Manuel Esperón

In 1989, Esperón was awarded the Premier National Prize of Mexico for Art and Traditional Culture (de Artes y Tradiciones Populares). In 2001, he was given a tribute at the Palace of Fine Arts in the historical center of Mexico City. Until his death in 2011, he was the honorary President for life of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico.

Esperón was born in Mexico City. He retired in 1987, although his songs continued to be used in filmmaking and television productions.

The last two were winners of Silver Ariel Awards in 1947 and 1955, respectively. The son of a civil engineer father and a concert pianist mother, Esperon completed his musical education in Mexico, then became an accompanist to silent films.

Prolific multi award-winning Mexican composer of over 900 songs (many of which have become standards of Latin music) and 500 soundtracks. He was hand-picked by Walt Disney to write most of the Mexican musical segment for The Three Caballeros (1944), alongside Agustin Lara, Ary Barroso and his frequent collaborator, Ernesto Cortázar. Apart from 'Ay Jalisco, No Te Rajes', his other famous compositions, include 'No Volvere', 'Cantaclaro' and 'Cuando Me Vaya'.

He worked as an arranger/orchestrator until 1933, when he composed his first film score. Esperon was notable for integrating mariachi music into many of his screen compositions and had noted collaborations with many of the best-known interpreters of contemporary Mexican music, such as Jorge Negrete and 'Lola Beltran'.

Manuel Esperón González (August 3, 1911 – February 13, 2011) was a Mexican songwriter and composer. Along with the famous Mexican author Ernesto Cortazar, Esperón cowrote many songs for Mexican films, including "¡Ay, Jalisco, no te rajes!" for the 1941 film of the same name, "Cocula" for El Peñón de las Ánimas (The Rock of Souls) (1943), and "Amor con amor se paga" for Hay un niño en su futuro (1952). Other Esperón compositions have become Latin standards such as "Yo soy mexicano", "Noche plateada" and "No volveré", which was used in the first episode of the 2001 soap opera El juego de la vida. Among other performers, Pedro Infante, Los Panchos, and Jorge Negrete have made his songs well-known. His fame in the USA derives from when his song The Three Caballeros was used in the Disney film The Three Caballeros (1944).