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Para los Chicanos, música es una forma de expresión que muestra la identidad, cultura, y el espíritu Chicano.  Aquí, música es muy importante y es importante para los Chicanos también.  Ellos quieren expresar sus voces en movimientos políticos y la música es una manera para hacerlo. Es muy importantes en lugares con conexiones fuertes con méxico, como California, Texas, y Arizona.

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Música Chicana también se llama "Música Norteña" porque es muy popular en el norte de méxico. En Texas se llama el sonido "Tex-Mex".  Los instrumentos importantes en música Chicana son el acordeón, el bajo sexto guitarra, y los tambores.  El ritmo es similar al ritmo de polcas europeos.

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Msica Chicana takes off

The intense deejay attacks his San Antonio radio KEDA audience with the rapid-fire fervor of a Latino Wolfman Jack. As his voice rasps and races over the introduction to the next song, the same basic rap is being repeated on other Spanish language radio stations everywhere from Texas' Rio Grande Valley up to Chicago and out to California. "All right," goes the deejay's in-between-song patter, "this is Gero Polkas con el nuevo xito de Little Joe y La Familia." What Gero Polkas is getting ready to spin on the ol' turntable, and what other stations are playing more and more of is Msica Chicana, the fastest growing Latin music sound in the US. Yes, salsa is bigger and it too is growing. But Msica Chicana, with its reliance on an old time polka beat has burst from a local Texas phenomenon that many Latinos had considered rancheron into a new widespread source of cultural pride and joy.

With the strumming rhythm of the sound blaring behind him, a young patron of a Latin discotheque in San Antonio tries to explain: "Before, a lot of people used to be embarrassed by polka music. It was something only for old people to listen to and something for 'wetbacks'. But now we aren't ashamed of who we are any more. When I hear Little Joe or Jimmy Edward or even older guys like Flaco Jimnez I think 'hey, that's part of me.' And it's just as important to me as rock music." Around him while the young man talks, a chicly dressed crowd of dancers is enthusiastically proving his point as they stick their backsides out in the best Msica Chicana style and dance in a fashion that is nearly a carbon copy of the steps their grandparents used in the 1920s and '30s.

The music they are dancing to shows the same multicultural influences as Gero Polkas' radio patter. The lyrics are mostly Spanish with a few English words thrown in here and there. If the tune is by a younger artist like Little Joe or Jimmy Edward, the performance will have rock influences like electric guitars and even synthesizers. A record by older musicians like Los Alegres de Teran will sound more basic and obviously Latin but it will still be a far cry from the typical Mexican mariachi tune. The one thing both old and new Msica Chicana styles have in common is the polka rhythm. Whether it's played on an old-fashioned button-style accordion or the latest synthesizer keyboard, the basic one-two bass-strum rhythm is Msica Chicana's backbone.

Actually Msica Chicana goes by several aliases. In Texas where the music has its roots it is known as the Tex-Mex sound. In other parts of the nation, it's referred to as the Nortea style, since influences from northern Mexico often creep into the Msical approach. But the term Msica Chicana sums up what the sound is about the music played and enjoyed by Americans of Mexican descent - Chicanos.

The exact size of Msica Chicana's audience is unknown. But there are plenty of indicators of its popularity. In one month, a station like Radio KEDA, with an average 67,000 listeners, makes $35,000 in advertising revenue. An estimated 356 radio stations located throughout the nation play some Msica Chicana daily. Its audience is any place where there is a significant Mexican American population. That includes the entire Southwest, in addition to the Pacific Coast states and large cities in the Midwest. There are more than 50 professional and semiprofessional bands just in the South Texas area. And, in one year, Amen Records, only one of the top five Msica Chicana labels in Texas, can expect to gross $250,000.

An outsider unfamiliar with salsa and Msica Chicana might assume that they are similar. But as fans of both sounds know, the dissimilarity between the two styles of Latin music is as obvious as the difference between a plate of Puerto Rican lechon and Mexican enchiladas. It goes back to salsa's and Msica Chicana's origins. In salsa, the music is built around the rhythm established by the congas, bongos and timbales: in Msica Chicana, the accordion and bajo sexto guitar set the pace and melody. While salsa's complicated rhythms stem from Cuban and Puerto Rican roots which in turn go back to Africa, Msica Chicana is tied to the European polka beat.

