Music of Mexico
Encyclopedia
The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably indigenous Mexican and European, since the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

. Many traditional Mexican songs are well-known worldwide, although their origin in Mexico is not clear to the non-Mexican listener; Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho
"Bésame Mucho" is a Spanish language song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez.-Inspiration:According to Velázquez herself, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time, and kissing as she heard was considered a sin.She was inspired by the piano...

 (Kiss Me a Lot), La Bamba
La Bamba (song)
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...

 (The Bamba), Solamente una vez
You Belong to My Heart
"You Belong to My Heart" is the name of an English language version of the Mexican Bolero song "Solamente una vez" which means "Only One Time". "Solamente una vez" was written and originally sung by the Mexican songwriter Agustín Lara...

 (English version "You Belong to My Heart"), La Bikina (The Bikina), Cielito Lindo
Cielito Lindo
"Cielito lindo" is a popular Ranchera song from Mexico, written in 1882 by Quirino Mendoza y Cortés . It is roughly translated as "Lovely Sweet One". Although the word "cielo" means sky or heaven, it is also a term of endearment comparable to sweetheart or honey. "Cielito" can thus be translated as...

 (Beautiful Sweetheart), Somos Novios (We Are Lovers; English version "It's Impossible"), El Rey
José Alfredo Jiménez
José Alfredo Jiménez was a Mexican singer-songwriter in the ranchera style whose songs are considered an integral part of Mexico's musical heritage....

 (The King), María Bonita
María Bonita
María bonita is the seventh studio album by Mexican pop singer Mijares. It was released on 1992.-History:...

 (Pretty María), México Lindo y Querido
México Lindo y Querido
"México lindo y querido" is a traditional mariachi and ranchera Mexican song written by Chucho Monge and made famous by singer Jorge Negrete . It is widely known throughout the Spanish-speaking world for its characterization of patriotism and loyalty for the rural land of Mexico...

 (Beautiful, Beloved Mexico).

La Cucaracha
La Cucaracha
"La Cucaracha" is a traditional Spanish folk corrido that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It has additionally become a verse played on car horns.-Origins:...

 (The Cockroach), although popularized during the Mexican Revolution
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. Over time the Revolution...

, is a Spanish corrido
Corrido
The corrido is a popular narrative song and poetry form, a ballad, of Mexico. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for peasants, and other socially important information. It is still a popular form today, and was widely popular during the Mexican Revolution and Nicaraguan...

.

Traditional folk music

  • type of ensemble (Conjunto huasteco
    Conjunto huasteco
    A conjunto huasteco is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of guitarra huapanguera, jarana huasteca and violin, but can also have other violins and guitars.Its repertory covers sones huastecos in 3/4 and 6/8, and rancheras....

    , mariachi
    Mariachi
    Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in 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,...

    , Trio
    Trio (music)
    Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

    , Conjunto calentano
    Conjunto calentano
    A conjunto calentano is a type of mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of violin, guitar and tamborita, but can also have other violin, guitarra panzona, guitarra sexta and harp....

    , Conjunto jarocho
    Conjunto jarocho
    A conjunto jarocho is a type of mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of requinto, arpa jarocha and jarana, but can also have violin, pandero octagonal, quijada, marimbol or güiro.Its repertory covers sones jarochos in 3/4, 6/8 and 4/4....

    , Marimba
    Marimba
    The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...

     orchestra ...)
  • type of musical form (canción Ranchera
    Ranchera
    Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...

    , Son Huasteco
    Son Huasteco
    Son Huasteco is one of 8 Mexican son styles and is a traditional Mexican musical style originating in the 6 state area of Northeastern Mexico called La Huasteca. It dates back to the end of the 19th century and is influenced by Spanish and indigenous cultures...

    , Son jarocho
    Son Jarocho
    Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...

    , Mexican Danzón
    Danzón
    Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...

    , Mexican Bolero
    Bolero
    Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...

    , Son istmeño, Son Jaliscience
    Son Jaliscience
    Son Jaliscience from Jalisco and Colima, in Mexico, has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. It is performed by mariachi ensembles. It has an alternating rhythmic pattern in the armonía and guitarrón. Basic pattern consists of one measure of 6/8 with the next...

    , Chilena
    Chilena
    Chilena is a genus of Moth in the family Lasiocampidae....

    , Son Calentano
    Son Calentano
    The son calentano is an instrumental form of Tierra Caliente, Mexico. It has meters in 3/4 and 6/8, an ornamented use of violin and back beats on guitar and tamborita....

    , Son Planeco, Canto cardenche)

Mexican sones

Mexican sones, developed from the mixture of Spanish music with indigenous music from different regions, hence the music exhibited lots of variation from differents places, both in rhythm and instrumentation.
  • Son Huasteco
    Son Huasteco
    Son Huasteco is one of 8 Mexican son styles and is a traditional Mexican musical style originating in the 6 state area of Northeastern Mexico called La Huasteca. It dates back to the end of the 19th century and is influenced by Spanish and indigenous cultures...

     music, from the Huasteca territory, this music is played in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz
    Veracruz
    Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

    , San Luis Potosí
    San Luis Potosí
    San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....

     and Zacatecas
    Zacatecas
    Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

     and the fiddle is accompanied with jarana huasteca
    Jarana huasteca
    The jarana huasteca, jarana de son huasteco or jarana is a string instrument.It is a guitar-like chordophone with 5 strings. It is smaller than the guitarra huapanguera and usually forms part of the trio huasteco ensemble, along with the quinta huapanguera and violin, taking on the role of the...

     and huapanguera
    Huapanguera
    The guitarra quinta huapanguera or guitarra huapanguera is a Mexican guitar-like instrument that usually forms part of a conjunto huasteco ensemble, along with the jarana huasteca guitar and violin. Here it takes on the role of the bass instrument using a rhythmical strumming technique. Its...

