Tejano Music
Howdy folks. This is an opinionated tejano music/history link of my own, and perhaps it's just me and my wondering mind trying to figure out things logically and thinking about our tejano music industry. ​Maybe it's just a generation gap and trend when I say that our music is "changing." Well, it is changing, but surprisingly it is evolving - "ever so slowly."
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Secondly, we have come an exceptionally long way from the early 1920s. ​Meaning, from the early pioneers of conjuntos to the big orchestras; from Gilberto Perez to the bands of Little Joe and the Latin Breed; on to groups with organs and keyboards; and better studio recordings. I call it, "La Nueva Onda."
​Our proud tejano music history is long and distinguished with so many musicians and artists that made history and won so many awards. Of course, I do not live in Texas either and perhaps I am just missing the ball in right and left field, but I do sense that: "Something is just not the same and not like it was years ago. Is our tejano music on a pivotal edge and about to change? Again?" ​​
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History in general ... is essentially the study of past events, people, and societies. It's about understanding how previous actions and decisions have shaped the world we live in today. By examining historical documents, artifacts, and other sources, historians aim to piece together narratives that explain how and why things happened the way they did. Historians uncover the stories of our collective past. From the rise and fall of empires to the everyday lives of ordinary people, history provides a rich tapestry of human experiences and helps us make sense of our present and future.
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Allow me to add this: Our tejano music is now into the modern times category of 2025, but as most of us know it today, it is progressing ever so slowly. There is plenty of room here to discuss our heritage and our tejano music roots but most people cannot comprehend why it is changing and to what degree or direction we are heading to.
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Seems like most of us want to go back where we were, nostalgically, and/or keep the sounds of today, but we are unwilling to accept the realistic paradigm that we are in the center of a tejano transformation. It is here already, and we cannot cope with it and refuse to let go of our past and present artists. Perhaps we are unwilling to see what is across that hill; maybe we are afraid of this monumental tidal wave heading our way - music and affluence from the south.​
In retrospect, it is intriguing to me that we've gone through a 360-degree turn in our music.
I mean, the tejano music evolution of our time began in northern Mexico, with influences from Spain, native Americans, we are a mixed race, indeed ...
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... and most of our dance rhythms came from Czech and German genres, and all this happen in south Texas/Mexico.
Today we hear Grupo Frontera all over the map and they're from Edinburg, south Texas ... to me, they sound more Tex Mex than real tejano music.
Tejano music history repeating itself again.
The term Tejano, derived from the Spanish adjective tejano or (feminine) tejana (and written in Spanish with a lower-case t), denotes a Texan of Mexican descent, thus a Mexican Texan or a Texas Mexican.
The term received greater currency at the end of the twentieth century than previously with subsequent changes in nuance and usage. It encompasses cultural manifestations in language, literature, art, music, and cuisine. As an adjective, Tex-Mex is a recently coined term related to, but not synonymous with, Tejano.
Broader terms used at different times or for different segments of this ethnic group are Hispanic American, Latin American, Mexican, Mexican American, and Chicano. As early as 1824, Miguel Ramos Arispe, author of the (Mexican) Constitution of 1824, referred to the citizens of Texas as Tejanos in correspondence with the town council of Bexar.
Tejano Music:
Tejano music has continued to evolve ...
Yes, evolve and flourish over the years, incorporating influences from rock, jazz, and other genres. Its cultural significance and enduring legacy make it a vital part of Texas’ musical heritage.​
Tejano music holds a unique place in the cultural landscape of Texas and beyond, reflecting the Texan Mexican identity in a way that no other genre can.
"With its roots in the blending of Mexican folk music and various regional musical influences, tejano music has come to
represent the cultural and artistic fusion that defines the state of Texas."
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Tejano music has been a vital means of cultural expression for generations of Mexican Americans in Texas, providing a means for artists to represent their heritage and connect with their community.
By incorporating traditional Mexican instruments and song structures into their music, tejano artists have been able to preserve the cultural traditions of their ancestors while creating something new and dynamic.