Its roots can be traced most importantly to New Braunfels, Texas, a small town 30 miles north of San Antonio inhabited largely by the descendants of German immigrants. During the early part of the 20th Century, large numbers of Mexican immigrants worked on the farms surrounding the community. Flaco Jimnez, today's acknowledged accordion king of Msica Chicana, remembers: "My father would go to New Braunfels when the Germans were holding their dances and listen to the bands. Later, he'd try to play the tunes he heard on his accordion. After a while, he and others started writing their own polkas, but they still had that German polka beat."

During the same years Santiago Martinez was listening to German bands oom-pah-pah into the night, two other musicians, performing on both sides of the border, were establishing Msica Chicana's basic sound. Los Alegres de Teran's Eugenio Abrego and Tomas Ortiz took the revolutionary step of adding vocals to what had been exclusively instrumental music for dances. Their style was labeled Nortea and became well-known throughout Mexico, Latin America and in every part of the US where Mexican Americans live. They became a major influence on future Msica Chicana practitioners. By the end of the 1930s, Msica Chicana records were being cut and distributed throughout South Texas.

The sound remained unchanged until the late '50s when rock influences gave it a new boost. Bandleaders like Little Joe Hernndez, Agustn Ramirez and Sonny Ozuna took the traditional polka melodies and adapted them, dropping accordions and adding horn arrangements, drums and electric instruments. Along with different instruments and arrangements, the newer groups incorporated jazz, rock and country-western.

And the lyrics dealt more and more with all aspects of the Mexican American culture. Whether it was a song about marijuana laws, brutality by the Texas Rangers or Chicano pride, the issues were covered by Msica Chicana. Joe Hernndez, known as Little Joe to fans he's collected since the late '50s, is a good example of the artists who brought a message to their music. Though he is now one of Msica Chicana's most popular performers and has his own Buena Suerte record label, the one-time migrant worker will still remind an 8,000-member audience of what it was like during the '50s and early '60s when Mexican Americans were not allowed to speak Spanish in public schools and were discriminated against in a variety of other ways. "Nobody who really knows anything will say Chicanos have equal rights now," says Joe. "We still have to look out for ourselves and be proud of our music and the way we live." His audiences respond because they are touched personally. "When I was feeling poor, Little Joe had a song about it," says one fan. "When I came back from Vietnam, he had a song, and, when I became proud of being a Chicano, Little Joe was singing along."

By 1965 bolstered by its new topicality and sound the music had become readily available in Latin record markets throughout the Southwest and parts of California. At the same time, Msica Chicana started to nose its way onto the airwaves as more Spanish language radio stations with Mexican American audiences gave it airplay. Previously, almost all those stations had kept to a rigid format of music from Mexico. While some stations gradually increased the amount of exposure for Msica Chicana, other stations gambled with almost straight Msica Chicana formats. Gero Polkas (who is known as Richard Davila on his birth certificate) explains: "When KEDA started in 1966, we decided to give emphasis to the local artists who were turning out some great music. We thought it would be ridiculous to act like snobs toward our own musicians." KEDA's gamble paid off, and by 1974 it opened KCCT in Corpus Christi, which also features Msica Chicana.

Meanwhile, as Msica Chicana's popularity continued to grow, a fourth generation of musicians sprouted and added their own ingredients to an old formula. Singers like Jimmy Edward reached back to the 50s ballad styles and translated the lyrics of the oldies into Spanish. The People Orchestra and Matias even added disco and salsa touches to their music to attract Msica Chicana fans among today's Chicano teenagers. "Even though it would probably be easier to switch to Top 40 music, we feel like we need to remind the kids about their heritage," says David Mrez, lead vocalist of People. "So we take the music and add our own touches, but we're still polkeros in the old sense and our music still has that same old beat."

