Nortec
Encyclopedia
Nortec is an electronic
musical genre from Tijuana
(a border city in Baja California
, Mexico
) that first gained popularity in 2001. Nortec music is characterized by hard dance beats and samples from traditional forms of Mexican music such as Banda sinaloense
and Norteño
- unmistakably Mexican horns are often used.
Different individual projects create Nortec music. As a complement, there's also a "Colectivo Visual": a group of designers and VJs who take care of the visual side of Nortec live shows. The term Nortec is a conjunction of Norteño ("of" or "from the North") and Techno, but mainly describes the collision between the music, style and culture of electronic music with those of norteño and tambora, two music genres indigenous to the North of Mexico. These styles are characterized by their use of accordions and double bass (norteño); tubas, clarinets, horns and pumping bass drums (tambora) and quirky use of percussion and polyrhytmic snare drum rolls (both). All of these elements are used to create a sound that is very Tijuana.
Nortec originated in 1999 when Pepe Mogt started by experimenting with samples of old banda sinaloense and norteño albums and altering them on his computer or filtering them with analog synthesizers. He had picked up on the idea by listening to the percussive and angular grooves of the tambora and norteña music played at a family social event. Through some contacts in recording studios located in Tijuana's notorious Zona Norte red light district, Pepe compiled tracks of isolated instruments from multitrack recording of tambora and norteño demo recordings that had been abandoned at the studios by the bands that recorded them. He began to burn these tracks onto CD-Rs, which he would later distribute to friends under the condition that they make a new track using the material.
Those first raw tracks were compiled onto the "Nor-tec Sampler", the first release from Mil Records followed by the release "The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1" and then "The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3"
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
musical genre from Tijuana
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...
(a border city in Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , 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, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
) that first gained popularity in 2001. Nortec music is characterized by hard dance beats and samples from traditional forms of Mexican music such as Banda sinaloense
Banda music
Banda is a brass-based form of traditional music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including rancheras, corridos, cumbias, baladas, and boleros. Bandas are most widely known for their rancheras, but they also play modern Mexican pop, rock, and cumbias...
and Norteño
Norteño (music)
Norteño , also norteña or conjunto, is a genre of Mexican music. The accordion and the bajo sexto are norteño's most characteristic instruments. The norteño genre is popular in both Mexico and the United States, especially among the Mexican community...
- unmistakably Mexican horns are often used.
Different individual projects create Nortec music. As a complement, there's also a "Colectivo Visual": a group of designers and VJs who take care of the visual side of Nortec live shows. The term Nortec is a conjunction of Norteño ("of" or "from the North") and Techno, but mainly describes the collision between the music, style and culture of electronic music with those of norteño and tambora, two music genres indigenous to the North of Mexico. These styles are characterized by their use of accordions and double bass (norteño); tubas, clarinets, horns and pumping bass drums (tambora) and quirky use of percussion and polyrhytmic snare drum rolls (both). All of these elements are used to create a sound that is very Tijuana.
Nortec originated in 1999 when Pepe Mogt started by experimenting with samples of old banda sinaloense and norteño albums and altering them on his computer or filtering them with analog synthesizers. He had picked up on the idea by listening to the percussive and angular grooves of the tambora and norteña music played at a family social event. Through some contacts in recording studios located in Tijuana's notorious Zona Norte red light district, Pepe compiled tracks of isolated instruments from multitrack recording of tambora and norteño demo recordings that had been abandoned at the studios by the bands that recorded them. He began to burn these tracks onto CD-Rs, which he would later distribute to friends under the condition that they make a new track using the material.
Those first raw tracks were compiled onto the "Nor-tec Sampler", the first release from Mil Records followed by the release "The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1" and then "The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3"