Music of Mexico

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The music of Mexico is highly diverse, featuring a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, primarily deriving from Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. Music became an expression of Mexican nationalism starting in the nineteenth century.^[1]

History of Mexican music

The foundation of Mexican music comes from its indigenous sounds and heritage. The original inhabitants of the land used drums (such as the

There existed regional and local musical traditions in the colonial period and earlier, but national music began to develop in the nineteenth century, often with patriotic themes of national defense and against foreign invaders. Conservative general and president

Liberal President Benito Juárez saw the need to create military bands.^[2] Village brass bands proliferated in the late nineteenth century, with concerts in town squares, often on a central kiosk.^[3] During the Porfiriato, musical styles expanded, with Mexican national music, cosmopolitan music brought by foreign elites, and European regional music such as polkas, mazurkas, and waltzes, as well as opera overtures. Musicians had access to and used sheet music, indicating musical literacy. In some indigenous regions, new music and bands helped bring a level of unity. In Oaxaca, a waltz, "Dios nunca muere" (God never dies) became the state's anthem, linking regional patriotism with God.^[4] A variety of musical styles from elsewhere were incorporated into Mexican popular music in the nineteenth. Music, dance, and poetry flourished in the Porfiriato. Mexico's National Conservatory of Music was strongly influenced by Italian masters, who gave way to French influence at the turn of the twentieth century.

Following the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza, leader of the winning Constitutionalist faction of the Revolution, mandated that the National Conservatory "recover the national" in its musical education, abandoning rather than privileging foreign music. Younger Mexican composers emerged, including Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas, and Luis Sandi, who developed Mexican "art music." Chávez was a prolific composer and one who embraced creating Mexican orchestral music drawing on revolutionary corridos, and composed an Aztec-themed ballet. He became the director of the National Conservatory of Music, which became affiliated with the Ministry of Education (SEP). Revueltas composed music for the new, emerging Mexican cinema, and Sandi created choral works, creating music for civic events, as well as incorporating indigenous music from the Yaqui and Maya regions in his compositions.^[5] Chávez is seen as the driving force behind the split between of Mexican art music and traditional styles, privileging art music. However, traditional or folkloric music continues to be popular, and the Ballet Folklórico de México, established in 1952, performs regularly at Bellas Artes.

Traditional folk music

Northern Mexican folk music

Northern traditional music or Norteño was highly influenced by immigrants from Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the mid 1800s, the instruments and musical styles of the central european immigrants were adopted to mexican folk music, the accordion becoming especially popular and is still frequently used.^[6] There are many styles of northern mexican folk music, among the most popular being Ranchera, Corrido, Huapango, Chotís, Polka, Redova and Banda. Norteño folk music is some of the most popular music in and out of Mexico, with Corridos and Rancheras being specifically popular in Chile, Colombia, United States, Central America and Spain.^[7]

Northern Mexican folk music genres

• Corrido: Corrido music is a popular narrative song of poetry form, a ballad. Various themes are featured in Mexican corridos, and corrido lyrics are often old legends (stories) and ballads about a famed criminal or hero in the rural frontier areas of Mexico. Some corridos may also be love stories there are also corridos about women (La Venganza de Maria, Laurita Garza, La tragedia de Rosita, and la adelita) and couples, not just about men.
• military bands that were imported during the Second Mexican Empire, headed by emperor Maximilian I of Mexico in the 1860s. Polish and German 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 like 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 with Sinaloense. Although banda music is played by many bands from different parts of Mexico, its original roots are in Sinaloa, made popular by bands from Sinaloa.