Don't let the idea that Msica Chicana sticks to a strict one-two beat give the impression that its performers are Msical midgets. Accordionists like Esteban Jordan can lay a complicated jazz melody on top of a polka that will rival salsero Eddie Palmieri's complex piano flights of fantasy. And along with musical creativity, there's another important ability shared by salseros and polkeros. Both styles prize spontaneous emotion. Like the cries of "vaya" that a timbalero arouses after he finishes an inspired solo, an accordionist will be met with appreciative shouts of "aja" and "huepa" if he moves his listeners with a particularly soaring improvisational solo. Says Tony de la Rosa, a virtuoso accordionist who's played the Msica Chicana circuit for the last 20 years: "The whole thing is, when I play the accordion a special way, people can feel it and it touches them somewhere."

The most obvious place it touches them is the feet - discotheques in almost every city with a sizeable Mexican American population feature Latin music nights in which polkas are sandwiched between the latest Santana and salsa hits. Meanwhile, local clubs tucked away in Mexican American barrios which cater to a middle-aged clientele, often find themselves bursting at the acoustic seams on weekends and especially on Sunday afternoons for dances known as tardeadas. Traditional Msica Chicana bands, composed of an accordion, a bajo sexto guitar, drums and bass, pump out the latest hits and the old standards as couples dance from early afternoon to midnight.

Msica Chicana's big event is held once a year, usually during July in San Antonio's Convention Center. It's Super Dance, a seven-hour extravaganza roughly equivalent to an appearance by the Fania All Stars for a salsa fan. Top performers like Little Joe, Sonny Ozuna and Jimmy Edward always come to San Antonio for the Super Dance. An estimated 8,500 fans crowded into the center last year to hear the all-star lineup which included country singer Freddy Fender, one of the few South Texas Chicano musicians to win a national audience. But although Fender was warmly received, the star of the evening was Little Joe.

His set summed up what Msica Chicana is all about. First, he and his 10-piece orchestra went through some of the polkas his fans have been listening to for the last 15 years. Then, shedding his tuxedo coat, he performed a driving version of the rock standard Knock on Wood. In fact, during that number, the super dance stopped being a dance. Almost half the audience crowded around the stage to watch the virtuoso performance. When the set was over, the perspiring singer could barely squeeze down the stage's steps. Female admirers crowded around him and his singing partner Johnny Hernndez in a manner that would have flattered a rock superstar.

Such fans are no longer confined to Texas. But while other states produce Msica Chicana artists, it is still the ones from Texas who dominate the sound. Manuel Guerra, executive producer for Amen Records in San Antonio, claims proudly that "the other musicians just follow the Texas musicians' styles. It all started here. Just like the flour tortilla, the music is something that began in Texas and traveled with Chicanos wherever they went."

The next question is: Can the excitement Msica Chicana creates be duplicated outside the Mexican American culture? The consensus in the trade is that it is more than possible, if certain changes are made in the way the business side of the music is organized. Already performers like Flaco Jimnez are finding a completely new audience they would never have dreamed of playing for two or three years ago. For most of his life, Jimnez has spent his time looking out over a sea of dancers' heads as he pumped out the music his father helped develop. His audiences always consisted of working-class Mexican Americans, who strongly identified with his earthy music. Rut now he's seeing more than a few blonde heads, belonging to college students, bobbing along with the regulars.

He developed a cult of college-age fans following his US and European tours with rock performer Ry Cooder. Jimnez was signed on by Cooder for his Chicken Skin Music album, because the rock musician was looking for another sound to add to his eclectic record which already contained Hawaiian and gospel influences. Jimnez says he's currently waiting to see if he will do an entire album of his style of music on the Warner Brothers label.

If Jimnez makes an album for a major record label, it will be a first for a Msica Chicana artist. Currently, all the music is on regional label recordings, ranging in quality from garage operations to advanced multi-track studios. But none of the labels is on a national level in technical know-how or in promotion or distribution. As a result, Msica Chicana's exposure is still confined to Spanish language radio and television. While other Latin music styles, like the mambo and samba, have received national attention, there's never been anything like a polka craze.

