lunes, 14 de junio de 2010

Traditional and Hybrid Music Crossing Class and Generational Boundaries on This and That Side of the Mexican-American Border

The rise of the quebradita dance, to what Helena Simonett, author of Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across Boders, calls technobanda took place in California during the 1990s. Quebradita was danced to a mixture of northwest Mexican music, such as banda and tambora, and other Caribbean rhythms, such as cumbia, played with electronic, rather than the previously standard acoustic instruments, and tropical instruments, such as congas. The dance itself was largely influenced by American swing and two-step, featuring almost acrobatic lifts, and a characteristic move in which the man tilts the woman backwards, the quebradita, which literally means little break. The phenomenon gave Mexican-American youth a music to call their own, fostered a sense of community, and allowed them the opportunity to feel proud of both their Mexican heritage and their dual cultural identity. The vaquero outfit, with its jeans, riding boots, and tejana hat was an important symbol of this identity (for themselves and for outsiders who could read it as a sign), as well as required clothing for quebradita dancing gin L.A. clubs during the ‘90s (64).

This phenomenon was particularly significant at a time of economic decline in California in which Hispanic immigrants were often target of racism and xenophobia. An informant Simonett interview at an L.A. nightclub for her book stated: “To say that there is Latino pride in El Puente tonight would be an understatement. It’s more like a cultural revolution. We’re Mexican, speak Spanish, dance quebradita and are damn proud of it” (80). His statement makes it clear that , at least for Latinos, the music you dance to defines who you are in terms of ethnic and cultural identity as much as the passport you hold and the language you speak.

Banda, a minority’s music within the U.S., has its roots in marginal musical expressions even within Mexican society. Simonett states that scholars have historically disregarded the music of the Mexican northwest, and that “even in more recent works on Mexican popular music, the northwestern states are either ignored or subsumed within the vast north” (9). Simonett states that people in Mexico City often thought of banda music as vulgar and lower class. In fact, she was once asked why she was not studying some “nice Mexican music such as mariachi” (130). Clearly, the traditional music of the northwestern states did not fall within the discourse of “national folklore” the upper classes in central Mexico had defined as official and institutionalized. It was not considered reputable music, at least until it became popular and commercially successful abroad. Simonett compares this process of overcoming local prejudice through outside approval to what happened to bachata en Dominican Republic and tango in Argentina (18-19).

The fact is that falling outside of the official cannon of folklore musical traditions, has left these “music of the people” genres free to adapt to the changing times and morph as social and cultural factors do, particularly in a today’s globalized world. I have noticed that, along with process of acceptance through outside approval, there are also ongoing processes of assimilation through “techno-ization.”. That is, banda became popular with Mexican-American youth after replacing the traditional acoustic instruments with an all electronic set, which Simonett refers to as technobanda, just like Deborah Pacini Hernández referred to tecno-bachata in her book Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music. It also brings to mind the early ‘90s hit by Selena, the queen of Tex-Mex, precisely titled Technocumbia, one of many technocumbia hit songs of hers and other ‘80s and ‘90s musicians. Another parallel process is that of the popularization of punta-rock in Honduras, off traditional Garifuna music, particularly after the song Sopa de Caracol by Banda Blanca became internationally popular, also in the ‘90s.

In the case of Mexican and Mexican-American banda and norteña music, the step from lower class stigmatized genre into mainstream popularity was largely aided by mass media. Californian radio stations, the record industry, and television, especially Televisa in Mexico and Univisión, its co-owned U.S. network, all played a major role. In her book, Simonett does not miss the opportunity to point out that Televisa actually owns Melody Records, which is affiliated with Musivisa, a label that signs norteña grupos and bandas. It is, therefore, no surprise that they have helped promote numerous musical groups.

Banda, tex-mex, and norteño, hybrids of regional music genres that became transnational, have been able to create a new narrative of identity that embraces the realities of Mexicans, Central Americans, and second generation Hispanic-Americans in the Southwestern states, such as California and Texas. Therefore, they have been widely accepted across nationalities in the Hispanic U.S. community and remain largely popular within the youth today. Current consumers this side of the border, however, are often unaware of the traditional, noncommercial, regional music genres from which these new hit styles originated, or of their association with the lower socioeconomic classes in peripheral states such as Sinaloa and Durango, which are in turn commonly associated with drug trafficking in popular lore (95).

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario