In the 1700s much of Texas was settled by Spanish descendants who now instead of being espanoles or mexicanos,would be called tejanos (Texan in Spanish; the word "tejas" itself meant friend). Because of the remoteness of Texas at the time and its proximity to Louisiana, Tejano culture was very much tied to the Cajun culture, and its influence can still be heard in today's Texas music.

In the 1850s Europeans that came from the future (first during Spanish time and 1830s), Poland Poland /ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of and what is now the Czech Republic The Czech Republic /ˈtʃɛk rɨˈpʌblɪk/ (Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is migrated to Texas and Mexico The United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos ), commonly known as Mexico (English: /ˈmɛksɪkoʊ/) (Spanish: México (help·info) [ˈmexiko]), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize,, bringing with them their style of music and dance. They brought with them the waltz The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in 3/4 time, performed primarily in closed position, polkas The polka is a lively Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in the Czech lands and is still a common genre in Lithuanian, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Polish, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, and Slovakian folk and other popular forms of music and dance. However it was not until the Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements (1910–1917) that forced many of these Europeans to flee Mexico and into South Texas, that their musical influence was to have a major impact on Tejanos.

At the turn of the century, Tejanos were mostly involved in ranching and agriculture. The only diversion was the occasional traveling musician who would come to the ranches and farms. Their basic instruments were the flute The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as Edge-blown aerophones, guitar The guitar is a musical instrument of the chordophone family. The standard guitar has six strings but four-, seven-, eight-, nine-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars are also available. The two primary families of guitar types are the electric guitars and the acoustic guitars. The three main types of acoustic guitar are, and drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound. Other techniques have been used to cause, and they sang songs that were passed down through the generations from songs originally sung in Spain and Mexico. One of these musicians was Lydia Mendoza, who became one of the first to record Spanish music as part of RCAs expansion of their popular race records Race records were 78 rpm gramophone records made by and for African Americans during the early 20th century, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. They primarily contained race music, which comprised a variety of African American genres music such as blues, jazz, and gospel music, but many also contained comedy. Race records were marketed by of the 1920s. As these traveling musicos traveled into areas where the Germans, Poles and Czechs lived, they began to incorporate the oom-pah sound into their music. Narciso "El Huracan del Valle" Martinez, known as the father of Conjunto music, defined the accordion Danish , Hungarian & Icelandic: Harmonika. French: Accordéon. German: Akkordeon. Italian: Fisarmonica. Polish: Akordeon, harmonia. Russian: Bajan. Swedish: Dragspel's role in Conjunto music.

Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of traditional forms such as the Corrido The corrido is a popular narrative song and poetry form, a ballad, of Mexico. It derives largely from the 18th century Spanish romance, and in its most known form consists of 1) a salutation from the singer and prologue to the story; 2) the story itself; 3) a moral and farewell from the singer and Mariachi Mariachi, is a typical musical ensemble, originally from the State of Jalisco, Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind, and percussion instruments. In addition,, and Continental European styles, such as Polka The polka is a lively Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in the Czech lands and is still a common genre in Lithuanian, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Polish, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, and Slovakian folk,^[1] introduced by German Germany (pronounced /ˈdʒɜrməni/ ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south and Czech The Czech Republic /ˈtʃɛk rɨˈpʌblɪk/ (Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is settlers in the late 19th century. In particular, the accordion Danish , Hungarian & Icelandic: Harmonika. French: Accordéon. German: Akkordeon. Italian: Fisarmonica. Polish: Akordeon, harmonia. Russian: Bajan. Swedish: Dragspel was adopted by Tejano folk musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico. Small bands known as orquestas, featuring amateur musicians, became a staple at community dances.