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Over the years, Tejano music has also served as a platform for social commentary, with artists tackling issues such as immigration, poverty, and discrimination in their lyrics.
This aspect of the genre has made it an important tool for social justice and activism in the Texan Mexican community.
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Tejano music has not only had an impact on the cultural identity of Texas, but on the wider music scene in the United States and beyond.
With its infectious rhythms and lively performances, Tejano music has reached audiences far beyond its home state, inspiring new generations of artists and introducing new audiences to the rich cultural heritage of Texas.
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Tejano music has rich cultural roots that reflect the diverse heritage of Texas and the Mexican American community. Here's a look at some of the key cultural influences:
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1] Mexican Folk Music:
Tejano music draws heavily from traditional Mexican music, such as rancheras and mariachi. These styles provide the foundation for Tejano's melodies and rhythms.
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2] German and Czech Polkas:
In the 19th century, German and Czech immigrants brought their polka music and instruments, particularly the accordion, to Texas. These elements were integrated into the local music scene, creating a distinctive sound.
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3] Latin Pop and Cumbia:
As Tejano music evolved, it incorporated modern Latin pop influences and the infectious rhythms of cumbia, a dance music style that originated in Colombia.
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4] Country and Western:
Given Texas's strong country music tradition, Tejano music also features elements of country and western, particularly in its use of the guitar and storytelling lyrics.
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5] Rock and Roll:
The influence of rock and roll is evident in the energetic performances and instrumentation of Tejano bands, adding a contemporary edge to the genre. ​​These cultural influences combine to create the unique and vibrant sound of Tejano music. It truly is a celebration of the multicultural tapestry of Texas!
The origins of Tejano music / By Scott Sosebee / The Daily Sentinel / From the internet
Texas is a powerhouse when it comes to producing notable musicians in all genres. From Van Cliburn to George Strait, Miranda Lambert to Beyoncé, and Bob Wills to Ornette Coleman, Texas can boast of musical stars of every variety.
However, while Texas claims a multitude of performance stars, the music most of those played did not truly have Texas origins (Bob Wills’ “western swing” may be the closest to having Texas roots, but it borrowed its fundamental elements to a blend of jazz, Big Band, country, and bluegrass stylings), except for one genre that was essentially born in Texas. That would be Tejano music, a sound that is vibrant and soulful and that has a deep heritage in “Tex-Mex” border culture.
Tejano’s origins date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and while it has evolved and expanded in many ways past its roots, it remains - at its most structural levels - a unique blend of Mexican folk music, polkas, the Celtic folk sounds of the American frontier that would eventually evolve into what we would come to term country music, as well as American rock-and-roll..
It is truly a melding of cultures whose meeting ground was the brush country of South Texas.
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German and Czech migrants who came to Texas brought their polka style of music and dance with them to their new home, with the emphasis on the accordion. When those immigrants came in contact with Tejanos in San Antonio and areas south of that city, their stylings fused the traditional Mexican forms of the corrido and mariachis.
The result was a hybrid form between the two; Tejanos in South Texas began to incorporate the German polka beat and melody into their songs and also made the accordion a part of their instrumentation. These small Tejano bands, referred to as orquestas, played at small community dances and gatherings all over South Texas, for audiences and dancers of both Mexican and European ancestry. It was not just a musical innovation, but also a social phenomenon.
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Those earliest Tejano arrangements were mostly instrumental, although there were some lyrics added but in a traditionally corrido fashion. The music and its adherents were rural in nature as South Texas was a base for ranching and agriculture. The songs - when they were sung - were the same ones that had survived in an oral tradition for generations in Northern Mexico, just adapted for the new instruments like the accordion, guitar, drum, and often a flute.
When recordings became a more pervasive cultural affectation in the 1920s, the RCA corporation made some recordings of these earliest artists as part of their “race music” division - forms such as traditional African American genres such as the Blues, and traditionally Mexican mariachi music, with Lydia Mendoza, the “Lark of the Border,” becoming the earliest star of what would eventually be termed “Tejano” music.
A Music Style: Tejano Music ... "What Is Tejano Music?"