The folklore in central Mexico retains strong spanish Influence which can be seen in the amount of colonial cities in this region like

Central Mexican folk music genres

• Mariachi: Mariachi is an ensemble that consists of guitarrón, vihuela, guitar, violins and trumpets. Between 1940 and 1960 mariachi and rancheras originated in the western states of the country. This folk ensemble performs ranchera, son de mariachi, huapango de mariachi, polka, corrido, and other musical forms. It originated in the southern part of the state of Jalisco during the 19th century. The city of Guadalajara in Jalisco is known as the "Capital of Mariachi". The style is now popular throughout Mexico and the Southwestern United States, and is considered representative of Mexican music and culture.
• trumpets, two saxophones, and the al bass drum. Tamborazo is closely related to traditional brass Banda. However, Tamborazo uses saxophones instead of clarinets. Another difference from banda is that Tamborazo uses its drum consistently, as opposed to banda which distributes the use of the other instruments throughout a song. Tamborazo originated in Villanueva
  in the state of Zacatecas.

Southern Mexican folk music genres

• Veracruz area, and is distinguished by a strong African influence. International acclaim has been limited, including the major hit La Bamba. The most legendary performer is Graciana Silva, whose releases on Discos Corason made inroads in Europe. Southern Veracruz is home to a distinct style of Jarochos that is characteristically lacking a harp, is played exclusively by requinto or jarana guitars
  , and is exemplified by the popular modern band Mono Blanco.
• California gold rush
  .

Grupera (or onda grupera) is a genre of Mexican popular music. It is influenced by the styles of cumbia, norteño, and ranchera, and reached the height of its popularity in the 1980s, especially in rural areas.

The music has roots in the rock groups of the 1960s but today generally consists of five or fewer musicians using electric guitars, keyboards and drums. Artists in this genre include

The best-known Mexican pop singers are José María Napoleón, Juan Gabriel, Lucía Méndez, Ana Gabriel, Daniela Romo, Marco Antonio Solís, Yuri, Gloria Trevi, Lucero, Angélica María, Luis Miguel, Sasha Sokol, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Alessandra Rosaldo, Reyli, Bibi Gaytán, Edith Márquez, Fey, Aracely Arámbula, Irán Castillo, Lynda Thomas, Natalia Lafourcade, Paty Cantú, Anahí, Maite Perroni, Dulce María, Ximena Sariñana, Yuridia, Daniela Luján, Belinda Peregrín, Sofía Reyes, Kika Edgar, Carlos Rivera, Kalimba (singer), and groups like Camila, Sin Bandera, Ha*Ash, Jesse & Joy, Belanova, Playa Limbo, and Jotdog.

Rock

The Mexican rock movement started in the late 1940s and early 1960s, rapidly becoming popular, and peaking in the 1969 and 1990s with real authentic sounds and styles. One of the early Mexican rock bands came out of the predominantly Mexican barrio community of

In the 1960s and 1970s, during the PRI government, most rock bands were forced to appear

The latter are "grandfathers" to the Latin

Extreme metal has been popular for a long time in Mexico, with bands such as Dilemma, Exanime formed in 1985 in Monterrey, N.L. The Chasm, Xiuhtecuhtli, Disgorge, Brujeria, Transmetal, Hacavitz, Sargatanas, Mictlayotl, Yaoyotl, Ereshkigal, Xibalba, and Calvarium Funestus. The Mexican metal fanbase is credited with being amongst the most lively and intense, and favorites for European metal bands to perform for.

Alejandra Guzmán's 26 years of artistic career, with more than 10 million albums sold, 16 released albums and 30 singles in radio's top 10 hits, has earned her the title of La Reina del Rock (The Queen of Rock). She is the daughter of two Latin entertainment legends: movie icon Silvia Pinal and rock and roll legend Enrique Guzmán, from whom she inherits her talent and passion for arts, music, dance and constant spiritual growth, but in the real Mexican vision her as seen like a pop singer, not real rock.

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 American 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 Paulina Rubio.

Artists within the genre, such as Rodrigo y Gabriela, Carla Morrison, Café Tacuba, Hello Seahorse!, Porter, Juan Son, Austin TV, Lila Downs, Maria jose, Paté de Fuá, Julieta Venegas and Jenny and the Mexicats have set out to defy traditional expectations of Latin music.