    .
  • Son jarocho
    Son Jarocho
    Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...

     from the area around Veracruz.
  • Son jaliscience
    Son Jaliscience
    Son Jaliscience from Jalisco and Colima, in Mexico, has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. It is performed by mariachi ensembles. It has an alternating rhythmic pattern in the armonía and guitarrón. Basic pattern consists of one measure of 6/8 with the next...

     from Jalisco
  • Chilena from the Costa chica
    Costa Chica
    Costa Chica may refer to:Other*Costa Chica...

     region in Guerrero
    Guerrero
    Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

     and Oaxaca
    Oaxaca
    Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

    .
  • Calentano
    Tierra Caliente (music)
    Son calentano is a style of Mexican fiddle music made famous by Juan Reynoso, originating from the Tierra Caliente region of Mexico....

     music from Tierra Caliente
    Tierra Caliente (Mexico)
    Tierra Caliente is a term used to describe a cultural and geographical region in southern Mexico that stretches some areas of the states of Guerrero, Michoacán and Estado de Mexico.Municipios included:...

    .
  • Abajeño music from Jalisco
    Jalisco
    Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

    , Colima
    Colima
    Colima is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima....

    , and Michoacán
    Michoacán
    Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...

    .

Banda

Banda music was created with the imitation of military bands that were imported during the Second Mexican Empire
Second Mexican Empire
The Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times...

, headed by emperor Maximillian I of Mexico in the 1860s. Banda sounds very similar to polka music. Polish immigrants established themselves in the state of Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

. It was further popularized during the Mexican Revolution
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. Over time the Revolution...

 when local authorities and states formed their own bands to play in the town squares. Revolutionary leaders like Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....

, also took wind bands with them wherever they went. Banda has to this day remained popular throughout the central and northern states. It has, however, diversified into different styles due to regions, instruments and modernization. Today people associate banda with Sinaloense. This originated in the 1940s when the media distributed Banda el Recodo
Banda el Recodo
Banda Sinaloense el Recodo de Don Cruz Lizárraga, often referred to as Banda el Recodo is a Mexican Banda sinaloense group. Since its founding in 1938, it has been under the direction of the Lizárraga family...

 repertoire as exclusively from Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

 when it was actually regional music from all over Mexico.

Although banda music is played by many bands from different parts of Mexico, its original roots are in Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, which is hugely famous for bands such as Banda el Recodo
Banda el Recodo
Banda Sinaloense el Recodo de Don Cruz Lizárraga, often referred to as Banda el Recodo is a Mexican Banda sinaloense group. Since its founding in 1938, it has been under the direction of the Lizárraga family...

 from Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

.

Banda Sinaloense experienced international popularity in the 1990s. The most prominent band was Banda el Recodo
Banda el Recodo
Banda Sinaloense el Recodo de Don Cruz Lizárraga, often referred to as Banda el Recodo is a Mexican Banda sinaloense group. Since its founding in 1938, it has been under the direction of the Lizárraga family...

 which is renowned as "the mother of all bands". Unlike tamborazo Zacatecano, Sinaloense's essential instrument is the tuba. Sometimes an accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 is also included. Well known artists include:
  • Banda El Recodo
    Banda el Recodo
    Banda Sinaloense el Recodo de Don Cruz Lizárraga, often referred to as Banda el Recodo is a Mexican Banda sinaloense group. Since its founding in 1938, it has been under the direction of the Lizárraga family...

  • La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho
  • Banda MS
  • Banda Los Recoditos
    Banda Los Recoditos
    Banda Los Recoditos is a Mexican band formed in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. It was founded in 1989 by friends and family members of Banda el Recodo by Cruz Lizárraga. Alfonso Lizárraga and Pancho Barraza, the first vocalists, were two of the more than dozen bandmembers comprising the original incarnation of...

  • Banda Fresa
  • Banda Cuisillos
  • Banda Astilleros
  • El As de la Sierra
  • Chalino Sánchez
    Chalino Sánchez
    Rosalino "Chalino" Sánchez was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Early life:Born and raised in a poor family on a ranch called "Las Flechas", Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico. His father was Santos Sánchez and his mother Sannorina Felix. He had seven siblings: Armando, Lázaro, Régulo, Lucas,...

  • El Coyote y su Banda Tierra Santa
  • El Chapo de Sinaloa
    El Chapo de Sinaloa
    Ernesto Pérez better know by his stage name El Chapo de Sinaloa , is a Mexican norteño/banda singer....

  • Julio Pr
  • Banda Machos
    Banda Machos
    Banda Machos is a Mexican band originally from Villa Corona, in the state of Jalisco. The band sings a combination of Banda music, Quebradita, and Ranchera...

