Mexican music may be best known to the West for mariachi ballads, but this is only a small part of a rich culture derived from Spanish and indigenous roots, with an eclectic mix of musical influences from Europe, South America, the United States, and Britain. The result is not just one musical style but many, including mariachi, cumbia Mexicana, banda, ranchera, norteño, and huapango. There is no doubt, however, that Mexico’s musical icon is the mariachi Starting in early 20th-century Jalisco, small “son jaliciense” wedding groups soon became full bands in charro suits and sombreros. Mariachis typically use a guitar, two trumpets, three violins, a guitarrón (huge acoustic bass guitar) and a vihuela (a lute-like guitar). Later, the traditional harps were replaced with trumpets. In the 1950s (their heyday), bands such as Mariachi Vargas also began playing rancheras, and recently other mariachi groups have begun playing many different styles of music—not just at weddings, but in a variety of settings.
The ranchera is Mexico’s most typical and nostalgic sound. In it, melodramatic crooners cry passionate, pessimistic lines of love and deceit, with the final notes stretching into glissando. The century-old style draws on many regional styles, but was most touched by the son of Jalisco. Men such as Jose Alfredo Jiménez, Pedro Infante, and Jorge Negrete were succeeded as leading ranchera singers by women like Lola Beltrán, Chavela Vargas, and Paquita la del Barrio.
Norteño music (Tex-Mex in the U.S.) comes from narrative “corrido” ballads. The guitar-based sound evolved in the 1930s, as Texan artists such as Narciso Martínez incorporated the now-dominant accordion and “oompah” sound of Bohemian immigrants. By the 1950s, norteno had become a heterogeneous mixture of polka, mazurka, waltz, chotis, and traditional ballads, and it remains popular nationwide. Far from the sound of trumpets and accordions, central Mexico and the Gulf Coast boast huapango and its variants. Huapango veracruzano (also called son jarochd) uses the harp, guitars, and percussion associated with songs such as “La Bamba.” Huapango arribeño is sung in traditional Spanish décima verse—improvised eight-syllable lines. Huapango huasteco requires guitar, violin, jarana guitar, and falsetto vocals; improvised music and lyrics re-invent a song with each rendition.
Cumbia, a form of music from Colombia, adopted a simpler, more direct style, and became more popular in Mexico than in its native Colombia. Cumbian lyrics are written around topical themes of everyday life. The style triumphed in the 1980s and remained popular in the 1990s, despite the advent of banda music (a fusion of norteño with the brass bands that have played at village fiestas for the last century). Los Bukis, a group from Michoacan, whose repertoire attracts millions of fans, are cumbia Mexicana’s superstars.
The 1990s exploded with banda. Souped-up (made more powerful) norteño groups—for example, Los Tigres del Norte—play everything from rancheras and polkas to salsa, arranged for brass. Banda spawned the quebradita, an eclectic dance mix of polka, cumbia, rock, rap, and more.
Mexico also has a healthy homegrown rock scene. Following covers of Anglo-American hits in the 1950s and 1960s, the 1970s produced artists such as the youth pop group Menudo and protest rockers El Tri.
The 1980s fused rock and electronic music with indigenous sounds. The late 1980s and 1990s spawned Maldita Vecindad, Café Tacuba, and other Latin rock groups with pan-Latin and Caribbean influences. The late 1990s brought the politically charged Molotov and rock en español bands to receptive fans in the U.S.
Brett Allan King
SEE ALSO:
CARIBBEAN; CUBA; DANCE MUSIC; LATIN AMERICA; SALSA.
Harpole, Patricia W. Los Mariachis!: An Introduction to Mexican Mariachi Music (Danbury, CT: World Music Press, 1989).
Los Bukis: Me Volví a Acordar de Ti; Café Tacuba: Re; Pedro Infante: Mejores Rancheras; Los Tigres del Norte: Corridos Prohibidos; Chavela Vargas: 30 Éxitos; Mariachi Vargas: Serie Platino: 20 Éxitos.