The Chilean band Los Angeles Negros (the black angles) probably wouldn’t be so familiar to North American ears if it wasn’t for the sample used off the Beastie Boys “Hello Nasty” album. But who can blame them for copping a beat like “El Rey Y Yo” (The King and I). Psychedelic bolero break-beats? Anyway, long before the any popularity was garnered from that Beastie Boys record, Los Angeles Negros where the most popular bolero groups of their era.
Los Angeles Negros have almost a similar biography as Los Pasteles Verdes (see my earlier post). Both bolero style groups, founded after winning a talent show, becoming internationally famous, and then moving partially to Mexico. On a side note, keep in mind that Mexico is the most populous Latin American country (besides Brazil). So if a band makes it big, you find a lot of Caribbean and South American acts ending up there. There is almost like a cultural diaspora in Mexico City. It’s a bigger market, close to the United States, a recording/publishing mecca, and it is relatively stable to other Latin American countries, or was at the time.
Nevertheless, I threw some great break-beat sounding boleros, along with their most popular mega hit “Y Volvere” (and you will return). Check out predecessors Julio Jaramillo (Ecuador) or Carlos Gardel (Argentina). South America has had a long history of the romantic bolero and over the top lyricism. Enjoy!
1. Los Angeles Negros: Y Volvere
2. Los Angeles Negros: A Tu Recuerdo
3. Los Angeles Negros: Amor Por Ti
4. Los Angeles Negros: Con Todo Mi Amor
Super Sonido 
It’s true about the musical diaspora from many Latin American countries to Mexico but the way we used to see this from South America is different. It’s not that artists flock to Mexico to make it big, but instead they end up in Mexico when they have lost popularity in their home countries. Once a former one-hit-wonder band becomes a cheesy cliché in Chile or Argentina, for example, they move to Mexico where they apparently seem to welcome all crappy music. There’s this conception abroad that pretty much anybody can get a record deal in Mexico…
bello el disco pero yo quier ver toda la cancion de disco los angel negros y volvere la contraportada de tra
Latinamerican musician are still moving to México and i’m sure it is not because mexican people like crappy music. It is because México is the bigest musical market for hispanos
Los Ángeles Negros are a big referent to a lot of new bands in Chile.
Please, check the sound of Los Golpes, my favourite band from the funk bolero era.
Los Angeles Negros tocaban boleros pero fueron mas populares interpretando baladas