Music of Mexico

The music of Mexico is diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles influenced mainly by Indigenous music . Many traditional Mexican songs are well-known worldwide, although most of the time their origin in Mexico is not so clear to the non-Mexican listener. "Bésame Mucho", "Cielito Lindo", "El Rey", La Bamba, "Maria Bonita" and many more are part of the Mexican culture and famous all over the world.

Music on the East Coast of Mexico was very influenced by Cuban music in the 20th century. The Son Jarocho and Son Huasteco where influenced by the Son Cubano. Cha cha cha, Danzon, Mambo and Bolero grew importantly in Mexico, specially in Veracruz and Mexico City. Important song writers that influenced this where, Perez Prado, Benny More and Agustin Lara.

Now a days the most popular Mexican genre is ranchera, interpreted by a band of mariachis. Examples include the work of Cuco Sanchez, Chavela Vargas and Vicente Fernández. Mariachi music remains Mexico's national song.

Another important music style is the traditional "norteño," or Northern tunes, which has been the basis for thees such as banda music. Not only are these styles popular in many regions of Mexico. Norteño, similar to Tejano music, arose in the 1830s and 40s in the Rio Grande region, south of Texas. Influenced by Bohemian immigrant miners, its rhythm was derived from the European polka dance popular during the 1800s. Banda, similar to norteño in musical form, originated from the Mexico state of Sinaloa during the 1960s.

Other new styles such as cumbia, pop, and rock music.

In the late 60's, the Mexican rock movement began, rapidly becoming popular, and peaking in the 80's and 90's with authentic sounds and styles, often blending traditional instruments and stories in the lyrics. Mexican and Latin Rock remain very popular in Mexico, even more than rock in other languages. Other Mexican variations in music from other regions include Cumbia, pop, hip-hop, and rock, which are heavily influenced by music from Latin America and Europe, are increasingly becoming popular among Mexican youths.

Mexico's stronghold on the music market in Latin America is long established. The Mexican music market catapults small artists to the United States Spanish and non-Spanish speaking public. Such was the case with Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin and Shakira, this latter who arrived in Mexico on 1994, released a second album there and started a successful career in the United States after that. According to the America Top 100, Mexico had over 90 hits in Latin America during 2006, almost a third more than its closest competitor, the United States.

Contemporary genres

Today, there are many popular modern Mexican musical genres. Widely popular country music includes norteño, banda, and duranguense bands, which play rancheras, corridos, as well as cumbia. [Rock en Español], hip-hop, and electronic music are other modern genres popular among Mexicans with a wide variety of Mexican artists.

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Vuelve Gaviota by Dinastia Norteña is a typical example of contemporary Norteño music.

Margarita, Margarita by Candido y su Huella Norteña is typical of contemporary Chihuahuan-style norteño accompanied by a saxophone and accordion duet.

Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end Norteño (similar to Tex-Mex or Tejano music in the United States) almost always has the accordion and bajo sexto as the lead instruments, with guitars serving as its roots. Before the introduction of accordion, violin was the main instrument. During the late XIX century, Bohemian and Czech migrants to Northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest brought different styles among them: la redova", la varsoviana and the polka. These styles blended with the local Mexican Son (music) and gave way to modern Northern music. In the late 1910s and 1920s, the corridos entered a golden age when Mexicans on both sides of the border recorded in San Antonio-area hotels, revolutionizing the genre alongside Mexico's political revolution. Later in the century, Ramon Ayala, Cornelio Reyna, Los Invasores de Nuevo Leon and Carlos y Jose commercialized Northern music. Other bands such as Los Tigres del Norte and Los Cadetes de Linares added influences from cumbia, rock music, and other new styles, thus creating a unique new blend in some of their new songs. One lesser known genre of Northern music is the a cappella Canto Cardenche, surviving only in southwestern Coahuila.

Banda

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Ojitos Soñadores by El Chapo de Sinaloa is a typical example of Banda music.
El Disguto by Julio Preciado is typical of Banda Sinaloense, and here, include an accordion.
Los 20 Viejitos is an example of Tamborazo Zacatecano. Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Banda music was created with a strong Native American influence and the imitation of military bands that were imported during the reign of emperor Maximillian in the 1800s. Banda is also a form of polka music, since both sound so much alike. Polish immigrants established themselves in the state of Sinaloa. It was further popularized during the Mexican Revolution when local authorities and states formed their own bands to play in the town squares. Revolutionary leaders such as Pancho Villa, also took wind bands with them wherever they went. Banda has, to this day remained popular throughout the central and northern states. It has however, diversified into different styles due to regions, instruments and modernization. Today people associate banda closer to Sinaloense. This originated in the 1940s when the media distributed Banda el Recodo repertoire as exclusively from Sinaloa when it was actually regional music from all over Mexico.

