Rubén Albarrán

Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega (born February 1, 1967 ) is a Mexican musician and a member and founder of the alternative rock band Café Tacvba. As singer and frontman of Café Tacvba, the artist has characterized himself by his energetic attitude onstage and for presenting himself as different characters and aliases throughout his career.

He started in music in the 1980s in the suburbs of Mexico City, forming Cafe Tacvba together with Joselo Rangel between 1988 and 1989, a group with which he gained international fame and made him worthy of the prizes Grammy and Grammy Latino. As a soloist he has released an album, Bienvenido al sueño and he formed the group Hoppo!, in addition to making duets and covers with diverse artists from Mexico and Latin America.

He is an environmental activist and has shown his support for various political causes like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Yo Soy 132 movement, among others.

Biography Albarrán was born in the State of Mexico in 1967. He has three siblings. He spent the first five years of his life in Monterrey then returned to live in the Ciudad Satélite area, in a metropolitan area of the Mexican capital. He grew up with the eclectic influence of the music his parents listened to, who liked to sing often. 2021: "Alquimia" with María León and La Bruja de Texcoco. 2022: "Volver a Solreír" with Aterciopelados. 2023: "Azcatl Cuecueyoca" with La Bruja de Texcoco. 2023: "Vengo por ti" with Octavia.

Discography With Café Tacvba Café Tacuba (1992) Re (1994) Avalancha de Éxitos (1996) Revés/Yo Soy (1999) Vale Callampa (2002) Cuatro Caminos (2003) Sino (2007) El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco (2012) Jei Beibi (2017) Un Segundo MTV Unplugged (2019)

With Hoppo! Hoppo! (2010) Ollin Rollin (2013) El Inmortal (2014) Te Vas al Sur (2016) La Maga y el Sadhu (2019)

As soloist (Sizu Yantra) Bienvenido al Sueño (2006)

Other artistic projects In 2011, together with Ofelia Medina he made the theatrical performance El placer de nuestra lengua, consisting of a histrionic montage with erotic poetry. The work had performances in Mexico, the United States and Spain.

Aesthetics Albarrán performing in the 2022 Festival Internacional Cervantino. Albarrán is described as having a unique aesthetic. As frontman of Café Tacvba, he experimented in the creation of temporary characters, and his performances feature an energetic attitude.

Alter egos Albarrán's constant change of names is due to the creation of characters or alter egos. The singer has declared that he does it to "breathe fresh air" and free himself from "being Rubén". In an interview in the Argentine music magazine Los Inrockuptibles he mentions the origin of his constant name changes: "Sometimes I regret [being Rubén Albarrán] and other times I take it as a game. On one hand, I free myself from the weight of being Rubén, and on the other, it's a breath of fresh air – besides, in short, it's therapeutic for me."

In the era of the formation of Café Tacvba, Albarrán already was experimenting with his attire. In the words of Joselo when he spoke of it for the first time, "Rubén was on that occasion with a white hat and a bag, and it was a strange and interesting thing, because no vocalist saw themselves like that, they all like rockers, but not him." an aesthetic they maintained until the release of their next album. Cosme: Café Tacvba wanted to create a concept album with Re. Part of the storyline is to do with the concept of duality in the beliefs of Mesoamerican people and ideas like atl-tlachinolli. Albarrán created the character of Cosme, dying his hair red, combing it to form small devil horns and wearing a red jacket and a checkered skirt. When Café Tacvuba took a year's break and split up, Rubén again changed his name, this time to Rita Cantalagua.. He explained its origin in an interview in 2001: "The Rita one I took from a German film called The Legends of Rita, and Cantalagua is a village I encountered on a trip around Mexico: one day I passed through here and I saw the sign "Hacienda Cantalagua". It sounded to me like canta el agua (the water sings)."

In 2013, with the release of the album El objeto antes llamado disco he decided to stick with his real name, which has remained until the present with the release of Jei beibi

Activism On top of his artistic work, Albarrán is an activist for different causes, primarily related to environmental protection and land protection. In 2012 he formed the collective Aho with other artists, a group in defense of sacred land of the indigenous Wixaricas, Wirikuta. In this year he publicly showed his support for the YoSoy132 movement. In 2013 he joined protests against the structural reforms of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto.

In 2015 he joined Manu Chao and Roco Pachukote to show support in favour of the conservation of the Amazon.

Albarrán is a supporter of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. In 2018 he showed his support for the independent candidate María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, participating in public acts to back her.