Tejano Music Gaining A Hold In Mainstream Pop Market
Tejano music is all about crossing borders, but the one border it has yet to cross is a major breakthrough on the mainstream pop charts.
The murder of Tejano singing star Selena back in March stunned the Tejano music community and the larger Mexican-American community, but it did not slow the inexorable march of Mexican-American music into the pop mainstream of the United States.
Traditionally, tropical Latin music - with its African-influenced dance beats - has had more impact on the mainstream American consciousness than its relatives in the Southwest and on the West Coast.
Although the Tito Puentes and Machitos of the world didn’t become mainstream stars, their influence was felt in the wide acceptance of dances such as the mambo.
Two realizations clicked in the minds of record executives in recent years.
One was the obvious fact that the Hispanic population in America is growing and will affect consumer profiles for years to come.
The other was the realization that there is no Hispanic population, per se, but rather a variety of groups that fit under that umbrella.
“There is a real diversity within the Spanish markets, and there’s a real strain of regionalism in Spanish-language music in the U.S.,” said Cameron Randle, general manager of Arista/Texas, the first major American label to focus on Tejano music.
In other words, what’s popular with the Cubans of Miami won’t necessarily play with the Mexican-Americans of Phoenix or San Antonio.
“That’s part of our challenge in Tejano,” Randle said, pointing out that it’s just as hard to introduce a broader Latin audience to Tejano music as it is to introduce the mainstream pop audience to it.
In fact, to break the music out of Texas in a big way, Randle said, it probably will be necessary to first win over Mexico.
“So much of the West Coast of the U.S. reacts to whatever is popular in Mexico.” he said. “The irony is that Texas music in the Latin world cannot go from Texas directly to California without being filtered through Mexico.”
Gloria Estefan and Jon Secada have drawn loyalty far outside their own Cuban quarters by becoming American pop stars who speak Spanish. They’ll never lose that core Cuban-American audience, to whom they are ethnic heroes, and they’ve gained a huge Anglo following and a following among other Latin audiences across the nation.
That’s why so much was riding on Selena.
She had the looks, stage presence and a huge Tejano and Mexican-American following that ensured a loyal core no matter what she did, and the potential to move huge numbers of records in the mainstream pop market.
Nancy Brennan, a vice president at SBK records who was overseeing Selena’s crossover project, told the “Houston Chronicle” a month before Selena’s death, “I think Selena can do anything she wants to do … Multiplatinum is to be expected, and the sky is the limit.”
In reaction to her death, Selena’s Grammywinning “Amor Prohibido” album jumped to No. 29 on “Billboard’s” mainstream pop chart, a rare feat for a Spanish-language record.
Sooner or later, though, another Tejano superstar of that potential will arise, probably sooner than later.
In the meantime, Tejano music has made great inroads on “Billboard’s” Latin 50 chart with such acts as La Diferenzia, Emilio and Little Joe sharing the stage with acts from Mexico, the rest of the world, and American superstars such as Estefan and Linda Ronstadt.
But what is Tejano music exactly?
“Tejano” is, literally, “Texan.”
“It’s not Mexican,” said Flaco Jimenez, the dean of “conjunto,” or Tex-Mex music, which is the direct ancestor of Tejano music.
“My granddaddy was Mexican-American, my daddy was Mexican-American, so we consider this music as Tejano, Tex-Mex. It’s not MexTex, it’s Tex-Mex.”
Young Mexican-American musicians are looking both forward and backward in Tejano music, establishing a musical link between the agricultural life of the past and the urban life of the present and future.
xxxx TEJANO GLOSSARY Tejano - Literally “Texan.” Refers to a movement of young Texans of Mexican descent, typically bringing modern pop instrumentation and presentation to a mixture of traditional tunes and new songs sung in Spanish. Conjunto - A small band. In MexicanAmerican music, it is usually led by the accordion. Cumbia - A dance beat popularized in Colombia that has found its way into most other Latin musics, including Tejano. Tex-Mex - The music played for social dancing along the Texas-Mexico border.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Salvatore Caputo The Arizona Republic