Overview
Music is an ever changing expression of the time, place, and people who create it. In the border areas of Mexico and the U.S. and in Mexican-American populations around the country, unique musical forms and styles have been developed to entertain, educate and uplift audiences. In this chapter we will discuss the genre of conjunto in its traditional and modern forms in Texas. These musical styles appeal to the working class and function in large part to accompany couple dancing. Forms will include the popular polka dance, the corrido (a type of narrative ballad) and the ranchera, (a popular type of Mexican song). The development of the traditional conjunto ensemble will be traced from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Examples are given of innovative hybrid musical styles formed in combination with mainstream popular music and Latin American music of recent years. Most of the music is sung in Spanish with the exception of some cross-over English songs.
Objectives
- Identify the ensembles and selected genres and forms of Conjunto aurally
- Recall the bajo sexto and accordion and their musical roles and functions
- Identify the following song/dance forms: polka, corrido, ranchera, cumbia
- Recognize the major artists of Conjunto music
- Analyze the cultural context that these ensembles, genres, and forms originate from as part of an ongoing, bi-cultural musical expression
Conclusion
From the early 1900s until the late 1950s, conjunto evolved and reached maturation as a Tejano artistic expression. The standard ensemble of the three-row button accordion, the electric bajo sexto, and the electric bass and drum set were in place by the early 1950s. With the addition of the latter two, accordionists of the 1950s dropped the bass-chord elements to concentrate on greater use of right hand melodic technique. Tempos slowed and were heard with more staccato or "choppy" articulation styles. A new bajo sexto accompaniment style was developed for the polka and corrido which featured treble, off-beat strumming patterns. A distinctive double 16th-note pattern in the drums is found in rhythmic patterns of the polka and corrido as well. Other genres such as the bolero, cha cha cha, and danzon were becoming more common, while the older forms of redowa and schottische were dying out. The mature style was more entertaining and better to dance to as it expanded to include new dance genres and contemporary instruments.
Conjunto music continues to incorporate new genres and styles into the basic mix of drum, electric bass, bajo sexton, and accordion ensemble, as evidenced by performers such as Flaco Jimenez and Steve Jordan. As representatives of the virtuoso class of accordionistas, they pushed the envelope to include Tex-Mex and jazz fusion styles of playing, among many others. Conjunto is an ever-evolving musical ensemble and repertoire and will continue to be a wonderful expression of Mexican-Americans of the southwest and Texas in years to come.
"The short range allows the corrido to be sung at the top of the singer's voice, an essential part of the corrido style."