The problems that have kept Msica Chicana from getting national exposure also include a lack of organization. "The trouble is simply that we bargain like we're in the local market," complains Joe Hernndez. "One guy will always say he'll sell an album a dollar cheaper. So there are no set prices, and we never really get ahead." But there are indications that the industry is changing. For the first time, a market survey is being carried out in Texas to determine the size of Msica Chicana's market and exactly what styles will sell best. The survey is financed with federal funds received by Zavala County. If the survey proves there is a large enough market, says Zavala County Judge Jos Angel Gutirrez, the South Texas county will apply for additional funds to help finance a record-pressing plant and studios in order to aid the county's economic development. At the same time, the major Msica Chicana labels in Texas have started forming cooperative-like associations to aid each other's projects. "From what I understand, that's what happened with Motown Records in Detroit. The people realized no one was going to do it for them; so they got together and did it for themselves," says Judge Gutierrez.

Is mainstream America ready for Msica Chicana? A number of performers hope so but only if their music is accepted on its own terms. "A lot of Anglos have the impression this is Mexican music. It's not. It's music played by Americans of Mexican descent, and that makes a world of difference in the way we sound," says People's Mrez. And there is little inclination to change merely to meet a broader market. "The thing about our musicians is that they've grown up in between honky and funky, meaning country and soul music. So our music has all the influences and a little something for everybody. There's no doubt it could catch on," says Little Joe. "But no matter what happens, Msica Chicana will always be ours."

Ben Tavera-King

This article first appeared in Nuestro magazine, Feb 1978, and is reprinted with the permission of the author.

Article MT106

Site designed and maintained by Musical Traditions Web Services Updated: 1.10.02

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Msica Chicana takes off The intense deejay attacks his San Antonio radio KEDA audience with the rapid-fire fervor of a Latino Wolfman Jack.

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Mucho de la música Chicana tiene sentimientos políticos o importantes. Por causa de esto, muchas más personas saben sobre las problemas de los chicanos y pueden tratar de ayudarlos.  También es importantes para los Chicanos porque ellos necesitan representación en canciones.

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Muchos estaciones de radio ponen música chicana, como Radio KEDA y Spotify.  Hay un festival grande cada año en San Antonio, TX que se llama "Super Dance". Tambien hay muchos conciertos en los EEUU de artistas chicanas.

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Para agregar mas sentimiento, personas empezaba añadir palabras a la música.  Ellos cantaron sobre las problemas de los Chicanos, el orgullo de los chicanos, problemas de marihuana, y violencia de la policía.  En los 50's, ellos agregaron más instrumentos y más elementos de jazz y rock.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZo42AczmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWDmWkg7iJg

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Selena es una artista Chicana más moderna en el mundo.  Su música incluye muchos estilos. Ella usó su música para promover mujeres y hablar sobre relaciones malos. Su música es llena de passion y espiritu.

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El es el abuelo de música chicana.  Es de Tuscan, AZ y viajó a California para cantar y tocar música chicana.  Él escribió muchos canciones tantos como: "No Hay Tortillas" y "Pancho Claus".  También, él escribe canciones más serios y políticos como: "No Chicanos en TV" y "Corrio de Delano".  El tenía un fe fuerte en los chicanos y personas en general.  Su lema fue "si, se puede". El inspiraba muchas Chicanos y los ayudó a sentir bien sobre sus nacionalidades.

http://frontera.library.ucla.edu/tag/chicano-music

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Si la música chicana fuera como la Roma imperial, entonces todos sus caminos llevarían hasta Lalo Guerrero, el gran padre de los sonidos chicanos que el 24 de diciembre pasado habría cumplido cien años.

Músico abnegado y abierto a cruzar todos los ritmos latinos imaginables con las nuevas modas estadounidenses como el rock, Lalo Guerrero (1916-2005) experimentó en carne propia las contradicciones de pertenecer a una familia de origen mexicano que vivía en un país que no era el suyo, lo que le llevó a defender a lo largo de su carrera los derechos y la cultura de chicanos e inmigrantes.