Narciso Martínez Narciso Martínez , dubbed early on, El Huracan del Valle ("The Hurricane of the Valley"), began recording in 1936, on October 21 precisely, and is the father of conjunto music. The Spanish word conjunto means 'group' and in El Valle de Tejas that means accordion, bajo sexto, and contrabajo (string bass, known locally also as "el (1911-1992) gave the accordion Danish , Hungarian & Icelandic: Harmonika. French: Accordéon. German: Akkordeon. Italian: Fisarmonica. Polish: Akordeon, harmonia. Russian: Bajan. Swedish: Dragspel playing a new virtuosity in the 1930s, when he adopted the two button row accordion. At the same time, he formed a group with Santiago Almeida Santiago Almeida was a Texas musician influential in the development of the musical genres of tejano and conjunto, a bajo sexto A bajo sexto is a musical instrument with 12 strings in 6 double courses, used in Mexican music. It is used primarily in norteño music of northeastern Mexico and across the border in the music of south Texas known as "Tex-Mex," "conjunto," or "música mexicana-tejana". A five course version of the bajo sexto has player. Their new musical style, known as Conjunto Conjunto, taken from Spanish, literally meaning "group", from Latin "coniunctus". The official Real Academia Spanish dictionary lists 10 definitions of the word. English speakers in the United States most likely see the word in reference to a small musical group. Many of these such conjuntos are concentrated in regions in the, soon became the popular music of the working class Tejano. Flaco Jimenez Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is a Tejano music accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. Jiménez's father, Santiago Jimenez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music. He began performing with his father at age seven and recording at age fifteen, as a member of Los Caporales. He played in the San Antonio area for several years, and then began working (1939-), the son of an accordionist and grandson of a man who had learned the instrument from a German immigrant, carried on Martinez's tradition of accordion virtuosity and became a fixture on the international World Music scene by the 1980s.

In the 1950s and 1960s, rock and roll Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of the blues, country music and gospel music. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues records from the 1920s, rock and roll did not and country music Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s made inroads, and electric guitars The guitar is a musical instrument of the chordophone family. The standard guitar has six strings but four-, seven-, eight-, nine-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars are also available. The two primary families of guitar types are the electric guitars and the acoustic guitars. The three main types of acoustic guitar are and drums The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound. Other techniques have been used to cause were added to conjunto combos. Also, performers such as Little Joe added both nuances of jazz Jazz is a musical form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions and R&B Rhythm and blues is a genre of popular African American music created in the 1940s to the 1950s. The term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular, and a Chicano The terms Chicano and Chicana were originally used by, and in reference to, U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly amongst Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The self-identification Chicano is still in popular usage today political consciousness.

The 1960s and '70s brought a new fusion of cultures and the first La Onda Tejana Broadcasters. Popular Tejano musician and producer Paulino Bernal Paulino Bernal is an accordion player and Christian evangelist. He was a member of the Mex-Tex group Conjunto Bernal of the legendary Conjunto Bernal discovered and introduced to the Tejano music scene the norteno band Los Relampagos Del Norte Los Relámpagos del Norte was a norteño band formed in the early 1960's by Cornelio Reyna and Ramon Ayala. The band is best known as a duo. Cornelio Reyna was the lead singer and bajo sexto player, while Ramon Ayala was the background vocalist and the accordion player. After very successful careers together, Cornelio and Ramon parted ways in the with Ramon Ayala Ramon Ayala is a famous bajo sexto player from the Rio Grande Valley, Donna, Texas. He is the son of Pedro Ayala El Monarca del Acordeón, and has been referred to as the best Bajo Sexto player ever. His progressive style and technique has earned him the 2009 Bajo Player of the Year Award from the South Texas Conjunto Association. He accompanied and Cornelio Reyna Cornelio Reyna formed a partnership with the legendary Ramón Ayala to create the famous duet called Los Relampagos del Norte in 1963. The band stayed together for eight years and then in 1971, Reyna decided to pursue a solo career as a mariachi singer. His mariachi career was not as successful as music experts expected. He was unable to compete on his Bego Records. His Tejano influence on their early recordings popularized this hot new act all the way until their breakup in the mid 1970s. Ramon Ayala still enjoys success on both sides of the border. Cornelio Reyna enjoyed a very successful career as an actor and singer and resurfaced in the Tejano scene with a major hit with his collaboration with Tejano artist La Mafia. He toured constantly until his recent death. In the 1960s and '70s the first La Onda Tejana broadcasting pioneers hit the airwaves including Marcelo Tafoya (first recipient of the Tejano Music Awards "Lifetime Achievement Award), Mary Rodriguez, Rosita Ornelas, and Luis Gonzalez these four were shortly followed by an influx of broadcasters including the famous Davila family of San Antonio. This central Texas support by popular broadcasters helped fuel the flames of La Onda.

