Ramón Ayala has announced the date of the concert that will mark the end of a successful career that began in the 1960s. The last show of the norteño music legend will take place on September 13 at the Arena Ciudad de México, as announced on his social media accounts.
“After 60 years of career, the King of the Accordion bids farewell to his audience in a grand way with two concerts on the Historia de un Final tour,” the post reads, also referring to the show he will give the day before at the Arena Monterrey.
It was in that city where the musician began his journey alongside Cornelio Reyna, with whom he formed Los Relámpagos del Norte before continuing with his own group, Ramón Ayala y los Bravos del Norte.
Ayala announced the El Principio de un Final tour in February of last year, which was not completed due to differences with the promoter. Instead, in March 2024, he began the Historia de un Final tour, which has taken him to dozens of cities in Mexico and the United States.
In an exclusive interview with Billboard Español ahead of the tour, Ayala expressed his enthusiasm for continuing his career after more than half a century. “I am encouraged to know that there is a large audience that follows us both in Mexico and the United States, who fill our concerts and await our new music,” he said.
Ayala’s story in music began when he was just 5 years old, accompanying his father playing the accordion to bring money home in his hometown of Monterrey, Nuevo León, the birthplace of one of the three branches of regional Mexican music: norteño, mariachi, and banda sinaloense.
Throughout his extensive career, he has recorded more than 100 albums, two of which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart: Arriba El Norte (1991) and Antología De Un Rey (2004). He has also placed 12 songs on Hot Latin Songs, including “Del otro lado del portón” at No. 12 and “Quémame los ojos” at No. 19. Among other accolades, he has been awarded two Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammys.
As an undisputed reference in regional Mexican music, many contemporary artists in the genre often include Ayala’s classics in their concerts, such as “Tragos de amargo licor” – among them Edén Muñoz and Alfredo Olivas, whom the veteran musician has cited as his favorites from the new generation.