by 1 person |
The Music of Mexico
The music of Mexico is diverse, full of cultural contrasts influenced mainly by Indigenous music, with many different musical styles and influences. Many traditional Mexican songs are well-known worldwide.
Today, there are many popular modern Mexican musical genres. Widely popular country music includes norteño, banda, and duranguense bands, which play rancheras, a type of song that was literally sung on a Mexican ranch, corridos, and sometimes cumbia.
Today, there are many popular modern Mexican musical genres. Widely popular country music includes norteño, banda, and duranguense bands, which play rancheras, a type of song that was literally sung on a Mexican ranch, corridos, and sometimes cumbia.
Mariachi
The most popular Mexican genre is ranchera, interpreted by a band of mariachis. We tend to think of Mariachi as a style of music, but its actually a group of musicians. The 'charro' suits worn by the band members are attributed to General Portofino Diaz, during a visit from the U.S. Secretary of State. Mariachi Vargas
Mariachi Music
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byNorteño
Another important music style is the traditional "norteno," or Northern tunes. Influenced by Bohemian immigrant miners, its rhythm was derived from the European polka dance popular during the 1800s. Norteño almost always has the accordion and bajo sexto as the lead instruments, with guitars serving as its roots.
SONORAMUSIC ALAMEÑOS - Musica Norteño
Norteño Music
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byHow Music Came to the World: An Ancient Mexican Myth
Grade 1-4-Putting aside their traditional rivalry, Tezcatlipoca, the sky god, convinces Quetzalcoatl, the wind god, to go to the House of the Sun and bring music back to Earth. Quetzalcoatl goes, and when the Sun and his musical servants ignore him, he becomes so angry that he stirs up a violent storm and carries the musicians back with him. The world comes to life as they wander around, spreading their melodies everywhere. This retelling is based on a poem from a 16th-century Nahua (Aztec) manuscript. In a prefatory note, Hal Ober details modifications he made in order to maintain a logical order of events and to animate the story through dialogue. Despite this, the tale never comes to life. The text is wordy, the language is stiff, and it never quite flows. The gods' motivation for bringing music to Earth is not convincing, and its inherent beauty is overshadowed by the violence of its capture. The vibrant, cutout oil pastel drawings in vivid blues, yellows, and greens are full of Aztec and Mayan imagery and design elements. Carol Ober's technique involves moving the cutouts around on a stage, creating a three-dimensional diorama effect. There is real drama in the art.
How Music Came to the World: An Ancient Mexican Myth
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009) 
Banda
Banda music was popularized during the Mexican Revolution when local authorities and states formed their own bands to play in the town squares. The Banda music is an offspring of Norteño.
Tus palabras - Banda El Recodo
Musica Banda
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byDuranguense
Duranguense is a type of music which originated in the northern Mexican state of Durango. Duranguense bands usually play their songs at a rapid, danceable tempo and tend to rely more on percussion.
Los Primos De Durango
Duranguense Music
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byCumbia
Colombian cumbia become even more popular in Mexico than its native land by the 1980's.
Kumbia Kings - Sabes a Chocolate
Cumbia Music
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe Rough Guide to Cumbia
Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled in Colombia at different times. Indigenous peoples were followed by the Spanish conquistadors, who added on Moorish influences from the sack of Granada. Finally, African slaves were brought in, and they supplied both the rhythm and the means to bring it forth. From its beginnings as a courtship dance among the slave population, cumbia gradually became the soul of the entire nation. The tunes on this compilation make it easy to understand why. They were licensed from the Sonolux label and date from the '60s through the '90s. Uniformly infectious and compulsively danceable, this is an essential party album, a good time on a disc.
The Rough Guide to Cumbia
Amazon Price: $14.98 (as of 07/11/2009)
Which Mexican Music do you like the best?
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
Mexico Vacations
-
Vacation in Mexico
-
Mexico is a vacation paradise, filled with charming beaches, snow capped mountains, desert landscapes and lush rainforests. Mexico offers a variety of vacation travel, from the small, peaceful fishing villages to the flashy neon cities, teeming with...
Mexican Music in the News
- Hotel and Concert Deals for San Jose Mariachi Festival Sept. 21-27 ...
- The Festival includes workshops in Mexican music, dance, slow food cooking, sustainable design and a free community fair. For the week of September 21 - 28, ...
by imagelist
If you are not yet registered with Squidoo and you are looking for somewhere to write all those great articles you have inside of you. Or you would li...
(more)
