Manuel Peiia
One of the most enduring musical traditions who voiced their disapproval of fandangos, or among Mexicans and Mexican Americans is the "low-class" dances, in the newspapers. For exam accordion-based ensemble known as conjunto ple, the Corpus Christi Caller and the San Antonio (and as musica norteiia outside of Texas). Popular Express on more than one occasion expressed for over 100 years_- especia_lly since its commer Anglos' negative attitudes toward tejano music cialization in the 1920s - this=Iolk ensemble and dance. In one report, the Express equated remains to this day the everyday music of work music and dancing with idleness and concluded ing-class Texas Mexicans and Mexican norteiios that "these fandangos have become so frequent (northerners). During the course of its long his they are a great curse to the country" (August 20, tory, the conjunto evolved into a tightly orga 1881) . This typical attitude developed early on nized style that speaks musically for the aesthetic and persisted well into the 20th century. and ideological sentiments of its adherents. In Despite Anglo disapproval, the conjunto and the process, this music of humble beginnings its dances thrived among tejano workers, eventu along the Texas-Mexico border has spread far ally eclipsing all other forms of music for danc beyond its original base, gaining a vast audience ing. Yet, popular as it was, the conjunto in both Mexico and the United States. remained an ad hoc ensemble until the 1930s. The diatonic, button accordion that anchors No permanent combination of instruments had the conjunto made its first appearance in north been established prior to that time, perhaps ern Mexico and south Texas sometime in the because creative and material forces had not yet 1860s or '70s. The first accordions were simple crystalized to spur radical stylistic development. one- or two-row models - quite suitable for the To be sure, some changes had been wrought by musical capabilities of the first norteiio and the 1920s, as the button accordion and the bajo Texas Mexican musicians who experimented sex to by now formed the core of the emerging with the instrument. A strong regional style style, while such common European dances as developed by the turn of the century, as the the redowa had been regionalized and renamed. accordion became increasingly associated with a The redowa itself had been transformed into the unique Mexican guitar known as a bajo sexto. vals bajito, in contrast to the waltz, which was Another local folk instrument, the tambora de known as a vals alto. Indeed, most of the reperto rancho (ranch drum), also enjoyed prominence ry for the dance, or fandango, was of European as a back-up to the accordion. In combination origin and included the polka, mazurka, and with one or both of these instruments, the accor schottishe, in addition to the waltz and redowa. dion had become by the 1890s the instrument of One regional genre from Tamaulipas, Mexico, preference for working-class celebrations on the huapango, rounded out the usual repertory both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. of conjuntos until World War H. In Texas, these celebrations were organized Beginning in the 1930s, an innovative surge frequently- too frequently for some Anglos, rippled through the emerging conjunto tradi tion, as performers like Narciso Martinez Manuel Peiia is an anthropologist who specializes in Mexi (known as "the father" of the modern conjunto), can American folklore and music. He is a visiting scholar at Santiago Jimenez, Lolo Cavazos, and others the University of Houston and has an upcoming book, The began to strike out in new stylistic directions. Mexican American Orquesta: Music, Culture and the This new surge of innovation must be attributed, Dialectics of Conflict. at least in part, to the active commercial involve-
U.S.- MEXICO BORDERLANDS 53 Pedro Ayala was one of the early accordion leaders and innovators in the conjunto tradi tion. Photo courtesy National Council for the Traditional Arts
ment of the major recording labels in the music and chordal accompaniment to the bajo sexto of of the Hispanic Southwest. From the 1920s, com his most capable partner, Santiago Almeida. panies such as RCA Victor (Bluebird), Decca, Narciso Martinez's new style became the Brunswick, and Columbia (Okeh) began exploit hallmark of the surging conjunto, just as Almei ing the musical traditions in the Hispanic South da's brisk execution on the bajo sexto created west, hoping to repeat the success they had expe the standard for future bajistas. Together, the rienced with Mrican American music since the two had given birth to the modern conjunto, a early '20s. Under the commercial impetus of the musical style that would challenge even the for big labels, which encouraged record and phono midable mariachi in cultural breadth and depth graph sales, radio programming and, especially, of public acceptance. Indeed, by the 1970s it public dancing (much of it in cantinas, to the could be said that the conjunto, known in the dismay of Anglos and "respectable" Texas Mexi larger market as musica nortefia, was the most cans), musicians like Narciso Martinez began to powerful musical symbol of working-class cul experiment. By the end of the 1930s, the conjun ture. Martinez, however, remained an absolutely to had begun to evolve into the stylistic form the modest folk musician until his death. He never ensemble reached during its mature phase in the laid claim to anything but a desire to please his post-World War II years. public. Yet, as Pedro Ayala, another of the early Without a doubt, the most important change accordion leaders, acknowledged, "after Narciso, came in the 1930s, when Narciso Martinez began what could the rest of us do except follow his his recording career. Searching for a way to lead?" stamp his personal style on the accordion, In the