"La Onda" continued to surge in the early to mid 80s with the fusion progression of tejano music coming to the forefront regionally with "tejano ballad" songs like Espejismo's hit "Somos Los Dos," written and sung by McAllen native Rudy Valdez, and La Sombra with their Tex-Mex English & Spanish brand of tejano. As the 80s faded away and ushered in the '90s, Houston based artist La Mafia La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin Music band, already with over a dozen Tejano Music Awards under their belt, originated a new Tejano style later to become a Tejano standard. La Mafia combined a pop-style beat to the popular Mexican-style cumbia and achieved success never before seen in the Tejano industry, becoming the first Tejano artist to sell over one million albums with "Estás Tocando Fuego" in 1992. With extensive touring from as early as 1988, they eventually opened the doors for such artists as Selena Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , best known mononymously as Selena, was a Mexican American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music". The youngest child of a Mexican-American couple, Selena released her first album at the age of twelve. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1987 Tejano Music Awards and landed a recording, Emilio Navaira Emilio Navaira III is an American Grammy award-winning musician of Mexican heritage, who performs both country music and Tejano music. Known primarily by the singular name Emilio, he has also charted more than ten singles on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks charts, in addition to six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, Jay Perez Jay Perez born in San Antonio, Texas is an American Tejano musician, notable for his blending of Rhythm and Blues with traditional Tejano music . Initially a backing musician and leading vocalist for Latin Breed and then David Lee Garza y los Musicales, Perez began a solo career in the early 1990s. He has released several solo albums. He has also, and Grupo Mazz. Electronic instruments and synthesizers increasingly dominated the sound, and Tejano music increasingly appealed to bilingual country and rock fans. In the wake of her murder, Selena's music received attention from a mainstream American audience as well. Selena or the "Queen of Tejano Music" became the first female Tejano music artist to win a Grammy and her album Ven Conmigo Ven Conmigo is the second album release by Tejano singer Selena and y Los Dinos under EMI Latin. The album includes a musical variety of rancheras, cumbias, ballads, and pop became the first Tejano album by a women artist to go gold.

Since 1998 Tejano music has seen a decline of Tejano radio stations across the USA, possibly due to any number of factors, perhaps even including the huge influx of migrant workers from Mexico. Another factor may be the copycat sound that began after the success of Intocable; now there are so many Intocable sound-alikes that the music has become stale. As a result, many radio stations across the US especially in Texas have converted over to Norteño/Banda music. This has caused Tejano internet radio to become popular, but at the same time it stifles the growth of new Tejano fans because it is no longer in the public mainstream. Whether Tejano will keep growing is yet to be seen with the new age of internet, and a few companies promoting internet Tejano communities.

The elements of Tejano

Tejano music was born in Texas. Although it has influences from Mexico and other Latin American countries, the main influences are American. Contemporary classic Tejano artists such as Emilio and Raulito Navaira, David Lee Garza and Jay Perez Jay Perez born in San Antonio, Texas is an American Tejano musician, notable for his blending of Rhythm and Blues with traditional Tejano music . Initially a backing musician and leading vocalist for Latin Breed and then David Lee Garza y los Musicales, Perez began a solo career in the early 1990s. He has released several solo albums. He has also exhibit influence from rock Rock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music, blues Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form which is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and, funk Funk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended, and country Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s. It is important to understand that Tejano music has various categories of music and bands. Three major categories are Conjunto, Orchestra and Modern. A Conjunto band is composed of accordion, bajo sexto, bass, and drum. Examples of Conjunto Bands are Esteban "Steve" Jordan Esteban "Steve" Jordan is a conjunto (norteño) and Tejano musician from the United States. He is also known as "El Parche", "The Jimi Hendrix of the accordion", and "the accordion wizard". An accomplished musician, he plays 35 different instruments, The Hometown Boys and Jaime de Anda y Los Chamacos. An Orchestra consists of bass, drum, electric guitar, synthesizer, and a brass section on which it relies heavily for its sound. It can also have an accordion in the band at times. An example of an Orchestra is Ruben Ramos and the Texas Revolution. A Modern Tejano band consists of synthesizers, drums, electric guitar, bass and at times an accordion. It relies heavily on the synthesizer for its sound. Modern bands are La Mafia, Selena and her band Selena Y Los Dinos, Shelly Lares, Jay Perez, and Jimmy Gonzalez Y Mazz Mazz is a Grammy Award winning Tejano band originating from south Texas. They were formed in Brownsville, TX, by singer/guitarists Jimmy González and Joe López, and emerged as one of the most innovative bands in their genre after adding synthesizer to combine traditional Mexican music and popular Latin rhythms. They debuted in 1978 with Mazz,. Other categories consist of Progressive, Pop and Urban Tejano music. All of these categories are classified as Tejano.