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1) Tejano music, also known as Tex-Mex music, is a popular music style fusing Mexican and US influences. Typically, Tejano combines Mexican Spanish vocal styles with dance rhythms from Czech and German genres -particularly polka or waltz. Tejano music is traditionally played by small groups featuring accordion and guitar or bajo sexto. Its evolution began in northern Mexico.
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2) Music is something enjoyed all over the world. It brings entire nations, and people together. With time, different ethnicities have put their twist to the tunes and have come up with new genres of music. One such very popular genre is Tejano Music. Tejano is a blend of European, Mexican, and American music styles. It is now enjoyed both nationally and internationally.
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3) Tejano music is a genre of music born in the states of Texas and Mexico in the 18th century. Over three centuries, Tejano music has absorbed a lot of different styles, and instruments. The music features tunes from the Czech Republic and Germany, especially polka, and waltz.
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Here’s why the genre is called Tejano Music. The name Tejano was given to Mexican Americans living in Texas. The music is played using the accordion and has since developed from being a small genre of music to being played on large stages worldwide. Tejano music was born in Texas, near the Mexican-Texas border, and in Northern Mexico.
The origins of the genre can be traced back to people from Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic, migrating to the US. These people influenced the Tejanos by their polka music and accordion. The accordion would go on to be the major instrument used to make Tejano Music.
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The music gained immense popularity with the working class. The Mexican working class spends days working and music is the perfect way to loosen up. Soon musicians and small bands became very common at festive events, and pubs and taverns. These small bands were called orquestas and included musicians that played the accordion, flute, guitar, and drums. Finally, the genre gained popularity after famous artists got their music recorded.
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More and more people heard Tejano Music through the radio, and later the television. Tejano Music is important for the Mexican American people, not only because it is a part of their history, but also because it has kept their identity alive. In the racist times of the 1800s and 1900s, Tejano music was a way to bring Mexican Americans out to the world.
A Few Tejano Music Articles
Surrounding Geography and Evolutions / Author - Scott Douglas Jacobsen / J.D. Mata
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Considering the Texas-Mexico border as the development area, how did Tejano music spread to the east, as far as Florida, to the west, as far as California, and to central and southern Mexico? How did its development unfold in these directions?
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Mata: That is a very interesting question. Selena was one of the artists who significantly contributed to bringing Tejano music to a broader audience, including the east, west, south, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the north. Her father, A.B. Quintanilla, deserves recognition for managing her career astutely and persistently, ensuring her success during her lifetime and preserving her legacy afterward. The entire family, including her sister Suzette, has been instrumental in maintaining her legacy.
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Tejano music reached these regions because necessity is the mother of invention. Musicians need to perform and earn a living. One of the reasons I left South Texas, despite my love for McAllen and the region, is opportunities aren’t present in certain areas of the film or music industry. If you want to spread globally or make a significant impact, you must relocate to a market that can facilitate that growth. Many great musicians and Tejano artists perform at weddings, quinceañeras, and bars. Many are content to stay in those venues, which is perfectly fine. However, I aspired to achieve recognition on a global stage.
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For many Tejano artists, necessity is the mother of invention. Many played music full-time, performing at quinceañeras, weddings, and bars, but also held other jobs. I dislike the term “real jobs” because, for us, music is our real job. As a musician and actor, that is my true profession. However, many have side hustles: lawyers, teachers, doctors, and judges, and they play music to support their passion.
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Some musicians can’t afford to do that, so they pursue music as a career. Mexican Americans are spread across the United States, Mexico, and other countries. They brought Tejano music to other Mexican Americans who were working as farm workers and migrants. These migrants left the Rio Grande Valley or South Texas to work in the fields up north, spreading the music throughout the Midwest, California, Oregon, and other places.
Artists would travel to perform there, often facing brutal conditions, with their buses frequently breaking down. It was a blue-collar musical development, with musicians enduring significant hardships. Musicians didn’t have modern conveniences like cell phones or iPads back then, so they often composed songs under challenging circumstances. For example, Roberto Pulido, an icon in the industry, played more orchestra music with saxophones and accordion than Tejano. His son, Bobby Pulido, is a Tejano breakout star. Roberto’s story illustrates the hardships faced by these musicians. They travelled all over the U.S., often with their buses breaking down.