  • Valentín Elizalde
    Valentín Elizalde
    Valentín Elizalde Valencia was a Mexican banda music singer gunned down in an ambush. Known by the nickname "El Gallo de Oro" , his biggest Banda hits included "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor", " Vete Con Él", "Vuelve Cariñito", "Como Me Duele", "Vencedor", " Mi Virgencita", and "Soy Así"...

  • Sergio Vega


  • Tamborazo Zacatecano originated in the state of Zacatecas
    Zacatecas
    Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

     and translates to drum-beat from Zacatecas. This banda style is traditionally composed of 2 trumpets,2 saxophone, a trombone and the essential bass drum. La Marcha de Zacatecas
    Marcha de Zacatecas
    The March of Zacatecas is a Mexican patriotic song, the anthem of the State of Zacatecas and considered the 2nd national anthem of Mexico.On 1891, in a family gathering at the home of Fernando Villalpando, there was a dare between Villapando and Genaro Codina, which consisted of writing a military...

     (The March of Zacatecas) by Genaro Codina is a perfect example of this type of music. La March de Zacatecas is a Mexican patriotic song, the anthem of the State of Zacatecas and considered the 2nd national anthem of Mexico.

    In recent years the genre has been tainted with blood and violence, with the deaths of: Valentín Elizalde (known as "El Gallo de Oro" (golden rooster)), Sergio Vega "el shaka", and the lead singer of the band K-paz de la Sierra, Sergio Gomez. All these murders have been linked to drug dealers bands.

    Mariachi

    The Mariachi
    Mariachi
    Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in 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,...

    -style of music originated in the state of Jalisco, particularly in the city of Cocula, near Guadalajara, as well as surrounding states of western Mexico. Mariachi is now popular throughout Mexico and the Southwest United States, and is considered representative of Mexican music and culture. This style of music is played by a group consisting of five or more musicians that wear charro
    Charro
    Charro is a term referring to a traditional horseman from Mexico, originating in the central-western regions primarily in the state of Jalisco including: Zacatecas, Durango, Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla...

     suits.

    Origins of the word Mariachi:
    There are different theories as to the provenance of the word mariachi. Some say it comes from the French word because it was the type of music played at weddings, other refute this theory (apparently the word was in use in Mexico before the arrival of the French). Others claim that it comes from a native language, Coca; in this language mariachi is the name of the type of wood used to make the platform on which musicians would stand to perform.

    Mariachi instruments:
    The traditional mariachi band was made up of at least two violins, a guitar, a guitarrón (large bass guitar) and a vihuela (similar to a guitar but with a round back that plays at a higher pitch than the traditional guitar). Nowadays mariachi bands also usually include trumpets, and sometimes a harp.

    Bands and famous singers:
    • Pedro Infante
      Pedro Infante
      José Pedro Infante Cruz , better known as Pedro Infante, is the most famous actor and singer of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and is an idol of the Latinamerican people, together with Jorge Negrete and Javier Solís, who were styled the Tres Gallos Mexicanos . He was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa,...

    • Vicente Fernández
      Vicente Fernández
      Vicente Fernández Gómez is a Mexican singer, producer and actor. Known as Chente or El rey de la canción ranchera throughout the Latin world, Vicente Fernández, who started his career singing for tips on the street, has become a cultural icon, recording more than 50 albums and contributing to...

    • Pedro Fernández
      Pedro Fernández
      José Martín Cuevas Cobos , known professionally as Pedro Fernández, is a Mexican recording artist and actor.-Discography:*1979: La De La Mochila Azul*1989: Vicio*1990: Por Un Amigo Más*1991: Muñecos De Papel...

    • Alejandro Fernández
      Alejandro Fernández
      Alejandro Fernández is a Mexican singer. Nicknamed as "El Potrillo" by the media and his fans, he has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Alejandro is the son of the ranchera singer Vicente Fernández. He originally specialized in traditional, earthy forms of Mexican folk music, such as...

    • Antonio Aguilar
      Antonio Aguilar
      José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Barraza most commonly known as Antonio Aguilar, nicknamed "El Charro de México", was a Mexican film actor, singer, producer and screenwriter. During his career, he made over 150 albums, which sold 25 million copies, and made 167 movies...


    Norteño

    Another important music style is musica Norteña, or northern style tunes, which has been the basis for such sub-genres as musica de banda. Musica Norteña, like musica Tejana, arose in the 1830s and 40s in the Rio Grande
    Rio Grande
    The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...

     region, in the southern Texas
    Texas
    Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

    . Influenced by both Bohemian music and immigrant miners, its rhythm was derived from European polkas, which were popular during the 1800s.

    Cuban influence

    Rumba came from the black Mexican slaves in Veracruz, Mexico city, and Yucatán. The style began in Cuba and later became famous in the black community of Mexico.
    From the beginning of the 20th century, bolero
    Bolero
    Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...

     arrived to Yucatán
    Yucatán
    Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....

    , and Danzón
    Danzón
    Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...

     to Veracruz
    Veracruz
    Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

    . Both styles became very popular all over the country, and a Mexican style of both rhythms was developed.

    In the 40s the Cubans
    Cubans
    Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...

     Perez Prado
    Perez Prado
    Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...

