Nati Cano

Natividad "Nati" Cano (June 23, 1933 – October 3, 2014) was a Mexican-born American mariachi musician and former, longtime leader of Mariachi los Camperos, a Grammy-winning mariachi band based in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mariachi los Camperos is "widely considered one of the top mariachi ensembles in the country." in 1990, Cano was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Natividad Cano was born in the village of Ahuisculco, Jalisco, Mexico, on June 23, 1933. His family members worked as day laborers, but they also played mariachi during their spare time. Cano's grandfather, Catarino Cano, taught him to play the Mexican vihuela, a string instrument played in mariachi. He studied at the Academia de Musica in Guadalajara for six years. Cano visited the northern city of Mexicali in 1950, where he joined a mariachi band as an arranger. His mariachi moved to Los Angeles in the U.S. state of [California]. The then leader of the band was killed in a traffic accident. Cano took over the band as its leader and renamed it Mariachi los Camperos, meaning Countrymen. The band has played across the United States, including such landmarks as Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Under Cano, Mariachi los Camperos performed with singer Linda Ronstadt on her 1987 album, Canciones de Mi Padre, and its sequel, Mas Canciones, released in 1992. Mariachi los Camperos won a Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Album for their 2008 album, Amor, Dolor y Lagrima.

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