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I want to highlight two individuals who significantly contributed to making Tejano huge in South Texas: Nano Ramirez, the owner of the convention center Via Real in McAllen, Texas, who hired many Tejano artists and hosted large dances; and Johnny Canales, who also played a pivotal role in promoting Tejano music. God rest his soul; he recently passed away.
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Johnny Canales had a television show where he showcased up-and-coming Tejano artists, which was a huge hit. There were other local shows that I participated in as well, like those hosted by Akira and Helio. These Sunday morning talk shows also featured Tejano artists and served as a springboard for recognition before the internet era.
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Thanks to the internet and the significant contributions of Selena, her father, and her family, Tejano music has spread worldwide. Selena’s talent, the internet, and the movie about her life have helped popularize Tejano music globally.
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Can you be a Tejano artist if you are not born in Texas? No.
To be a genuine Tejano artist, you must be born in Texas and be able to write your music.
Can someone, born in San Francisco, play Tejano music? Yes, of course.
But they can’t call themselves a Tejano artist. Regarding the geographical spread, the core region for Tejano music is from San Antonio down to the Rio Grande Valley. I am biased, but I consider the Rio Grande Valley the nucleus, the motherland, the “Israel” of Tejano music. We, the Tejano artists, are like the chosen ones.
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Tejano music reached various regions through the efforts of these hardcore, blue-collar musicians with incredible work ethics. They travelled all over the United States early on, often working in construction and other tough jobs.
You Got to Find Your Own Sound
Eric Johnson would be too modest to admit it, but he is unquestionably one of the true legends of electric guitar. When he speaks about the instrument, and the craft of being a musician, he is well worth listening to.
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At this weekend’s Woodshed Guitar Experience, hosted over four days at Lake Francis Retreats, Crossville, Tennessee, the master of the Stratocaster had some advice for any guitar player looking to make it in the business.
And it was advice that holds true for players at any level, and of any ambition.
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In a clip captured by Wampler Pedals and posted to its Instagram page, Johnson had some words of wisdom for every up-and-coming player in the room – you’ve got to follow your inspiration wherever that may take you.
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“Find the kind of music that really turns you on and makes you want to practice and makes you want to play,” said Johnson. “Find that inspiration, whatever style it is, whatever technique that just inspires you.”
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It sounds obvious but often with the guitar we fail to see what is right in front of us. There are so many distractions, not least the different techniques and styles that we feel we ought to learn, whether they are relevant to what we want to say on the instrument.
Johnson says there’s no point in learning something that doesn’t interest us simply because it is what is expected of us.
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“If you are just trying to force yourself to learn something just because it is hard to do, it’s what you should know, you are going to run the risk of eventually getting disheartened,” he said. “You want to chase what you really like.”
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Johnson said something like that to MusicRadar in 2010, when he was answering a reader’s question on how to overcome writer’s block. We make the biggest breakthroughs on our instrument when we are having fun.
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“On a practical level, if you're playing and you're stuck in a rut, stop playing whatever it is that's bogging you down,” he said.
“Play something else, play something fun. Just play with no expectations or goals. Too much of the time we focus on the result: 'If I play this or write this, then this will happen.’ You must get out of that mindset. It really comes back to the reason why you probably started playing in the first place – because you enjoy it.”
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That in turn might also help you develop your own style on the instrument. And Johnson says that’s not just him talking; BB King told Johnson pretty much the same thing back in the day.
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“As you mature, I think it always is important to let that pearl [shine], that light that’s unique to you,” Johnson told the Woodshed crowd.
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“I remember once I was on a BB King tour, and I was doing soundcheck, and I was trying my BB King licks ... I was out there doing my thing with that and he came onto the bus and said ...
‘Now, Eric, do what you do. Let your light shine that’s unique.’ I mean, you can do the other things; they can be secondary. But you’ve got to find that point of power, of your own sound, of your own thing, and you’ve got to let that shine because that is what will touch people.”