Mexican ska

Some of the best Mexican composers for electronic and electroacoustic media are Javier Torres Maldonado, Murcof and Manuel Rocha Iturbide, the later conducting festivals and workshops of experimental music and art, in Mexico City and Paris. Some exponents are 3Ball MTY, Nortec Collective, Wakal, Kobol (band), Murcof, Hocico & Deorro and Mexican Institute of Sound.

Other music of Latin-American roots

Other popular forms of music found in various parts of Mexico – mostly with origins in other parts of the Caribbean and Latin America include

In the 1940s, the Cubans Pérez Prado, Benny Moré emigrated to Mexico, they brought with them the mambo, which became extremely popular especially in Mexico City, later on mambo developed into Cha cha chá, which was also popular.

Bolero

The Cuban bolero has traveled to Mexico and the rest of Latin America after its conception, where it became part of their repertoires. Some of the bolero's leading composers have come from nearby countries, most especially the prolific Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández; another example is Mexico's Agustín Lara. Some Cuban composers of the bolero are listed under Trova. Some successful Mexican bolero composers are María Grever, Gonzalo Curiel Barba, Gabriel Ruiz, and Consuelo Velázquez which song Verdad Amarga (Bitter Truth) was the most popular in Mexico in the year 1948.

Another composer Armando Manzanero widely considered the first Mexican romantic composer of the Post-war era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America has composed more than four hundred songs, fifty of which have given him international fame. His most well-known songs include Voy a apagar la luz (I'm Going to Turn Off the Lights), Contigo Aprendí (With you I Learnt... ), Adoro (Adore), No sé tú (I don't know if you...), Por Debajo de la Mesa (Under the Table) Esta Tarde Vi Llover (English version "Yesterday I Heard the Rain"), Somos Novios (English version "It's Impossible"), Felicidad (Happiness) and Nada Personal (Nothing Personal).

Some renowned trios románticos were Trio Los Panchos, Los Tres Ases, Los Tres Diamantes and Los Dandys. Trio Bolero, a unique ensemble of two guitars and one cello. Other singers in singing boleros in Mexico are Óscar Chávez, José Ángel Espinoza and Álvaro Carrillo.

Included among the acclaimed interpreters of the bolero on the radio and the international concert stage were the Mexican tenors Juan Arvizu and Nestor Mesta Chayres.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24]} The brother of Aida Cuevas, "the Queen of the Ranchera," Carlos Cuevas has been equally successful as an interpreter of the bolero and Eugenia León in Mexico's contemporary music scene.

Romantic ballad or Latin ballad

The Latin or

The ballad and bolero are often confused and songs can fall in one or the other category without too much precision. The distinction between them is referring primarily to a more sophisticated and more metaphorical language and subtle bolero, compared with a more direct expression of the ballad.

In Mexico, the first ballad that is registered as such is "Sonata de Amor" (Sonata of Love) of Mario Alvarez in 1961. In 1965, bolero singer-songwriter Armando Manzanero recorded his first ballad, "Pobres besos míos" (My Poor Kisses).

The heyday of the ballad was reached in the mid-1970s, where artists such as José José, Camilo Sesto, Raphael, Roberto Carlos, Rocío Dúrcal and others released many hits. The main hist of José José were "El triste" (The Sad One) by Roberto Cantoral, "La nave del olvido" (The ship of the forgotten), "Te extraño" (I Miss You), "Amar y querer" (Love and want), or "Gavilán o Paloma" (Hawk or Dove), "Lo Pasado Pasado" (The Past is Past), "Volcán" (Volcano) or "Lo que no fue no será" (What Never Was Will Never Be). In the course of their existence the genre merged with diverse rhythms to form several variants, such as romantic salsa and cumbia aside others. Manolo Muñoz was one of the first soloists in Latin America to sing romantic ballads, Víctor Yturbe considered one of the best interpreters of this genre in Mexico and Lupita D'Alessio is one of the great female singers in the ballad genre of the '80s in Latin America.

