During this year’s Mardi Gras celebration, Chapala will pay tribute to Mike Laure, the nationally acclaimed father of the Mexican cumbia, with guest artists performing a selection of the late musician’s hit songs at a free concert Sunday, February 26, 4 p.m., at the Carnaval nucleus.
Miguel Laure Rubio, a native of El Salto de Juanacatlán, was born in 1937. Losing his father as toddler, he began working at an early age to help support his family. He picked up his first job as musician at age 16, playing with EL Salto’s Ocampo brothers.
In 1957 he was hired as a bandleader at the Hotel Montecarlo, launching a successful career in Chapala. A few years later he formed his own rock and roll band, Mike Laure y sus Cometas, in the mold of Bill Haley and Chuck Berry. The group soon picked up weekend gigs at the Beer Garden where Laure developed a distinctive style fusing rock with the tropical sounds of the Columbian cumbia, a genre that was not well known in Mexico at that time.
Laure became known as El Rey del Trópico after recording his first national hit “Tiburón,Tiburón,” still widely popular today. Among his other best known compositions are Rajita de Canela, Cosecha de Mujeres, Amor en Chapala and Quiero Amanecer (allá por Chapala).
His rise to stardom was boosted by appearances on Siempre en Domingo and other television variety shows of the era. In 1992 he suffered a stroke that ended his career. He died in Mexico City eight years later at age 63.
Laure maintained a home in Chapala until the end of his life. He is immortalized with a bronze statue that stands on the Malecón just outside the original Beer Garden location.