More than nine decades have passed since Cry-Cry, one of the most endearing characters of Mexican childhood, appeared for the first time on the radio. Today, his spirit returns in a new form: a illustrated cartoon which rescues the original scripts from 1961, when the radio program still existed.
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“At that time the idea was had to take the adventures of the characters into a graphic format, not just narrated. That’s how the Cri-Cri magazine emerged,” recalls Tiburcio Gabilondo, the composer’s son.
The original comic strip – written by Francisco Avilón and drawn by Guillermo Cargoso, who would later collaborate with Disney– was a brief experiment that survived a few months longer than the program itself.
These were small prequels to the songs, where the Grillito Cantor He appeared as a character and composer within the plot. More than 60 years laterthat material was recovered, revised and reimagined for today’s childhood.
“We found the original texts among the files my father left: stories, scripts, unrecorded songs. We decided to review them and give them a new visual life,” says Tiburcio.
The renewal of Cri-Cri
The result is a Renewed singing grillito, respectful of the original text but with a more fluid narrative rhythm and deeply Mexican landscapes: town houses, fields and rural streets where stories always seem to take place.
“The goal was for whoever reads it to say ‘that house is like my grandmother’s’. We wanted our identity to be felt, not a generic setting. That’s why we took care of the colors, the landscapes and the environment,” he explains.
To achieve this, they had the artist Alejandro Zárate, responsible for reinterpreting the visual universe of Grillito Cantor with freshness and tenderness.
The first issue takes up La Patita, while the second, The Hunt, tells how he travels to the town of Conejitlan to study the flute and ends up facing a feared wolf. The complete series includes 12 volumes based on the adventures written by himself. Francisco Gabilondo Solerdesigned to be enjoyed by both children and nostalgic adults.
In this new stage, distribution will begin digitally through Kindle (Amazon)where the official music is also heard.
“Interestingly, although Spotify is very popular, the largest consumption of Cri-Cri is on Amazon. That’s why we decided to unite both worlds: reading and music,” explains Tiburcio. Later, copies will be available in physical format on demand, in both hard and softcover.
Furthermore, this publication marks the closing of the Mustin Cri-Cri Feast 2025a festival that celebrates the character’s 91 years with artistic activities, concerts and presentations.
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Between tablets, video games and screens, the Singing Cricket thus finds a new way to tell stories. This time, in full color and with the same magic as since its beginnings, it accompanies Mexican childhoods.