years following World War II younger Martinez abandoned the old, Germanic tech musicians rose to prominence- la nueva gen nique by virtually avoiding the bass-chord but eraci6n (the new generation), as Martinez himself tons on his two-row accordion, concentrating called the new crop of accordionists. Led by instead on the right hand, treble melody but Valerio Longoria, who contributed a number of tons. His sound was instantly distinctive and rec innovations to the rapidly evolving style, the new ognizable. Its brighter, snappier, and cleaner generation quickly brought the conjunto to full tone contrasted with the older sound, in which maturity after the war. Longoria started his trail bajo sexto and the accordionist's left hand both blazing career in 1947; however, his greatest con played bass-and-accompaniment, creating a tributions date from 1949, when he introduced "thicker," drone-like effect. Martinez left bassing the modern trap drums into the conjunto. Com-
54 U.S.- MEXICO BORDERLANDS bined with the contrabass, introduced in 1936 by not slowed the spread of the music. Thus, Santiago Jimenez, the drums rounded out the despite its relative conservatism, the tradition has modern ensemble, which after 1950 consisted of expanded far beyond its original confines along accordion, bajo sexto (sometimes guitar), drums, the Texas-Mexico border. In the last 30 years and contrabass (electric bass after about 1955). the music has taken root in such far-flung places Longoria also is credited with another major con as Washington, California, and the Midwest, as tribution: he introduced vocals into the ensem well as in the entire tier of northern Mexican ble, which prior to World War II had restricted border states, and even in such distant places as itself almost exclusively to instrumental music. Michoacan and Sinaloa. Mter Longoria's move, most of the older genres As it spreads its base in the United States, - redowa, schottishe, etc.- were abandoned as norteiio conjunto music, especially as synthe the polka and the vocal, in the form of the can sized by Los Bravos del Norte and its successors cion ranchera (either in vals or polka time), (e.g., Los Tigres del Norte) , continues to articu became the staples of the modern conjunto. late a Mexican working-class ethos. In its stylistic Several highly innovative performers fol simplicity, its continuing adherence to the can lowed Valerio Longoria. Among the most notable cion ranchera and working-class themes, and is Tony de la Rosa, who established the most most importantly, in its actualization in weekend ideal conjunto sound in the mid-1950s- a dances, the conjunto remains the bedrock music slowed-down polka style, delivered in a highly for millions of people whose everyday culture is staccato technique that was the logical culmina Mexican at its core. More than that, however, the tion of Narciso Martinez's emphasis on the treble conjunto represents a clear musical and ideologi end of the accordion. Los Relampagos del Norte, cal alternative to the Americanized forms that a group from across the border (Reynosa), made more acculturated, upwardly-mobile Mexican significant contributions in the 1960s, synthesiz Americans have come to embrace. Accordionist ing the more modern conjunto from Texas with Paulino Bernal best summarized the musico-ide the older norteiio tradition to create a style that ological significance of the conjunto when he reached new heights in popularity, both in Mexi recalled the sharp status differences that existed co and the U.S. When the leaders of Los Relam among Mexican Americans of an earlier era: pagos, Cornelio Reyna and Ramon Ayala, went their separate ways, the latter formed another ... at that time there was a division - conjunto, Los Bravos del Norte, and that group that he who liked the orchestra hated the went on to make significant contributions in the conjunto. That's the way it was: "Who's 1970s that kept the norteiio tradition at its peak. going to play, a conjunto? Oh no!" Those But perhaps the label of "greatest" belongs to who went with Balde Gonzalez [a middle a conjunto that had its origins in Kingsville, class orchestra] were not going to go over Texas, in 1954- El Conjunto Bernal. Led by here with a conjunto. (personal interview accordionist Paulino Bernal and his brother, bajo with the author) sexto player Eloy, El Conjunto Bernal began early on to lift the conjunto style to new heights, as the Thus, although nowadays it is patronized by Bernals' absolute mastery of their instruments many ethnically sensitive, middle-class Mexican allowed the group to probe the very limits of the Americans, conjunto continues to represent an conjunto style. Bolstered by some of the finest alternative musical ideology, and in this way it singers and drummers within the tradition, El helps to preserve a Mexican, working-class cul Conjunto Bernal came to be acknowledged as ture wherever it takes root on American soil. "the greatest of all time." The successes of El Endowed with this kind of symbolic power, con Conjunto Bernal's musical experiments, especial junto has more than held its own against other ly in the 1960s, have never been duplicated. types of music that appear from time to time to Since the 1960s, the conjunto has remained challenge its dominance among a vast audience rather static, despite the advent in the 1980s of of working-class people. so-called "progressive" conjuntos, which incorpo rate newer, synthesized sounds into the basic style. Neither these newer conjuntos nor those Further Reading who pursue the older style have succeeded in Peiia, Manuel. 1985. The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: transcending the limits set by El Conjunto History of a Working-Class Music. Austin: Bernal, but this relative lack of innovation has University of Texas Press.
U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 55