El Baile: A Story of Conjunto Music in the Rio Grande Valley / By Manuel F. Medrano
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The early twentieth century was a time of change and transition for Latinos in the United States. The push from the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth century and the pull from commercial agriculture and industrialization in the United States helped create what has been called the Migrant Generation. It was also this generation that witnessed the birth of the Texas-Mexican conjunto.
Conjunto music was born on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the "father" of this genre, Narciso Martinez, lived most of his life there. Over the years, its resilience and popularity have secured its place as both nationally recognized folk music and a conduit for cultural transmission. Accordion music was the music of working-class Texans, regardless of race and ethnicity. Tejanos, Mexicanos, Germans, Czechoslovakians, and African Americans enjoyed it and danced to it, although usually not at the same venue.
The Rio Grande Valley baile was a far cry from the more formal ballroom dances in Dallas and Austin but served the same purpose of bringing the community together.
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Conjunto, a Spanish word referring to both a musical style and the musicians who play it, originated in deep South Texas during the late 1920s. Weddings, anniversaries, quincieñeras, and public dances were all venues for conjunto musicians. After World War II, a young accordionist and singer named Valerio Longoria revolutionized the music by adding drums to the ensemble. Ethnomusicologist Manuel Peña writes that Longoria was "probably the one person most responsible for moving conjunto music away from its earlier stylistic expression." Although he performed throughout Texas and the Southwest, when he performed in the Rio Grande Valley, the event began well in advance of the actual dance.
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It is Thursday morning near the United States-Mexico border. Teco and Chuy, both sixteen years old, prepare a thirty-by-thirty dirt dance floor by first sprinkling it with water and ashes and later sweeping it. They then hang over two dozen kerosene lamps on a wire clothesline above the dance floor before cleaning the wooden benches that border its perimeter. In the center is a large mesquite tree that gives this place its name, El Mesquitón.
Its ash-colored branches sway above the dance floor, nudged by a humid southeast wind. For Teco, it is four hours of dusty tedious work, but the dance promoter has promised him two complimentary tickets in exchange for his labor. This young man from Olmito knows that no tickets mean no dance, and no dance means no María. So begins the ritual for the Saturday night dance deep in the Rio Grande Valley.
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Posters advertising the dance are nailed to trees and placed in grocery stores. The Brownsville Spanish language radio station advertises it as el baile del otoño, the dance of autumn, and has been promoting it for at least a month. The dance promoter has even hired Carlos "El Cotorro" Chavez to drive through the neighborhoods and ranchos. In an old van with speakers on the roof, "El Cotorro" (the parrot) announces the details of the baile through a scratchy old microphone.
Everyone in the surrounding barrios and colonias knows that this will be no ordinary dance. Valerio Longoria and his conjunto will be in town, will fill the dance floor, and will not be disappointed. Longoria, like many other working musicians, does not make much money, but he earns enough to make a living. Ironically, for this dance, the promoter will receive about $1,500 for organizing the dance, and Longoria's conjunto will be paid only $150 for the whole evening. Still, it is more profitable than being paid a quarter a song at the cantinas in San Benito and Corpus Christi.
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On the day of the dance, preparations abound. The Rodríguez family is one of the many who will attend. One daughter, María Isabel, is styling her hair to resemble that of the iconic Mexican cinema actress María Félix. She uses pin curls and hair spray to create the popular wave and to keep it firmly in place all evening. Her sister Diana dares to comb her long hair to the side, like the American actress Rita Hayworth. Meanwhile, the Rodríguez boys, Gilberto and Reynaldo, comb their hair with Brillantina hair oil or El Perico gel and look in their closet for their newest white shirts and dark slacks. One will wear boots, the other, black shellacked shoes.
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Tonight, parents not only chaperone their daughters but also dance and socialize with extended family and neighbors. Fathers and older brothers meticulously inspect their daughters' and sisters' suitors, quickly eliminating those that appear disrespectful or inebriated. Some men take a fifth of José Cuervo tequila in a brown paper bag to share with their compadres and friends. Cousins, aunts, and uncles - mostly migrant workers who have recently returned from Michigan and Indiana - are also here.
