The History of Tejano Music

    Tejano music holds a special place in my heart. As a child, I rejected my Mexican heritage. My father tried to teach me Spanish and I would yell " Don't talk to me like that!" Whenever he played Tejano music on long car rides, I remember being extremely upset and telling him to change the radio. I'm not sure why I rejected my Mexican side as a child, but I did. I have a deep appreciation for it now that I've experienced things like being apart of a quinceanera, learning Spanish, and celebrating Mexican Independence day. That is why I have chosen Tejano music and I'm excited about presenting my findings.

    In my research, I started with typing in Tejano music origins. It led me to a Britannica article on Tejano music. Tejano music gets its start in the 1800's and overtime it transforms. Tejano music got its start in northern Mexico and Texas. It says that Tejano music has Mexican, European, and U.S. influence. I didn't expect to see European influence, but it makes sense because of the use of accordion. The accordion was popular with immigrants from Europe like German, Czech, and Polish. I think this may play into the lecture Dr.Vaneman gave about American born music starting in the bottom rungs of society. Juan Tejeda references the working class and how Tejano music was played by mostly poor people who “lived off the land.” Their songs tell the story of “Mexicano /Tejano people [and] their lives on the rancho, their hardships, and their loves.” I think this is similar to the blues and what stories their music told. 

    Tejano music comes in three forms. The three forms are based on instrument use and that’s how they are separated into different categories. The first form is conjunto. Conjunto music got its start when the accordion was introduced because it is the main instrument. The bajo sexto was played alongside the accordion and that’s what made it conjunto music. The bajo sexto is a guitar with 12 strings. After World War II, the electric bass and drum set were added into conjunto music. Conjunto music is played at celebrations and dances. Conjunto musicians include artists like Narciso Martinez. He is the Father of Conjunto Music. Narciso was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas which is near Texas. He was inspired by his brother to play the accordion and he developed his own style of playing it. He played with a bajo sexto player named Santiago Alemeida. He recorded for the label, Bluebird, until 1940 when they lost interest in his music. Martinez moved many times to further his career, but it was hard for him to provide for his family with his income as a musician in the 1930’s-1950’s.  

 

    The second form is orquesta which is a large band. It is a combination of Mexican folk music and conjunto music. Orquesta music differs from conjunto music because it includes things such as trumpets and saxophones paired with guitar, bass, and drums. Beto Villa is the Father of Orquesta music; he is known for performing polkas. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 10. He got a band together called the Sonny boys in 1932, but by 1946 he decided to venture off on his own. He began to play with the American band sound by blending it with musica ranchera. His syncretism of two cultures caught the attention of two record labels. The problem was that the record company representatives didn’t think the orchestra was ready to be recorded and needed more work. Villa continued to perfect his craft and recorded over 100 songs. In 1954, Villa and his orquesta began to record with RCA. This was inspiring for many Tejano musicians because it was the first time a Tejano orquesta was “able to achieve that level of national distinction.”

 

    The third form of Tejano music is grupo. Grupo adds in the keyboard and synthesizers. This addition came in the 1960’s. A popular group that utilized this form is Selena y los Dinos. It'ths impossible to talk about Tejano music without talking about Selena Quintanilla or known as the Queen of Tejano Music. She is one of the most famous Tejano musicians. She was born in Texas and became a popular artist in the 1980’s. An interesting fact about Selena is that learned to sing in Spanish before actually speaking the language. She became fluent in Spanish to give interviews because her target audience speaks Spanish. She was the lead singer of the band with your siblings called Selena y los Dinos. Selena went on to become the first female Tejano Grammy winner which was huge. Tejano music was dominated by male artists at the time and her success made history. She did a crossover album in English that was amazing. Unfortunately, her success was cut short at the beginning of her successful career. She was murdered on March  31,1995 by her fan club manager, Yolanda Saldivar.  There’s an entire movie on Selena’s life, and if you haven’t seen it by now, I highly recommend. Netflix is also making a series on her life which is dropping soon. My favorite Selena song is “Coma la Flor”; it’s so catchy! In the performance you can see all of the instruments working together to create this beautiful song. 

Works Cited list:

Chadbourne, Eugene. “Beto Villa: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/beto-villa-mn0000758564/biography. 

Dixon, Christine-Marie Liwag. “The Untold Truth of Selena Quintanilla.” TheList.com, The List, 12 Feb. 2020, www.thelist.com/188362/the-untold-truth-of-selena-quintanilla/. 

Harris, Craig. “Narciso Martínez: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/narciso-mart%C3%ADnez-mn0000371917/biography. 

“Tejano.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 7 Apr. 2016, www.britannica.com/art/Tejano-music.

Tejeda, Juan. “Tejano: Local Music, Global Identity.” Grantmakers in the Arts, Sept. 2014, www.giarts.org/article/tejano-local-music-global-identity.