Edinburg declared Grupo Frontera’s hometown

Edinburg officials delivered a proclamation at the Promenade Park Amphitheater last week to declare Wednesday as Grupo Frontera Day and the city as its hometown.

The amphitheater opened to the public at 7 p.m. City officials issued the proclamation at 8 p.m. The council members thanked the public for coming to witness the recognition. 

“Frontera is one of the reasons why Edinburg is a music city, and we will continue to celebrate with them as the city continues to grow,” said Place 3 Councilmember Johnny Garcia.

Place 1 Councilmember Daniel “Dan” Diaz explained how the event came to be. 

“I had a phone call from a young lady by the name of Connie Alfaro, testing facilitator at J. Economedes High School and she said, ‘I would love it if you guys would recognize the group,’” Diaz said. “They were working on it, trabajando, and it finally evolved. Lo que están mirando aquí ahorita, sin ella no pasa esto.” 

Grupo Frontera formed on Feb. 16 of last year in Edinburg, according to the proclamation, which was read by Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. 

“[The band], who took some of the most popular songs and added the Norteño, cumbia twist, and whereas Grupo Frontera is one of the freshest and most unique groups of the last few years, having accomplished so much in just one year, Grupo Frontera is taking the music industry by storm with their charisma and their original Norteño sound,” Garza read. “They are also breaking records in their social media platforms, with TikTok. Their music video for ‘No se va’–that has over 250 million views on YouTube.” 

The group has three songs in the Top 100, which are “Bebe dame,” “Que vuelvas” and “No se va,” which it  performed at the amphitheater. 

Lead vocalist Adelaido Solis is an Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District alum and spoke after receiving the proclamation. 

“To everyone listening right now, I would like to tell you that all of this started with a dream, for the love of music,” Solis said in Spanish. “If you would like to continue in whatever, in your music career, I will tell you to follow your dreams. That’s how we started. Without a dream, there is really nothing, really, in life. So follow your dreams because they become true.”  

In an interview with The Rider, percussionist Julian Peña Jr. said that one of the obstacles that they faced when the group was first starting was their jobs. 

“All of us had our regular jobs, and I think the biggest obstacle was actually jumping in and saying, ‘You know what, let’s leave our regular jobs and dedicate ourselves to our music,’” Peña said in Spanish. “It was making the decision that we really wanted to become musicians.” 

Asked what cumbia and Norteño music means to the group, Solis said the genres are something that they have all grown up with.

“It is something that has always been present in our culture,” he said in Spanish. “If it’s here in Edinburg or where we have our roots in General Bravo, Monterrey, [Nuevo Leon, Mexico], Reynosa, [Tamaulipas, Mexico]–wherever–cumbia music will always be present.”