    , Benny More
    Benny Moré
    Benny Moré , or Beny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuban popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity...

     emigrated to Mexico, they brought with them the mambo, which became extremely popular specially in Mexico City, later on mambo developed into Cha cha cha
    Cha-cha-cha (music)
    The Cha-cha-chá is a style of Cuban music. It is popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950s.- Origin :As a dance music genre, cha-cha-chá is unusual in that its creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, then violinist and songwriter with the...

     which was also very popular.

    Bolero trios

    Some renowned trios románticos were Trio Los Panchos
    Los Panchos
    Los Panchos was an internationally famous Latin pop trio known for its romantic ballads and boleros.-History:...

    , Los Tres Ases, Los Tres Diamantes and Los Dandys.

    Cumbia

    The history of Cumbia in Mexico is almost as old as Cumbia in Colombia. In the 1940s Colombian singers emigrated to Mexico, where they worked with the Mexican orquestra director Rafael de Paz. In the 50s they recorded what many people consider to be the first cumbia recorded outside of Colombia, La Cumbia Cienaguera. He recorded other hits like Mi gallo tuerto, Caprichito, and Nochebuena . This is when Cumbia began to popularized in Mexico with Tony Camargo as one of the first exponents of Mexican Cumbia.

    In the 70s Aniceto Molina also emigrated to Mexico, where he joined the group from Guerrero
    Guerrero
    Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

    , La Luz Roja de San Marcos, and recorded many popular tropical cumbias like El Gallo Mojado, El Peluquero, and La Mariscada. Also in the 70s Rigo Tovar
    Rigo Tovar
    Rigoberto Tovar García was a Mexican singer best known as Rigo Tovar. Famous for his cumbia songs, Tovar is considered a musical pioneer by fusing electric guitar, synthesizer, and rock melodies with traditional Mexican music.Tovar was born and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico...

     became very popular with his fusion of Cumbia with ballad and Rock.

    Today Cumbia is played in many different ways, and has slight variations depending on the geographical area like Cumbia andina mexicana, Cumbia Norteña, Tecno-cumbia.

    Popular Mexican Cumbia composers and interpreters include
    • Mike Laure
    • Tony Camargo
    • Rigo Tovar
      Rigo Tovar
      Rigoberto Tovar García was a Mexican singer best known as Rigo Tovar. Famous for his cumbia songs, Tovar is considered a musical pioneer by fusing electric guitar, synthesizer, and rock melodies with traditional Mexican music.Tovar was born and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico...

       y su Costa Azul
    • Los Angeles Azules
    • Tropicalísimo Apache
    • Los Sonors
    • Celso Piña
      Celso Pina
      Celso Piña is a professional singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist mainly in the genre of cumbia.Celso Piña is a pioneer in the mixture and fusion of tropical sounds with many of his works having elements of musica norteña, sonidero, ska, reggae, rap/hip-hop, R&B, etc...

    • Grupo Cañaveral
    • Grupo Soñador
    • Alberto Pedraza
    • Chico Ché
      Chico Che
      Francisco José Hernández Mandujano , better known as Chico Che was a Mexican musician from Villahermosa, Tabasco.-Biography:...

    • Efren David
    • Los Askis
    • Los Caminantes
      Los Caminantes
      Los Caminantes are a Mexican Grupera band hailing from San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato led by singer-songwriter Agustín Ramírez. Originally named Los Caminantes Aztecas, the group was formed by brothers Agustín, Brígido, Horacio, Martín and along with Humberto "Pecas" Navarro in the mid 1970s....

    • Los Llayras
    • Grupo Bronco
      Grupo Bronco
      Grupo Bronco is a Mexican Grupero group from Apodaca, N.L.. Bronco's modern take on the Norteño style in the '80s and '90s helped earn them a number of international hits...

    • Selena
      Selena
      Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits...


    Popular music (pop and rock)

    The Mexican music market serves as a launching pad to stardom for a lot of non-Mexican artists who are interested extending the market-range of their music. Such was the case with Julio Iglesias
    Julio Iglesias
    Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...

    , Enrique Iglesias
    Enrique Iglesias
    Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...

    , Shakira
    Shakira
    Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...

    , Chayanne
    Chayanne
    Elmer Figueroa Arce , best known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 solo-albums and sold over 20 million albums worldwide.-Early life:...

    , Alejandro Sanz
    Alejandro Sanz
    Alejandro Sanz , is a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. For his work, Sanz has won a total of fifteen Latin Grammy Awards and three Grammy Awards. He has won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year three times, more than any other artist...

    , Allison
    Allison
    Allison is a family name of English and Scottish origin.When used as a given name it is traditionally masculine, as opposed to the feminine name Alison....

    , Aventura, Juanes
    Juanes
    Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...

    , Mecano
    Mecano
    Mecano was a Spanish pop band whose debut coincided with La Movida Madrileña , a sociocultural movement that occurred in Madrid, Spain during the 1980s...

    , Motel
    Motel
    A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...

    , Sonica
    Sonica
    Sonica is a venezuelan rock band formed in Caracas. Their members are Iván Infante, Marco Ramos, Martin Imhof and María Imhof.Being active since 1998, in which they have released two studio albums Tarde o Temprano and lo que escribo sobre ti , Sonica is one of the most recognized bands for the...

