La Música Mexicana

Vocabulario

Haz clic en Carlos abajo para escuchar una canción vieja pero buena.

Do you recognize this song? "Oye Como Va" peaked at number #13 on the Billboard charts in 1971. This version of the song appeared on the album Abraxas by the group Santana, led by the young Mexican-American guitarist and composer Carlos Santana. The album was full of acid rock driven by the rhythms of Latin percussion. Another hit on the album, "Black Magic Woman," made it to #4 on the charts. That an album showing so much Latin influence was so popular in the U.S. is a reflection of the era of multiculturalism that America was entering at the time. This song and others by Santana, however shows many influences that aren't at all typically Mexican. Part of this is the instrumentation, but another part is the origin of the song, as this is the second time it was released to the American public. It was originally written and recorded by the nuyorican* bandleader and Latin percussionist Tito Puente as a chachacha dance tune in the 1950s. Santana’s version reflects the multiculturalism of Mexican and American music and our societies in general. Let's find out more about that music and multiculturalism.

*nuyorican ­ a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent

Los Géneros de la Música Méxicana

 

Mariarchi	La música alternativa	Banda	Cumbia	Norteña/Tex-Mex
Salsa	Son Huasteco	Merengue	Rock Español	Rap en Español

Listed above under the "Géneros de la Música" (genres of music) are the different musics that are popular in Mexico or have had a great influence on Mexican music. Click on each one to hear a sample of each type of music and get a feel for the "instrumentación, melodía y ritmo de la música". Think about what you hear in the songs and expression of the musicians. After listening to these ejemplos and reading this page you will have a listening quiz.

El Son Huasteco

The oldest, but still typically Mexican music is a repertoire of songs called " Sones" whose lyrics derive from old Spanish songs and folk poetry. A way of playing these "Sones", which incorporates a virtuosic fiddle and guitar duet style, is popular in the countryside of many states in Mexico, but most notably in the very warm state of Huasteco, hence the name Son Huasteco. The songs run the gamut from comical to romantic to story telling in nature. Though it is an older folkloric music, its best musicians might be easily compared to great American folk musicians like Bill Monroe or Robert Johnson in their rich expressive talent.

Mariachi

Based on this older genre, but with the added instrumentation of more violins and trumpets and guitars, as well as singers with an almost operatic range and power, is a sound that even norteamericanos are familiar with ­ Mariachi. Mariachi music is very sophisticated compared to "Son" and incorporates a greater variety of song and dance styles. Mariachi music also uses a big guitar, called a guitarron, to the play the bass part. Mariachi music has its roots in the "Son" music of the centrally located state of Jalisco, of which Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, is the capital. But all over Mexico many cherish Mariachi music for its purely Mexican sound. Its instrumentation and style are very set, consistent and unique to Mexico.

La Música Norteña

Another type of music that is uniquely Mexican in its sound is La Música Norteña and its close relative across the border, Tex-Mex. In Mexico its domain was traditionally the hot desert states along Mexico’s northern border, hence the name norteña. German immigrants in this region and in Texas introduced the acordeón as well as dance tunes like polkas and waltzes whose rhythms are a mainstay of the genre. This music is now popular even with the city dwellers of central Mexico and is probably the most popular music among Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants in America. The "Mexican" touch comes in the development of a new style of playing the acordeón and the addition of another uniquely Mexican instrument called the bajo sexto, a slightly bigger guitar with twelve strings, which provides a great rhythmic punch to drive the music along (See picture of Luis from Los Tigres del Norte above). Other instruments to be heard in the mix are electric bass and drums and saxophone, though they are not played in a rock style.

La Música Norteña is also known for the singing of corridos, songs that pass on the details of recent important events. Many corridos were written to tell of events during the Mexican Revolution (1910 ­ 1920) to comment on both victories and tragedies. In the 1990s many groups sang narco-corridos about the exploits and crimes of drug traffickers along the border states, in much the same way "The Ballad of Jesse James" or the "Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd" are sung to celebrate the audacity of those outlaws. As a recent postscript, many Mexican song writers are composing corridos in sympathetic response to the national tragedy of September 11^th.

La Música Caribeña

Besides these géneros típicos of Mexico, popular music in Mexico also includes music heavily influenced by neighboring cultures such as those of the United States, and Caribbean countries like Cuba, La República Dominicana and Colombia. Each these countries have contributed many dance styles to the repertoire of Latin dance. In all three countries the strong cultural influence that set them apart from the many other Latin American nations is their strong African heritage.