Although banda music is played by many bands from different parts of Mexico, its original roots are in Sinaloa and Zacatecas, which are hugely famous for bands such as Banda el Recodo from Sinaloa and Banda Jerez from Zacatecas.

Banda Sinaloense experienced international popularity in the 1990s. The most prominent band was Banda el Recodo which is renowned as "the mother of all bands". Unlike Tamborazo Zacatecano, Sinaloense's essential instrument is the tuba. Sometimes an accordion is also included. (sound sample) Well known artists include:

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Los 20 Viejitos is an example of Tamborazo Zacatecano. Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Tamborazo Zacatecano originated in the state of Zacatecas and translates to Drum-beat from Zacatecas. This banda style is traditionally composed of 2 trumpets, 2 clarinets, a saxophone, a trombone and the essential bass drum. La Marcha De Zacatecas is a perfect example of this type of music.

Rumba

Rumba came from the black Mexican slaves in Veracruz, Mexico city, and Yucatan, these were from, first in Cuba that later became famous in the black community of Mexico these songs are popular in the south of Mexico.

Gruperas

Gruperas are the mixed sound of rumba and ranchera music mostly heard in the mid south of Mexico this music contains both rumba rhythms and ranchera rhythms which these are mostly heard at parties,clubs,and Mexican radio. Muzzaac

Reggae

Mexican Reggae first started in the caribbean sea of Mexico by Jamaican imigrants, after hearing this type of music they started to invent their own Reggae in spanish.

Danzon

The European influence on Cuba's later musical development is most influentially represented by danzón, which is an elegant dance that became established in Cuba before being exported to popular acclaim throughout Latin America, especially Mexico. Its roots lay in European social dances like the English country dance, French contredanse and Sclaf '[f panish contradanza. Danzon developed in the 1870s in the region of Matanzas, where African culture remained strong. It had developed in full by 1879 and later was brought to Mexico.

Duranguense

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Piedra (2003). This song is an example of Duranguense music by Patrulla 81.
En las Cantinas by Los Originales de Durango, another typical example of Duranguense music. Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Duranguense (often called el pasito duranguense) is a type of music which originated in the northern Mexican state of Durango. In the United States, it first became popular in Chicago, which has a large community of immigrants from Durango. It has grown to become a popular genre in the US Latino market. This music is based on both brass and wind instruments and includes the melodica, saxophone, trumpet, flute, and drums. Duranguense bands usually play their songs at a rapid, danceable tempo and tend to rely much more on percussion than Sinaloense does. (sound sample) In the 2000s, música duranguense rapidly gained recognition along with banda sinaloense and norteño as a style of Mexican music. Duranguense bands play mainly rancheras, polkas, and cumbias. Some of the most popular artists include:

Cumbia

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Tocate La Punta De Los Pies by Los Reyes Del Sabor is an example of Cumbia in Mexico.[http://boxstr.com/files/1949103_dljtb/LOS%20REYES%20DEL%20SABOR%20-%20Track%2012.mp3 Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

The 1980s saw Colombian cumbia become even more popular in Mexico than its native land, and it was by far the dominant genre throughout the decade, before banda overtook it in the 1990s. In the early 1970s and 1980s Mexican bands like Rigo Tovar y su Costa Azul topped the charts, and helped, by the end of the decade, El Gran Silencio and Los Kumbia Kings. Top Artist include:

Rock

In the 60's and 70's, during the PRI government, most rock bands were obligated to appear underground, that was the time after Avándaro (a Woodstock-style Mexican festival) in which groups like El Tri, Enigma, The Dugs Dugs, Javier Batiz and many others arose. In that time Carlos Santana got famous after Woodstock. During the 80's and 90's many Mexican bands went to the surface and popular rock bands like Molotov, Control Machete, Café Tacuba, Los Caifanes, Maná, and Maldita Vecindad got many followers. The latter are "grandfathers" to the Latin ska movement. Mexico City has also a considerable movement of bands playing surf rock inspired in their outfits by local show-sport lucha libre, with Lost Acapulco initiating and leading the movement. Mexico recently has had a "rebirth" of rock music with bands like Jumbo, Motel, Zoé, Porter, etc and [ which have made this genre popular again.