Tonight's dance is a respite from the long days of field and farm work that often consumes them yet provides their income.
Families who live in the vicinity of El Mesquitón walk to the dance, while those who live in the neighboring towns of Brownsville, Harlingen, and San Benito drive. By eight o'clock, there is a buzz of activity.
Longoria's conjunto is setting up and tuning their instruments in front of the large tree. On either side are benches where only the women and girls will sit. Children run on the earthen dance floor before the music begins. Older brothers and sisters dance and court for the first time while grandparents remember dances where the ensemble was only an accordion and a bajo sexto (twelve string guitar).
The dance easily fulfills the hype preceding it. Friends and families talk, laugh, and dance. Longoria performs chotes, balzas, and guapangos. His sound is popular because he tunes his accordion by adjusting a reed to produce a deep sound both unique and danceable.
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One of the most humorous incidents of the evening involves a true "character" of the bailes and quinceñieras, Chon "El Guapón" (self-proclaimed good-looking dude) Villafuerte. Chon believes he is so handsome that no girl would ever deny him a dance. In front of his friends, he looks across the dance floor, spots the beautiful Rosario, and proclaims that she will dance with him. His buddies wager a dinner that she will not. Chon runs his fingers through his hair, unbuttons the top button of his shirt, thrusts out his chest, and proceeds across the dance floor during intermission.
When he gets within ten feet of her, she motions her finger back and forth like a windshield wiper, indicating she is not interested. Chon, however, is not dissuaded easily. His reputation and dinner are at stake, and his friends will never let him forget it. He reaches Rosario and asks her for a dance anyway.
Rosario's father, standing behind her, walks to Chon and explicitly tells him she has already refused and that he should leave immediately. Knowing her father's nickname is Big Bad Joe Gómez, Chon quickly retreats. As he walks back toward his friends, they are already laughing uncontrollably and mimicking his macho walk. Chon, however, is still Chon, and he continues to ask until someone dances with him.
At three o'clock the dance ends, but the evening is not over. Tía Licha, who had not attended the dance because of a sprained ankle, has cooked menudo for the entire family, and they eat and laugh until five.
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Over six decades have passed since that Saturday night. Both Chuy and Teco enlisted in the Army and served in the Korean War. Chuy was killed in the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River in 1950. Teco, who was a paratrooper, returned, married María, and still lives within a few miles of El Mesquitón. Chon is now eighty-three years old and for thirty years was a dance promoter in Corpus Christi.
Valerio Longoria eventually sold records throughout the United States and Europe. In 1986, he received the National Heritage Award from President Ronald Reagan for lifelong achievement as a folk artist. He continued to perform at conjunto festivals and teach accordion music in San Antonio until his death in 2000.
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It has been said that history opens our eyes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the South Texas border. The Texan character is a product of diversity, resilience, and tradition. Within this diversity is an embedded musical language that still brings people together and still crosses race, ethnicity, age, and time. Conjunto is part of this tradition, and all Texans are the better for it.​​
Who Are Tejanos?
Tejanos are descendants of the Spaniards and Mestizos – Spanish, Native American, and other groups – so they are largely a mixed-race people. As a group, they are identified as a Hispanic people. Texas history and the Southwest are very intricately linked to the Spanish colonial period. Initially, Spanish settlers referred to themselves as “vecinos,” meaning citizens of Spain. The general requirements to be a vecino were that you were male, that you were over 21, that you were an adult, a property owner, and that you lived in a fixed residence in a town. The Spanish settlers in Texas lived in a small part of what they called “New Spain.”
In the beginning, Tejanos were the older generations of people in Texas or descendants of this Spanish vecinos. At one point they use the word Tejano as a self-designation or Tejana for women. They even used [Tejano] in a formal document in the early 1800s, but they still saw themselves as citizens of Spain just as everyone else within this Spanish empire here in the New World.
