Eternamente - Raúl Barrales

Raúl Barrales is a Mexican born Mariachi singer, who previously resided in the Mexican state of Sonora. In 1962, he was offered a recording contract with CBS/Columbia Internacional, S.A. in Mexico City. This session culminated in the creation of an EP, [Invalid Release], consisting of four songs, backed by Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán De Pepe Martinez. Carino Carino, Redencion, Afectuosamente and Eternamente were all original compositions by Barrales. When he was told he would have to leave his wife and then-unborn child to pursue a career, Barrales broke off the negotiations and returned home to his family in order to be a supportive father over a famous recording artist. It is currently believed Barrales retains the original master tapes from the Mexico City recording session. Only a single acetate of Barrales' only record is known to exist and is currently part of a private record collection in Phoenix, Arizona.
In the summer of 2021, I visited the Kids' Kingdom orphanage in Imuris, Sonora (the Mexican state directly south of Arizona). While volunteering there, I talked to the owner of the orphanage, Mrs. Lilia Barrales. She was a very kind woman who runs and raises the children as if they were her own with her loving husband. I brought up the fact I had a large record collection, mostly of 45s and 78s, which are both known as "discos" in Latin American countries (as is the case with all records). Lilia told me her father once recorded a single disc and she still owned it. The next morning, she came into the guest house we were staying at and to my surprise, gave me the record to keep. I thanked her and quickly cleaned it off. I had brought my 1950 RCA 45-EY-3 Victrola with me, which I had painstakingly restored and rebuilt with new parts and everything. I had also brought several 45s with me as well, with this being an automatically changing 45 only player. I played the record for the first time since it had been cut in 1962 (a fact confirmed by Lilia herself) and was immediately amazed at how beautiful Raul Barrales' vocals and arrangements were. I played it for my father and a friend of ours, who is a pastor and professional drummer from Clear Lake, Iowa (coincidentally enough, considering I'm a huge Buddy Holly fan). Later that night, we played this EP for Lilia, her husband and all the staff and children of the orphanage. Lilia was brought to tears hearing her father sing for the first time in her life. It truly was a heartwarming moment. I've sent her a rip of the EP via email so she can listen to her father everyday.
Later in 2021, I was lucky enough to be granted a hands on tour of the Norman Petty Recording Studio in Clovis, New Mexico. After seeing all the rare records and acetates along with the equipment Norman Petty had assembled and produced, some of which was used to record Buddy Holly and The Crickets' biggest hits, I showed the record player and the acetate to the current owners and proprietors of the studio. I was told by the current owners that Norman Petty would have really been fascinated with this story if he was alive and I thought to myself how much I wished I could share this with everyone that had been involved with the studio in its heyday. Sadly, most have passed away due to natural causes and J.I. Allison lives in Nashville, Tennessee, on the other side of the country. I continue to take care of this record, knowing this unique piece of history has seen its fill of adventure and wanted to share this with the world. These four videos are the first time this music has been released to the public, as all the tapes and music ended up back in the Barrales family's possession after Raul cut off ties with CBS/Columbia.
Note: The music quality is hampered by clicks, pops and hisses, due to deterioration of the acetate between 1962 and 2021. I've done my best to clean it up, but this is as good as it will get.