From the 1990s on, globalization and media internationalization contributed to the ballad's international spread and homogenization.

Tropical

Tropical music in Mexico is a dynamic fusion of indigenous rhythms and Caribbean influences, including cumbia, salsa, merengue, and bachata. Sonora Santanera is an orchestra playing tropical music from Mexico with over 60 years of history. Los Hermanos Rigual were a Cuban vocal group based in Mexico, mainly active in the sixties. They had their breakout in 1962, thanks to the song "Cuando calienta el sol" which became an international hit.

Cumbia

The history of Cumbia in Mexico is almost as old as Cumbia in Colombia. In the 1940s Colombian singers emigrated to Mexico, where they worked with the Mexican orquestra director Rafael de Paz. In the 1950s they recorded what many people consider to be the first cumbia recorded outside of Colombia, La Cumbia Cienaguera. He recorded other hits like Mi gallo tuerto, Caprichito, and Nochebuena. This is when Cumbia began to become popular Mexico, with Tony Camargo as one of the first exponents of Mexican Cumbia. In Mexico D.F., most people who dance to it are called "Chilangos"—which means people born in the main district.

In the 1970s Aniceto Molina emigrated to Mexico, where he joined the group from Guerrero, La Luz Roja de San Marcos, and recorded many popular tropical cumbias like El Gallo Mojado, El Peluquero, and La Mariscada. Also in the 1970s, Rigo Tovar became popular with his fusion of Cumbia with ballad and rock.

Today Cumbia is played in many different ways, and has slight variations depending on the geographical area like Cumbia sonidera, Cumbia andina mexicana, Cumbia Norteña, Tecno-cumbia. Popular Mexican Cumbia composers and interpreters include Rigo Tovar y su Costa Azul, Celso Piña, Pilar Montenegro, Ninel Conde, Los Caminantes, and Selena.

Los Ángeles Azules play the cumbia sonidera genre, which is a cumbia subgenre using the accordion and synthesizers. This results in a fusion of the sounds of cumbia from the 1950-1970s with those of 1990s-style electronic music.^[26]

Art music

Operas

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.

In the 18th century,

In the 20th century,

In 1922, Julián Carrillo (violinist, composer, conductor, theoretician and inventor), created a microtonal system that he called "Sonido 13". He also developed and constructed harps and pianos able to play music in fragments of tone, like fourths, sixths, eighths and sixteenths. Another contemporary Mexican composer was Conlon Nancarrow (of U.S. birth), who created a system to play pianola music, using and developing theories of politempo and polimetrics. Composers leading Mexican music during the second half of the 20th century include

Some notable Mexican jazz musicians include Magos Herrera, Tino Contreras, and Agustín Bernal. Other prominent figures in the Mexican jazz scene include Juan García Esquivel, Eugenio Toussaint, Arturo Castro, Rafael Méndez, Richard Lemus, Leo Acosta, Luis Ocadiz, J. J. Calatayud, Chilo Morán, and Popo Sánchez. Antonio Sánchez, a highly regarded jazz drummer and composer from Mexico City, has been performing with renowned U.S. musicians since he moved to the United States in the early 1990s. He has collaborated with artists such as Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, and Gary Burton, in addition to leading his own bands and ensembles.

Arturo O'Farrill, the son of Latin jazz musician, arranger, and bandleader Chico O'Farrill, is known for his contributions to contemporary Latin jazz. His music is often described as "pan-Latin" in style by critic Dan Bilawsky.^[32] The Teatro Metropólitan sponsors Mexico City's National Jazz Festival. Another group exploring Latin jazz is the Villalobos Brothers.

Table (traditional music ensembles)

See also

• National Conservatory of Music
• List of music artists and bands from Mexico
• Regional Mexican
• Regional styles of Mexican music
• List of Mexican operas
• Category:Mexican composers
• Billboard Top Latin Albums
• Hot Latin Songs
• Regional Mexican Airplay
• Danzon de Mexico
• Flamenco
• Mexican hip hop

References