Danny Trejo.
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