    , Daddy Yankee
    Daddy Yankee
    Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez , known artistically as Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican Reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball,...

    , J. King & Maximan, Wisin & Yandel
    Wisin & Yandel
    Wisin & Yandel are a Puerto Rican reggaeton Duo, consisting of Juan Luis Morera Luna and Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar . They started their career in 1998 and have been together since, winning several awards during that time....

    , and Ricky Martin
    Ricky Martin
    Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

    , among many others. According to the America Top 100, Mexico had over 90 hits in Latin America during 2006, almost a third more than its closest competitor, the United States.

    The most known Mexican pop singers nowadays are: Luis Miguel
    Luis Miguel
    Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri is a Mexican singer. He is widely known only by the name Luis Miguel and is often referred to as "El Sol de México"...

    , Alejandro Fernández
    Alejandro Fernández
    Alejandro Fernández is a Mexican singer. Nicknamed as "El Potrillo" by the media and his fans, he has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Alejandro is the son of the ranchera singer Vicente Fernández. He originally specialized in traditional, earthy forms of Mexican folk music, such as...

    , Thalía
    Thalía
    Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda , known simply by the mononym Thalía , is a Mexican singer and actress. She has sold over 40 million albums worldwide...

    , Marco Antonio Solís
    Marco Antonio Solís
    Marco Antonio Solís is a Mexican musician, composer, and record producer. Throughout his career, he has sold over 80 million records and written over 300 songs, arguably making him one of the most successful singer-songwriters in Latin America.-Early life and career:Marco Antonio Solís started his...

    , Paulina Rubio
    Paulina Rubio
    Paulina Susana Rubio Rue is a Mexican singer and actress. Rubio achieved international stardom with her fifth studio album, Paulina...

    , Alejandra Guzmán
    Alejandra Guzmán
    Alejandra Gabriela Guzmán Pinal , better known as Alejandra Guzmán, is a Latin Grammy Award–winning Mexican rock singer and actress. She has had a dedicated fanbase throughout Latin America since the late 1980s, and is known as the "Queen of Rock" in the Hispanic world...

    , Gloria Trevi
    Gloria Trevi
    Gloria Trevi is a Mexican pop-rock singer-songwriter. She was described as the "Supreme Diva of the Mexican Pop" by the music channel VH1 and sold over 20 million records.-Biography:...

    , Cristian Castro
    Cristian Castro
    Cristian Castro is a Grammy Award-nominated Mexican pop singer. He is referred to as "Christian Castro" or "Cristian."- Biography :...

    , Anahí
    Anahí
    Anahí Giovanna Puente Portilla, better known as Anahí , , is a Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. She gained international fame after being cast as Mia Colucci in the hit Mexican telenovela Rebelde, and as a member of the Latin Grammy-nominated pop group RBD..- Acting career :At the age of 2,...

     and Dulce María
    Dulce María
    Dulce María is a Mexican actress, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for playing Roberta in the telenovela Rebelde and being a bandmember of the Latin Grammy nominated band, RBD...

    .

    Rock and metal

    In the 60s and 70s, during the PRI government, most rock bands were forced to appear underground, that was the time after Avándaro (a Woodstock-style Mexican festival) in which groups like El Tri
    El Tri
    El Tri is a Mexican rock band from Mexico City fronted by Alex Lora. Founded in 1968 as Three Souls in My Mind, the group is regarded as influential in the development of Mexican rock music....

    , Enigma, The Dugs Dugs, Javier Batiz and many others arose. During that time Mexican Carlos Santana
    Carlos Santana
    Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...

     became famous after performing at Woodstock. During the 80s and 90s many Mexican bands went to the surface and popular rock bands like Molotov
    Molotov (band)
    Molotov is a four-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City on September 23, 1995. Their lyrics feature a mixture of Spanish and English, rapped and sung by all members of the group. Musically, Molotov blends heavy basslines with heavy guitar riffs...

    , Control Machete
    Control Machete
    Control Machete is a Mexican hip hop group from Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Its members are Fermin IV , Patricio "Pato" Chapa Elizalde, and Toy Kenobi .-History:...

    , Café Tacuba, Los Caifanes, Maná
    Maná
    Maná is a pop rock band from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, whose career has spanned more than three decades. They have earned three Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, five Premios Juventud awards, nine Billboard Latin Music Awards and 13 Premios Lo...

    , Julieta Venegas
    Julieta Venegas
    Julieta Venegas Percevault , known professionally as Julieta Venegas, is a Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, who sings pop-rock in Spanish. She speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish fluently. She has a twin sister, Yvonne, who is a photographer...

    , Ely Guerra
    Ely Guerra
    Ely Guerra is a Mexican singer-songwriter who was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.- Biography :...

     and Maldita Vecindad
    Maldita Vecindad
    La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio are a band formed in Mexico City in 1985. They are pioneers in rock en Español and are one of the most influential rock bands in Latin America....

     got many followers. The latter are "grandfathers" to the Latin ska
    Ska
    Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

     movement. Mexico City
    Mexico City
    Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

     has also a considerable movement of bands playing surf rock inspired in their outfits by local show-sport lucha libre
    Lucha libre
    Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...