With the keyboard, drum and the bajo sexto, a 12 string bass guitar from Spain, Tejanos now had a sound they could begin to call their own. In the 1940s, Valerio Longoria introduced lyrics to conjunto music, further establishing the Tejano claim to this new sound. Tejano music did retain some of its roots in the old European styles. Polkas and waltzes were still popular, and also popular was the German habit of dancing in a circle around the dance floor. It can also be noted that Country-Western is also danced in the same manner, but only in Texas.

In the 1950s, Isidiro Lopez further revolutionized the Tejano sound by emphasizing less on the traditional Spanish that Valerio used and using the new Tex-Mex instead. This created a newer sound and took us one step closer to the sound we have today. In the 1960s and '70s Little Joe and the Latinairs, later renamed La Familia, The Latin Breed, and others infused the orchestra sound into the Tejano sound, taking their influences from the Pop, R&B and other forms of music. In the late 70s and early 80s, there was a new sound emerging with up and coming groups like McAllen's Espejismo, lead by songwriter/lead singer Rudy Valdez, and more notably Brownsville natives Joe Lopez, Jimmy Gonzalez y El Grupo Mazz introduced the keyboard sound to Tejano which was influenced by the Disco sound of the era, and during that period,La Mafia La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin Music band became the first Tejano band to put on Rock Style shows for their MTV generation.

Some of the major artists and bands of the past couple of decades include Selena Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , best known mononymously as Selena, was a Mexican American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music". The youngest child of a Mexican-American couple, Selena released her first album at the age of twelve. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1987 Tejano Music Awards and landed a recording, La Mafia La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin Music band, Roberto Pulido, Laura Canales Prior to her illness , Canales was on the Leyendas y Raises tour, which also included fellow tejano performers Carlos Guzman, Agustin Ramirez, Sunny Ozuna, Freddie Martinez, Mario Montes and Grupo Sierra, David Marez, Xelencia, La Fiebre, La Sombra, Culturas, Elsa Garcia, Gary Hobbs, Fama, Pete Astudillo, Ram Herrera, La Diferenzia, Patsy Torres, Michael Salgado, Intocable, Los Palominos, Jennifer Peña, Duelo, Los Arcos, Rebecca Valadez, and several regional local bands.

In the last few years or so there has been an increasing Mexican influence on Tejano music resulting in a sound more like Norteno. The Accordion, while a historically popular instrument in Tejano music, has gone from a secondary or specialty instrument to a "must have" instrument. Today, groups like Jaime de Anda Y Los Chamacos, Sunny Sauceda, Eddie Gonzalez, and La Tropa F emphasize the accordion.

At the turn of the 21st century, the Tejano influence has declined in part due to decreased promotion, the rise in regional Mexican and other Latin music, the breakup or retirement of established performers, and the emergence of few new performers. Most Tejano artists who performed throughout the 1990s during the music's peak who are still performing today have rarely played to the same widestream attention in recent years. Regardless, today's Tejano music, while far more pop-oriented than its Depression-era roots, is still a vital regional musical style in several Tejano communities as well as in other parts of the United States.

The term Tex-Mex is also used in American rock and roll for Tejano-influenced performers such as the Sir Douglas Quintet; Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs; Los Lobos; The Mars Volta; Sunny and the Sunliners; Louie and the Lovers; The Champs with "Tequila"; the Texas Tornados, featuring Flaco Jiménez, Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers, and Doug Sahm;Cecilia with Viva Texas and Los Lonely Boys.

Texan accordion music has also influenced Basque trikitixa players.

Contemporary Swedish-American composer Sven-David Sandström has incorporated Tejano music stylings in his classical music.

References

1. ^ German Roots of Mexican Music, Spanish.about.com. Accessed July 2006.

See also

• Chicano Rock
• Conjunto/Norteno Music
• Johnny Canales
• Latin American music
• Music of Texas
• Tejano Magazine
• Tejano Music Awards

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