When Spanish rule ended in 1821, Mexico was born as a new nation. Overnight, these people who were Spaniards had new sovereignty, a new authority. Their allegiance is now to the United States of Mexico, and so they call themselves “Mexicano” meaning Mexican. Because they are resilient, the Tejanos went along with the changes in government and became citizens of Mexico.
The word Tejano is still in use to the present day and so the older generations of the descendants of the Spaniards and the Mexicanos in Texas refer to themselves as “Tejanos.” If you go to California, there will be a Tejano community there, and if you go to Wisconsin there will also be people from Texas who say, “we’re originally from Texas, we’re Tejano people.” So, Tejano is still a popular term of identity. It’s not a race, but it’s a social construction of identity.
What made you interested in studying Tejano history?
I am trained as a U.S. historian, but I began to take courses in the histories of Mexico and Latin America and then basically self-trained in the history of the U.S. and Mexico, the Spanish borderlands, and now the Mexican borderlands. There wasn’t a natural discipline for these fields that I work in.
On a personal level, I knew that I wanted to undertake a graduate program in history. I grew up in South Texas in the lower valley and I would see some of my relatives including my great grandmother. One day I said, “Abuela, where are you really from?” She said, “We’re from the river valley,” referring to the Rio Grande Valley. From then on, I had an interest in finding out more about my own personal history and the roots of the people, not just of me and my family but the roots of what we call the Tejano people and the Mexican American people - I’m using both terms interchangeably here.
This got me interested in the research that I do, so I began to research and write about it and did a dissertation that focused on the settlers in South Texas, both the Tejanos and the non-Tejano people, the Anglos, and the Europeans that came to settle in what is now South Texas.
What made you interested in studying the history of Texas and Northern Mexico in the period of 1700-1865 specifically?
I became interested in understanding how the history of Texas is very strongly connected to the history of northern Mexico. We had small rail lines in the Houston area before the Civil War, the railroad mileage in Texas was very small. After the Civil War, the railroads expanded, and then in the 1880s, we had the national railroads move into Texas and expand to the Rio Grande, to the border. At the same time, the American capitol in Mexico built railroads in Mexico, which cemented this connection between Texas and northern Mexico.
It wasn’t really to let people get on the train and move to Texas; Mexico had riches, particularly very valuable minerals like silver, magnesium, zinc, lead, copper. The American nation was industrializing very strongly at the end of the Civil War, so we needed all those minerals, and merchants wanted to sell in Mexico because they had money and were the leading producer of silver in the world. So, the merchant class in the U.S. and Europe wanted to trade with Mexico, but because Texas had no significant railroads, the links are all overland from Texas to northern Mexico and northern Mexico to Texas and the goods go out through ports like Galveston, Corpus Christi, Brownsville and then ports below Brownsville.
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For this whole period, in the late 1800s, the bulk of the trade went to the Atlantic world economy. Northern Mexico and Texas are linked through this Atlantic world and of course, the merchant class in Texas profits a great deal from that. No state in the union had more economic links than Texas.
In a nutshell, Texas and Mexico are very closely linked because we have historical ties, cultural ties, economic ties, and at times, political ties. Texas has always been the number one state to receive the benefits of our connections with the modern nation-state of Mexico.
What are some of your favorite moments in Tejano history?
Tejano history is complicated, like a lot of history, and depending on what time you look at, you’re going to see Tejano leaders. For example, when we look at the Texas revolution of 1835-36, we see there were Tejano heroes on both sides. Some of the Tejanos sided with the revolution against the dictator Santa Ana. Yet, there were a few folks in Texas that fought on the side of Santa Ana.
Another famous Tejano was Juan Seguin who was the leader of the Tejanos at the battle of San Jacinto and was a mayor of San Antonio. He became quite controversial because, during the period of the Texas Republic, he then left San Antonio with an army saying he was deeply disturbed and bothered by the behavior of Anglos in San Antonio. But later, he came back to live the rest of his life in Texas. He was truly a Tejano hero and political leader even though others saw him as a traitor to Texas.
And then, if you look at political history, some of the Tejanos in the early 20th century began to organize civil organizations to advocate for their community. Eventually, they formed the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at Corpus Christi in 1929, which is the oldest civil rights advocacy group. Their basic ideology was assimilation into American life and politics and even though they hired lawyers and would go into court, they hardly won anything.