Electronic

Electronic music in Mexico is mostly centered around dense urban areas or resorts, like Acapulco, Cancún, Ciudad Juárez, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Tijuana. These cities enjoy frequent rave parties and events, but some also contribute to the movement. Electronic music is by far most popular among young people and has been getting stronger in Mexico over the last ten years. It is heavily influenced by American and European disco music.

Several music labels promote this type of music, including Nopal Beat, Abolipop, Advanced Synergy, Soundsister, Involved Records, Discos Konfort, Filtro and Noiselab Collective, Static Discos, and many others.

Nortec Collective, from Tijuana, is perhaps the most internationally known electronic music band from Mexico, but other bands exist, including Sentidos Opuestos, Belanova and Kinky.

Latin alternative

An eclectic range of influences is at the heart of Latin Alternative, a music created by young players who have been raised not only on their parents' music but also on rock, hip-hop and electronica. It represents a sonic shift away from regionalism and points to a new global Latin identity.

The name "Latin Alternative" was coined in the late 1990s by record company executives as a way to sell music that was -- literally -- all over the map. It was marketed as an alternative to the slick, highly produced Latin pop that dominated commercial Spanish-language radio, such as Ricky Martin or Shakira.

Artists within the genre, such as Kinky and Cafe Tacuba, have set out to defy traditional expectations of Latin music. Now, in an age of Internet connections, downloading and sampling, Latin Alternative has become not just a reaction to outside influences but its own genre. * Latin Alternavite [Fan Site]

Classical music

Mexico has a long tradition of classical music, as far back as the 16th century, when it was a Spanish colony. Music of New Spain, especially that of Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla and Hernando Franco, is increasingly recognized as a significant contribution to New World culture.

Puebla was a significant center of music composition in the 17th century, as the city had considerable wealth and for a time was presided over by Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, who was an enthusiastic patron of music. Composers during this period included Bernardo de Peralta Escudero (mostly active around 1640), and also Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, who was the most famous composer of the 17th century in Mexico. The construction of the cathedral in Puebla made the composition and performance of polychoral music possible, especially compositions in the Venetian polychoral style. Late in the century, Miguel Matheo de Dallo y Lana set the verse of poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

In the 18th century, Manuel de Sumaya, maestro de capilla at the cathedral in Mexico City, wrote many cantadas and villancicos, and he was the first Mexican composing an opera, La Partenope (1711). After him, Ignacio Jerusalem, an Italian-born composer, brought some of the latest operatic styles as well as early classical (galant) styles to Mexico. His best-known composition is probably the Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe (1764). Jerusalem was maestro de capilla at the cathedral in Mexico City after Sumaya, from 1749 until his death in 1769.

In the 19th century the waltzes of Juventino Rosas reached world recognition. In the 20th century, Carlos Chavez, is a composer of note who wrote symphonies, ballets, and a wide catalogue of chamber music, within variated esthetical orientations. Another recognized composer is Silvestre Revueltas who wrote such pieces as "The night of the mayas", "Homenaje a García Lorca", "Sensemayá" based on a poem by Nicolas Guillen, "Janitzio" and "Redes". Manuel M. Ponce is recognized as an important composer for the Spanish classical guitar, responsible for widening the repertorium for this instrument. Jose Pablo Moncayo with compositions such as "Huapango", and Blas Galindo with "Sones de Mariachi", are also recognized as adapters of Mexican sons into symphonic music.

In 1922 Julian Carrillo (violinist, composer, conductor, theoretician and inventor), created the first microtonal system in history of classical music. During subsequent years, he also developed and constructed harps and pianos able to play music in fragments of tone, like fourths, sixths, eighths and sixteenths. His pianos are yet manufactured in Germany, and used to play Carrillo's music, mainly in Europe and Mexico.

Other contemporary Mexican composer was Conlon Nancarrow (of American birth), who created a system to play pianola music, using and developing theories of politempo and polimetrics.

Some avant-garde composers leading Mexican music during the second half of the 20th century were Alicia Urreta, Manuel Enríquez, Mario Lavista and Julio Estrada. Some of them also contributed to the academic development of music teaching in American universities. Among them, Daniel Catan, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Carlos Sandoval, Ignacio Baca-Lobera, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Samuel Zyman. In the other side of the Athlantic the composers of a new generation, Hilda Paredes, Javier Torres Maldonado, Gabriel Pareyon and Georgina Derbez also have contributed to the academic and artistic life.

References

Coll Mexican music.