aspects of tango art. Orquestas típicas grew in size with the greater degree of finan-
cial opportunity, including sometimes up to five bandoneones and violins. Some
bandleaders experimented with other instruments, such as Osvaldo Fresedo’s use
of the drum set and Horacio Salgán’s incorporation of the bass clarinet. Bandlead-
ers and arrangers worked to develop distinctive styles, and dancers would often de-
velop strong loyalties to a particular orquesta’s style. Historians generally divide
the orquestas of this period into two broad categories: traditionalist leaders (e.g.,
Francisco Canaro, Juan d’Arienzo) had a more conservative approach to arranging
and emphasized clear, danceable rhythmic arrangements, while revolutionary di-
rectors (e.g., Fresedo, Aníbal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese) made more radical changes
and elaborations upon musical form, harmony, and melody.
Tango Nuevo
Public interest in tango waned in the late 1940s and 1950s due to economic crises,
increasingly militarized and authoritarian governments, and other social changes.
Some tango musicians developed smaller ensemble sounds that were meant for the
concert hall rather than for the dancer. The best-known and most polemic of these
was bandoneonist Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921–1992), who combined clas-
sical training and an interest in jazz with his background in tango to create a self-
consciously revolutionary style he termed tango nuevo or new tango. Piazzolla’s
music initially met with derision by the traditional tango community, while reach-
ing new audiences among jazz and classical music fans internationally. He has
since become the best-known and best-selling Argentine composer and performer
of any genre of music internationally.
Resurgence
Following the massive political and economic crisis of late 2001, there has been a re-
surgence of interest in tango among young Argentines. A sense of mistrust in foreign
musical and cultural influence, coupled with an identification with the deeply cynical
lyrics of early tango, has led new groups ranging from traditional orquesta típica formation (e.g., Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro) to smaller electric ensembles influ-
enced by rock (e.g., La Biyuya, Buenos Aires Negro) to develop new forms of tango.
Internationally, groups using tango instruments, either live or sampled, in electronic
dance music (e.g., Gotán Project, Bajofondo Tango Club) have formed a genre called
electrotango that has generated significant commercial and critical interest.
398 | Taquirari
Piazzolla, Astor Pantaleón
Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992) was an Argentinean composer and bandoneon
player. He developed the new tango from the traditional tango . His new ap-
proach incited bitter controversies among orthodox tangueros in his native
land. Piazzolla lived in New York City from 1925 to 1936. In 1941 he began his
composition studies with Alberto Ginastera. In 1946 Piazzolla formed his own
orchestra and started developing his musical ideas. From 1954, he studied in
Paris with Nadia Boulanger, the illustrious French composition pedagogue. By
that time Piazzolla had decided to become a classical composer, but Boulanger
urged him to develop his own style through tango. On his return to Argentina
in 1955, Piazzolla began performing his original tango compositions with various
chamber ensembles, incorporating elements of classical music and jazz such as
counterpoint and improvisation, as well as nontraditional instruments like the
electric guitar and saxophone. From the 1970s, he performed extensively in
South America, the United States, Europe, and Japan. Some of Piazzolla’s best
known pieces are “Libertango,” “Adiós Nonino,” and “Balada para un loco.”
Further Reading
Azzi, María Susana, and Simon Collier. Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of
Astor Piazzolla. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Katia Chornik
Further Reading
Azzi, María Susana and Simon Collier. Le Grand Tango: A Biography of Astor Piazzolla.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Collier, Simon, et al. ¡Tango! The Dance, the Song, the Story. New York: Thames and
Hudson. 1995.
García Blaya, Ricardo, et al., eds., last modified September 14, 2007, http://www.todo
tango.com/english/main.html.
Savigliano, Marta. Tango and the Political Economy of Passion. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press, 1995.
