Did an Enjambre Cover Influence the Coachella-Bound Caifanes Reunion?

Elizabeth Hernandez

​Now that Coachella's three-day musical lineup has been officially released, it's confirmed that reunion performances will include Mexican rock legends Caifanes. No more speculation is necessary (and really, it was a no-brainer), with the band set to take the stage in Indio on April 15 as a semi-top billing just days after participating in Mexico City's Vive Latino Festival. The reported smoothing-out of a tension-filled 15-year hiatus between guitarist Alejandro Marcovich and singer Saúl Hernández has made the two concerts possible.

But exactly why the two put their previous Caifanes-dissolving differences aside is still somewhat of a mystery. On a recent episode of the Santa Ana-based Internet show SolArt Radio (for which I occasionally drop in to co-host), members of the formerly Anaheim-based band Enjambre put forth a small theory as to the possible contribution to the occurrence.

Having since moved to Mexico City from OC years ago and receiving much more critically acclaimed success as a result, the Latin Alternative rockers recorded a cover included on a Caifanes/Jaguares tribute album released last year. The first volume of Nos Vamos Juntos featured interpretations from Caifanes' classic catalog by bands such as Aterciopelados, Ozomatli and Hello Seahorse!

Javier Mejia, Rafa and Julián Navejas were in Anaheim visiting family for the holidays earlier this month when they dropped by SolArt Radio and recounted the process behind Enjambre's offering of "Estás Dormida" on the album. 

"One of our buddies sent us that song," Mejia said on the Internet program. "We recorded it with Paco and Randy of Molotov."

Seeing the opportunity as a great honor, the band recalled what made that selection noteworthy. "It was the only song that Marcovich wrote," Julián Navejas added. "We like to think that somehow this song kind of helped reunite them."

After hearing "Estás Dormida," Saúl Hernández had phoned Enjambre lead singer Luis Humberto Navejas and congratulated him. He also mentioned he hadn't talked to Alejandro Marcovich yet, but reassured that he was sure he would love the interpretation as well.

"We'll never know," Rafael Navejas mused, "but . . . the fact that Saúl allowed that song to be in the tribute album says a lot about getting over old grudges."