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It took a long time before LULAC, and another organization got a very important victory in the supreme court case Hernandez v. Texas 1954. It was the first case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Mexican American lawyers who worked on it were hailed as heroes. The main significance was that treating Mexican Americans as a class apart from others was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Why is it important to study Tejano and Mexican history?
It’s important to study the history of our homeland; Texas in this case. It gives us a vantage point to see what it is that took place in the past, what people were able to do, and what struggles and successes they had. Whether it was in the colonial period or the period of the Texas revolution or in the 20th century, history is a good way to look at that. It also allows us to understand how people sometimes must struggle to see themselves as equal citizens in this evolving, complex society. It gives us an opportunity to learn about the past and issues that took place and how leaders- social, political, and educational leaders- can resolve those problems and move forwards. This is a story that continues to evolve.
NOTES ON - TEJANO MUSIC / Jose R. Reyna / Perspectives in Mexican American Studies - Tucson, AZ
The present study is intended in large part to fill a gap in the study of Tejano music which has resulted from neglect on the part of scholars - a situation not unlike that which exists in many other areas of Chicano Studies. Therefore, what follows is primarily a descriptive treatment of the subject. Although there is also an attempt to discuss the subject from an historical perspective, that is not the principal consideration currently, since much more basic research is needed for precise historical documentation.
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In the future, once a basic framework has been established, more detailed analytical, even polemical, studies will no doubt be undertaken.' The focus of this paper is upon instrumentation and orchestration as distinctive features of the Chicano music of Texas. Other aspects, such as Chicano lyrics, individual performers, groups, dance tradition, comparative questions, and the role of the Tejano music industry are touched upon only briefly for it is in instrumentation and orchestration that we can see the evolution of a strain of music that is clearly Chicano / Tejano, although it is influenced by Mexican and American traditions.
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It should be stated further that at any given time in this evolution there have existed ensembles consisting of various combinations of instruments, some of which can still be found in South Texas. All of these contribute to the broad range of Chicano music traditions in Texas. But at present, there are two types of groups that are dominant - the conjunto and the orquesta or banda. It is the evolution of these two forms which I will examine here.
The first to appear as an independent and identifiable type was the conjunto.
Among Chicanos in Texas, the term "conjunto," which in Hispanic countries, including Mexico, may refer to different types of musical groups, has come to refer to a group in which the accordion is the principal instrument, with the bass, guitar, and trap set providing the rhythm and accompaniment. Of course, this ensemble is a relatively recent form, that is, the accordion, guitar, bass, and drums did not really become firmly established as a musical unit until the 1940s and 1950s.
The exact origins of the conjunto Tejano, as well as of its Mexican relative the conjunto norteño, are impossible to ascertain primarily because of their folk origins. It is possible that the former is a descendant of the latter, which might be a logical conclusion since most Chicano cultural traditions are of Mexican provenience.
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One problem, however, is that the conjunto norteño has been the unwanted stepchild of Mexican folkloric and popular music, having been eclipsed by the mariachi and other forms considered more representative national types. Thus, it has been and continues to be ignored by the students of Mexican popular music and by purveyors of Mexican culture.
The key to determining the origins of the conjunto would seem to be the appearance in Mexico and South Texas of the accordion and certain
non-Hispanic musical forms identified with the conjunto, especially in its early stages. For instance, the schottisch (in Spanish, schotis), redova, waltz, mazurka and particularly, the polka - all European instrumental forms introduced during the French period (1864-1867) - were the rage among the elite in Mexico, and by the late nineteenth century became part of Mexican folk music tradition.
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This assumes further that these forms were also transmitted to Texas where they became equally popular among the folk. The same route would have been followed by the accordion, similarly a non-Mexican contribution to conjunto tradition. It is a well-known fact that German immigrants settled in the South Texas /Mexico border area as early as the 1830s, which means that the features mentioned above could have been introduced first in Texas then transmitted south into Greater Mexico. This could be true especially of the accordion.