The popular of music of Cuba has had the most far-reaching effects on the music of the Latin America. The most commonly known name for the music that Cuba, and to some extent the U. S. territory of Puerto Rico, has created is Salsa, meaning sauce in Spanish. Salsa is really a very broad term for a great variety of music with Spanish tinged melodies usually played by a hot brass and reed section over the pulse of Afro-Cuban percussion like congas, bongos, timbales and at times ritual African drums called bata. The roots of Salsa lie in the traditional music of the guajiros (farm workers of Cuba). This older music, called Son Montuno, is still played by even the younger generation of Salsa musicians and has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity since the release the CD and and documentary film The Buena Vista Social Club. Salsa bands also use pianos and the tres, a smaller Cuban guitar, in their rhythm sections, thus rivaling American Big Bands in their fullness of instrumentation.

Mexican musicians have adopted many rhythms and dance styles from Cuba over the years. Mambo, chachacha and rumba rhythms have been the basis for a lot high-energy dance tunes in México. The rhythm of the bolero by way of Cuba has been the basis for many slower romantic tunes. Cuba and Mexico also share Cuba’s greatest singer of the forties and fifties, Beny Moré, who lived and performed in Mexico for many years before returning to his native land. (See picture of Beny on the far right, above.)

From the island of La República Dominicana comes the very danceable rhythm of merengue. A product of the island’s African cultural heritage, it has been adopted by the salsa bands in Cuba, Puerto Rico and bands in Latino enclaves in the United States.

Right now it is enjoying a resurgence in dance clubs in México. Many Mexican musicians are recording in the style of merengue.

The South American country of Colombia on the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea has brought the dance rhythm of cumbia to the world. Cumbia is an indigenous rhythm of Colombia filtered again through an unavoidable African influence. Like merengue it has been taken up by Salsa bands as well as Latin-Jazz bands in the United States. It too is very popular in the dance clubs of Mexico at this time. The moderate tempo of cumbia can be used also in place of a hip-hop beat for adopting Rap into Latin music. This has helped to popularize the cumbia again.

La Música Nueva en México

In recent years in Mexico a new music called Banda has emerged based entirely on the sound of percussion, brass and reeds, much like a high school marching band in the United States, but with the use of Latin rhythms. There are typically no guitars or accordions as are heard in La Música Norteña or violins and guitars as are heard in Mariachi orchestras. Though it has come to fore only recently, the music is solidly based in many of the same dance styles like waltes, rancheras and cumbias, that can be heard in other types of Mexican music. Banda also sounds very Mexican as opposed to Caribbean.

The other great influence in Mexican music comes of course from its neighbor to the north, - you guessed it - the good ole U.S.A., in the form of Rock 'n' Roll and Rap. Rock 'n' Roll in Mexico, as one can hear in the clip of "Oye Como Va", has always incorporated other Latin influences even when using some of the standard electric instrumentation of Rock. And if any musician picks up an electric guitar it's a good bet that the influence of the Blues will come out, too. Rock 'n' Roll in Mexico shows these influences as well as the influence of Reggae, Ska, Punk, Rap, Techno, Pop and Alternative.

The influence of Rap and Hip Hop is also unavoidable in Latin-American culture from the Nuyoricans in New York and Chicanos in California to the Argentinos in South America. Spanish adapts itself to free rhyming just as well as English. Check out the rapid-fire rhymes of the alternative band El Gran Silencio from Monterrey, Mexico in the sample above.

¿Qué aprendiste? What did you learn?

Take this short written quiz to test yourself before the listening quiz.

1. What is one of the oldest styles of music in Mexico, which is one of the bases for Mariachi music?

2. What is the instrumentation of Mariachi music?

3. Name two types of guitars unique to Mexican music.

4. What instrument from outside of Mexico is integral to the sound of Norteña music?

5. What two types of music show a clear influence of Latin America’s African heritage?

6. Name the two types of dance music from the Caribbean that are popular in Mexico now.

7. How is Banda different from other purely Mexican styles of music?

8. What type of song is used to tell a story and pass along information?

9. How has the United States influenced Mexican music?

Comprensión Musical

Write the number of the sample next to name of the music. These samples will not be the same as the ones heard in top of the page.

La Música Norteña _______

Mariachi ______

La Música Banda _______

Salsa _______

Merengue ______

La Música Alternativa _______

Cumbia _______

Rap en Español _______

Proyecto Final para La Página

Write a one to two page double-spaced composition about "Oye Como Va" by Santana or “Circulo del Amor” by El Gran Silencio. How would you categorize this song and why? Discuss the different influences that can be heard in the music from other types of music. What musical influence does the instrumentation of the song show? Support your ideas from the information above. Compact discs are available for further listening at lunch.

For more detailed information on the La Música Popular de México check out El Sitio de Señora Raney.

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