    . Mexico recently has had a "rebirth" of rock music with bands like Jumbo
    Jumbo
    Jumbo was a large African Bush Elephant, born 1861 in the French Sudan – present-day Mali – imported to a Paris zoo, transferred to the London Zoo in 1865, and sold in 1882 to P. T...

    , Zoé
    Zoé
    Zoé is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican alternative/psychedelic band. They initially formed in Mexico City in 1994, although membership started to stabilize in 1997...

    , Porter
    Porter (band)
    Porter was a Mexican indie rock band based in Guadalajara, Mexico.Despite their uncommon sound the band got decent radio airplay on important broadcasting stations, their videos: "Espiral", "Daphne" and "Host of a Ghost" had a good reception in music video channels. "Daphne" was placed in the...

    , etc., which have made this genre popular again. Many Chicano rock
    Chicano rock
    Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specifically Latin instruments or sounds...

     musicians also drew inspiration from the rhythms and sounds of Mexican music, including Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens
    Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

    , The Champs
    The Champs
    The Champs were an American rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged instrumental "Tequila". Formed by studio executives at Gene Autry's Challenge Records to record a B-Side for the Dave Burgess single, the intended throwaway track became more famous than its A-Side, "Train to...

    , Los Lobos
    Los Lobos
    Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

    , and Los Lonely Boys
    Los Lonely Boys
    Los Lonely Boys is a Chicano rock power trio from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown eyed soul, country, and Tejano....

    .Extreme metal has become popular in Mexico,with bands such as Xiuhtecuhtli, Sargatanas, Mictlayotl, and Yaoyotl.

    The Mexican rock movement began in the late 1950s and early 1960s, rapidly becoming popular, and peaking in the 80s and 90s with real authentic sounds and styles. One of the early Mexican Rock bands came out of the East Los Angeles Area, "Los Nómadas." (The Nomads) They were one of the first racially-integrated bands of the 50s, consisting of 3 Latino Boys, Chico Vasquez, J.D. Moreno, Abel Padilla, and a Caucasian boy Bill Aken. The adopted son of classical guitarist Francisco Mayorga and Mexican movie actress Lupe Mayorga, Aken was mentored by family friend, jazz guitarist Ray Pohlman and would later become rocker Zane Ashton, but his association with the boys would be a lifelong one. Mexican Rock combined the traditional instruments and stories of Mexico in its songs. Mexican along with Latin American Rock remain very popular in Mexico, surpassing other cultural interpretations of Rock and Roll.

    Latin alternative

    An ecletic range of influences is at the heart of Latin alternative, a music created by young players who have been raised not only on their parents' music but also on rock, hip-hop and electronica. It represents a sonic shift away from regionalism and points to a new global Latin identity.

    The name "Latin alternative" was coined in the late 1990s by record company executives as a way to sell music that was—literally—all over the map. It was marketed as an alternative to the slick, highly produced Latin pop that dominated commercial Spanish-language radio, such as Ricky Martin or Paulina Rubio.

    Artists within the genre, such as Kinky
    Kinky (band)
    Kinky is a five-member band from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, formed in 1998 as part of the Avanzada Regia musical movement and consisting of Gilberto Cerezo, Ulises Lozano, Carlos Chairez, Omar Góngora, and Cesar Pliego. The band's music is heavily influenced by Latin music, rock, dance, and...

    , Sonex, The Villalobos Brothers
    Villalobos Brothers
    The Villalobos Brothers are a trio of virtuoso violinists, singer-songwriters, composers, arrangers, and multi-talented instrumentalists...

     and even Café Tacuba, have set out to defy traditional expectations of Latin music. Now, in an age of Internet connections, downloading and sampling, Latin alternative has become not just a reaction to outside influences but its own genre.

    Mexican ska

    Ska
    Ska
    Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

     entered Mexico in the 1980s, originally in Mexico City, and the genre enjoyed its highest popularity during the 1990s. Mexican Ska groups include Panteon Rococo
    Panteón Rococó
    Panteón Rococó is a Mexican ska band from Mexico City. Despite flourishing black markets, they have sold thousands of records. While being stars in Mexico, they have been touring Europe for the last several years, especially Germany, where their European Label Übersee Records is located.- Musical...

     (Mexico City), La Maldita Vecindad (Mexico City), Mama Pulpa (Mexico City) and Tijuana No!
    Tijuana No!
    Tijuana No! is a Mexican ska, rock and punk band, from Tijuana BC, México. In the beginning their name was Radio Chantaje , and later they became No, but upon the knowledge of another band called the same, they changed their name to No de Tijuana , to later just shorten it to Tijuana No!...

     (Tijuana, Baja California; originally called Radio Cantaje).

    Classical music

    See List of Mexican composers of classical music
    Mexico has a long tradition of classical music, as far back as the 16th century, when it was a Spanish colony. Music of New Spain
    New Spain
    New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

    , especially that of Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla
    Juan Gutierrez de Padilla
    Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was a Spanish composer in what is modern Mexico.He was born in Málaga, Spain but moved to Puebla, Mexico, in 1620 to compose music in the New World. At the time New Spain was a viceroyalty of Spain that included modern day Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines and other...

     and Hernando Franco
    Hernando Franco
    Hernando Franco was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance, who was mainly active in Guatemala and Mexico.- Life :Franco was born in Galizuela in Extremadura, a source region for many people who came to the New World in the 16th century...