"Yo soy chicano, señores. Nací al lado americano. Para México soy pocho, no me aceptan mis hermanos. Los güeros me discriminan como si fuera extranjero, a pesar de que esta tierra fue de México primero. Este país es mi tierra, México es la de mis padres, pero la sangre que llevo es la de Benito Juárez", cantó Guerrero en "El Chicano", uno de sus temas más emblemáticos.

Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero nació en la Nochebuena de 1916 en Tucson (Arizona) y fue su madre, Concepción Aguilar, quien le enseñó a tocar la guitarra y cantar dentro de un ambiente cien por cien latino.

"Vivíamos en la parte suroeste de la ciudad y los güeros (los blancos) vivían en el noreste, al otro lado de las vías (...). Estábamos tan segregados que nunca supe que era parte de una minoría hasta que fui al instituto", recordó el artista en su autobiografía "Lalo, my life and music" (2002).

Desde pequeño, viendo musicales en el cine y escuchando los éxitos de las canciones norteñas, soñó con ser una estrella del mundo del espectáculo, y sus primeros pasos los dio en Tucson con Los Carlistas, un improbable nombre para un conjunto chicano tomado del movimiento político del siglo XIX en España que defendía los derechos al trono de Carlos María Isidro de Borbón.

En los años 40 y 50, Guerrero se echó a la carretera para recorrer los cafés y salas baile de las ciudades fronterizas, aunque fue en Los Ángeles donde encontró un entorno ideal para sus canciones en clubes como El Sombrero, El Babalú, La Bamba o La Casa Olvera.

"La escena musical latina en Los Ángeles tras la guerra era muy emocionante y diversa (...). Los clubes estaban llenos casi cada noche", escribió Guerrero, cuyos temas, muchas veces compuestos en inglés y español, mezclaron con el tiempo corridos, música norteña, swing, bolero, mambo y los primeros coletazos del rock.

Muchas de sus canciones eran humorísticas y satíricas, como "Marihuana Boogie", "There's No Tortillas", la parodia de un Elvis hispano en "Elvis Pérez", "Pancho Claus", dedicada al "primo mexicano" de Santa Claus, o la popular serie de discos infantiles de Las Ardillitas.

Pero Lalo Guerrero también tenía una vertiente más seria o reflexiva, como la de "Canción Mexicana", "No Chicanos on TV", sobre la falta de personajes latinos en la pequeña pantalla, o el "Corrido de Delano", ésta última surgida de su apoyo a la Unión de Campesinos (UFW) y la lucha sindical de César Chávez y Dolores Huerta en los años 60.

"Los cambios reales en la sociedad llegaban muy lentamente, pero estábamos preparados para escuchar a César cuando apareció en escena. Su lema era 'Sí, se puede'. Nos mostró lo que podíamos hacer si estábamos unidos. Empezamos a oír hablar acerca del 'poder latino' (brown power) y 'la raza'", rememoró.

Con el paso del tiempo, la figura de Lalo Guerrero ganó peso y fue objeto de reivindicación por parte de nuevos artistas de focos creativos como East Los Ángeles que le consideraban un auténtico pionero.

Como muestra, Los Lobos grabaron con Guerrero el disco "Papa's Dream" (1995) y Ry Cooder contó con él en el álbum "Chavez Ravine" (2005) para versionar el tema "Barrio Viejo".

No obstante, la cima de su reconocimiento fue la Medalla Nacional de las Artes que recibió de la mano del presidente Bill Clinton en 1997, un hecho que le marcó profundamente tal y como dejó escrito en su autobiografía.

"¡Fue la primera vez en mi vida en la que realmente me sentí estadounidense! Sabía que lo era porque nací en este país pero nunca me sentí tal. Me sentía un mexicano que por azar nació en EEUU. Pero sentado en el escenario de ese bonito salón con la medalla al cuello, pensé: 'Finalmente lo logré. Soy realmente estadounidense'. Y fue un sensación increíblemente bella", afirmó.

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Lalo Guerrero, el padre de la música chicana

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Si la música chicana fuera como la Roma imperial, entonces todos sus caminos llevarían hasta Lalo Guerrero, el gran padre de los sonidos chicanos que el 24 de diciembre pasado habría cumplido cien años.

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Este es Lalo Guerrero