    , is increasingly recognized as a significant contribution to New World culture.

    Puebla
    Puebla
    Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....

     was a significant center of music composition in the 17th century, as the city had considerable wealth and for a time was presided over by Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza
    Juan de Palafox y Mendoza
    Blessed Juan de Palafox y Mendoza was a Spanish archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church. He also held political office in the New World. From June 10, 1642 to November 23, 1642 he was viceroy of New Spain.-Early life:...

    , who was an enthusiastic patron of music. Composers during this period included Bernardo de Peralta Escudero (mostly active around 1640), and also Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla
    Juan Gutierrez de Padilla
    Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was a Spanish composer in what is modern Mexico.He was born in Málaga, Spain but moved to Puebla, Mexico, in 1620 to compose music in the New World. At the time New Spain was a viceroyalty of Spain that included modern day Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines and other...

    , who was the most famous composer of the 17th century in Mexico. The construction of the cathedral in Puebla made the composition and performance of polychoral music possible, especially compositions in the Venetian polychoral style
    Venetian polychoral style
    The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation...

    . Late in the century, Miguel Matheo de Dallo y Lana set the verse of poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

    In the 18th century, Manuel de Sumaya, maestro de capilla at the cathedral in Mexico City, wrote many cantadas and villancicos, and he was the first Mexican to compose an opera, La Partenope (1711). After him, Ignacio Jerusalem, an Italian-born composer, brought some of the latest operatic styles as well as early classical (galant
    Galant
    In music, Galant was a term referring to a style, principally occurring in the third quarter of the 18th century, which featured a return to classical simplicity after the complexity of the late Baroque era...

    ) styles to Mexico. His best-known composition is probably the Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe (1764). Jerusalem was maestro de capilla at the cathedral in Mexico City after Sumaya, from 1749 until his death in 1769.

    In the 19th century the waltzes of Juventino Rosas
    Juventino Rosas
    José Juventino Policarpo Rosas Cadenas was a Mexican composer and violinist.-Life and career:Rosas was born in Santa Cruz de Galeana, Guanajuato, now renamed Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas. Rosas began his musical career as a street musician and playing with dance music bands in Mexico City...

     achieved world recognition. Manuel M. Ponce is recognized as an important composer for the Spanish classical guitar, responsible for widening the repertoire for this instrument. Ponce also wrote a rich repertoire for solo piano, piano and ensembles, and piano and orchestra, developing the first period of modernistic nationalism, using Native American
    Indigenous peoples of the Americas
    The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

     and European resources, but merging them into a new, original style.
    In the 20th century, Carlos Chavez
    Carlos Chávez
    Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...

    , is a notable composer who wrote symphonies, ballets, and a wide catalog of chamber music, within varied esthetic orientations. Another recognized composer is Silvestre Revueltas
    Silvestre Revueltas
    Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor.-Life:...

     who wrote such pieces as The night of the mayas, Homenaje a García Lorca, Sensemayá
    Sensemayá
    Sensemayá is a poem by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén, adapted as an orchestral work by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. It is one of Revueltas's most famous compositions....

     based on a poem by Nicolas Guillen
    Nicolás Guillén
    Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...

    , and orchestral suites like Janitzio
    Janitzio
    Isla de Janitzio, located at , is the main island of Lake Patzcuaro in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.The town of Janitzio, which means "where it rains", is located atop the hill. Janitzio can only be reached by boats which run regularly back and forth from about 7:30 am to 6 pm,...

     and Redes
    Redes (film)
    Redes is a Mexican film, released in 1936, about a fishing community. The English language title is The Wave, although the Spanish language title refers to nets....

     originally written for motion pictures. Jose Pablo Moncayo
    José Pablo Moncayo
    José Pablo Moncayo García was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalism in art music, after Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez." He produced some of the...

     with compositions such as Huapango, and Blas Galindo
    Blas Galindo
    -Biography:Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, under Carlos Chávez, Candelario Huizar, José Rolón, and Manuel Rodríguez Vizcarra...

     with Sones de Mariachi, are also recognized as adapters of Mexican sons into symphonic music. A later contributor to this tradition, Arturo Márquez
    Arturo Márquez
    Arturo Márquez is a renowned Mexican composer of orchestra music who is well known for using musical forms and styles of his native Mexico and incorporating them into his compositions.-Life:...

     is also internationally known by his orchestral mastery and melodic vivacity.

    In 1922, Julian Carrillo
    Julián Carrillo
    Julián Carrillo Trujillo was a Mexican composer, conductor, violinist and music theorist, famous for developing a theory of microtonal music which he dubbed "The Thirteenth Sound" .-Biography:...

     (violinist, composer, conductor, theoretician and inventor), created the first microtonal system in the history of classical music. During subsequent years, he also developed and constructed harps and pianos able to play music in fragments of tone, like fourths, sixths, eighths and sixteenths. His pianos are still manufactured in Germany and are used to play Carrillo's music, mainly in Europe and Mexico.

    Another contemporary Mexican composer was Conlon Nancarrow
    Conlon Nancarrow
    Conlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...

     (of American birth), who created a system to play pianola music, using and developing theories of politempo and polimetrics.

    Some avant-garde composers leading Mexican music during the second half of the 20th century were Alicia Urreta
    Alicia Urreta
    Alicia Urreta was a Mexican pianist, music educator and composer.-Biography:Alicia Urreta was born in Veracruz, Veracruz. In 1952 she entered the Conservatorio National de Musica in Mexico City, studying harmony with Rodolfo Halffter, and other topics under Hernandez Moncada...

    , Manuel Enríquez
    Manuel Enríquez
    Manuel Enríquez was a Mexican composer and violinist....

    , Mario Lavista
    Mario Lavista
    Mario Lavista is a Mexican composer and writer. He has had numerous pieces published, especially chamber music, but also incidental music for plays, film scores, orchestral pieces, and vocal music....

     and Julio Estrada
    Julio Estrada
    Julio Estrada Velasco was born in Mexico City, April 10, 1943. His family was exiled from Spain in 1941. He is a composer, theoretician, historian, pedagogue, and interpreter.-Life:...

    . Some of them also contributed to the academic development of music teaching in American universities, a work also enriched by Daniel Catán
    Daniel Catán
    Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...

    , Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez
    Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez
    Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez is a Latin-American composer and teacher. He currently resides near Rochester, New York....

    , Guillermo Galindo, Carlos Sandoval
    Carlos Sandoval
    Carlos Sandoval Mendoza Is a Mexican/German freelance composer and multimedia artist, mostly recognized for his work joining technology, nature and art.-Biography and Work:...

    , Ignacio Baca-Lobera, Hebert Vázquez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Samuel Zyman. In the other side of the Atlantic the composers of a new generation, Javier Álvarez, Ana Lara
    Ana Lara
    -Life:Ana Lara was born in Mexico City and studied at the National Conservatory of Music with Mario Lavista and Daniel Catán and later with Fredrico Ibarra. She continued her studies at the Warsaw Academy of Music with Zbigniew Rudzinski and Wlodzimierz Kotonski...

    , Víctor Rasgado
    Victor Rasgado
    Víctor Rasgado is a Mexican pianist and classical composer, whose works have been performed in Mexico, the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.-Biography:...

    , Juan Trigos
    Juan Trigos
    Juan Trigos, is a Mexican Composer and Conductor, born February 26, 1965, in Mexico City.- Biography :Composer and conductor, creator of the concept Abstract Folklore. This concept is based on principles such as the primary pulsation, the resonance and the obsessive use of polyrhythmic and...

    , Hilda Paredes
    Hilda Paredes
    Hilda Paredes is one of Mexico's leading contemporary composers, and has received many prestigious awards for her work...

    , Javier Torres Maldonado
    Javier Torres Maldonado
    Javier Torres Maldonado is a Mexican-Italian composer internationally recognized for mostly of his orchestral, chamber, vocal and electro-acoustic works.-Biography:...

    , Gabriel Pareyon
    Gabriel Pareyon
    Gabriel Pareyon is a polymathic Mexican composer and musicologist, who has published literature on topics of philosophy and linguistics....

    , and Georgina Derbez, also have contributed to the academic and artistic life.

    Jazz

    Some minor exponents aren't Leo Acosta, Tino Contreras, Juan García Esquivel
    Juan García Esquivel
    Juan García Esquivel often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin...

    , Luis Ocadiz, J.J. Calatayud, Leo Acosta, Arturo Castro
    Arturo Castro
    Arturo Castro was a Mexican actor of film and television who appeared in a large number of minor roles from 1945 to 1976. He is perhaps best-known for his role as "Bigotón" in the Telesistema Mexicano sitcom Los Beverly de Peralvillo...

    , Chilo Morán, opo Sánchez

    Electronic art music

    Some of the best Mexican composers for electronic and electroacoustic media are Antonio Russek, Javier Torres Maldonado
    Javier Torres Maldonado
    Javier Torres Maldonado is a Mexican-Italian composer internationally recognized for mostly of his orchestral, chamber, vocal and electro-acoustic works.-Biography:...

    , Rodrigo Sigal, Rogelio Sosa, Guillermo Galindo, Murcof
    Murcof
    Murcof is the performing and recording name of Mexican electronica artist Fernando Corona.Corona was born in 1970 in Tijuana, Mexico and raised in Ensenada. He was for a time a member of the Tijuana-based Nortec Collective of electronic musicians under the Terrestre project name...

     and Manuel Rocha Iturbide
    Manuel Rocha Iturbide
    Manuel Rocha Iturbide is a Mexican composer and sound artist.-Biography:Manuel Rocha Iturbide was born in 1963 in Mexico City, he started musical studies when he was 13 years old. In 1983, after studying musical pedagogy in Lyon France for one year, he decided to start a career as composer at the...

    , the later conducting festivals and workshops of experimental music and art, in Mexico City and Paris.

    See also

    • Mexican pop
    • Regional styles of Mexican music
      Regional styles of Mexican music
      Regional styles of Mexican music vary greatly vary from state to state. Norteño, banda, duranguense, and other Mexican country music genres are often known as regional Mexican music because each state produces different musical sounds and lyrics....

    • List of Mexican operas
    • :Category:Mexican composers

    Table (traditional music ensembles)

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