Michael O’Brien
Taquirari
Taquirari is a duple meter, mestizo dance, and music genre from Bolivia ’ s Eastern lowlands. In AABB or AABBCC form, the taquirari is derived from the rural
indigenous takirari. Urban Bolivian musicians began to record this genre in the
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399
1940s. The first to do so were orquestas de jazz (swing bands with saxophones and
trumpets) and vocalists accompanied by guitars or piano. The La Paz vocal duos
Las Kantutas and Los Indios Latinos, though not from Eastern Bolivia, performed
on nationally broadcast radio programs (e.g., La Paz’s Radio Illimani), helping to
popularize the taquirari across the country. The genre entered the national music
repertory of Bolivian brass bands and folkloric ensembles far away from the low-
land tropics. Since the 1960s, Bolivian folkloric-popular groups mainly dedicated
to Andean music (e.g., huaynos ) have played the taquirari with highland instru-
ments such as the kena (bamboo flute) and zampoña (pan-pipe). In contrast, eastern
Bolivian musicians typically perform the taquirari with guitars, mandolins, and/or
violins, not with Andean instruments, and call the genre música oriental (Eastern
music) rather than national music, which reflects regional divisions. The taquirari
is an important camba (eastern Bolivian) identity emblem. Classic taquiraris in-
clude “ Viva Santa Cruz ” by Gilberto Rojas, “ Sombrero de Sao ” by Pedro Shimose,
and “ Lunita Camba ” by Percy Ávila. Singer Gladys Moreno and the group Los
Cambitas are among the most famous interpreters of the taquirari.
Further Reading
Terceros Rojas, Armando. Libro de Oro de los Interpretes de la Musica Cruceña. Santa
Cruz, Bolivia: AP Industrias Gráficas, 1989.
Fernando Rios
Tejano. See Tex-Mex .
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex is a style of accordion music associated with the tejanos of south Texas.
The formation of this tejano music dates back to the 1930s when the style was first
commercially recorded. These people of Mexican descent, born and living in Texas,
have fused Northern Mexican folk and popular music and American popular music
to create their own genre.
Tex-Mex clearly resembles Northern Mexican norteño music. Before World
War II, the music of southern Texas and northern Mexico were practically the
same. This is the reason Mexican Americans refer to Tex-Mex music as musica
norteña. Many dances were performed in northern Mexico during the late 19th
century such as the polka, mazurka, redova, vals , and chotis, and then the paso doble and corrido in the 20th century. The main instruments used to back these
dance forms were the accordion and bajo sexto , a 12-string bass guitar. It is these forms and instrume
nts that would shape the first recorded Tex-Mex music of the
20th century.
400 | Tex-Mex
While Tex-Mex is a genre of popular music, its sound, at least in early record-
ings, resembles Mexican folk music. The corrido form, for example, is a folk ballad
or narrative backed by guitar commonly expressing the raw emotions and everyday
life experienced by Mexicans. For this reason there has been a conflict between
the various forms of Tex-Mex that eventually came into the recording scene. The
conflict is rooted in differing beliefs as to how deeply a tejano should assimilate
into American culture. One will find the Mexican American musicians that have
distanced themselves from the rural folk traditions of northern Mexico creating a
sound that is more like American rock ‘n’ roll or jazz. Still, through immigration,
the polka, schottische , waltz, and accordion use in late 20th-century Mexico came
from Europe, namely the Czech Republic and Germany, and so Tex-Mex music can
ultimately be looked at as a European, Mexican, and American form.
Tex-Mex music officially began in 1935 when accordionist Narciso Martínez,
nicknamed El Hurucan del Valle, made his first commercial recording. In the 1920s
American record companies began looking for international music and found suc-
cess with the African and Caribbean roots of jazz. In southern Texas, the accordion
had been used since 1850 and by the 1900s tejanos were dancing to accordion
music at funciones such as weddings. By the 1930s American record companies
found a vibrant dance music north of the Rio Grande that combined rural Mexican
music with European melodies. Martínez would become the father of conjunto
music after recording for IDEAL records, a small record company, which focused
exclusively on the regional music of south Texas. The conjunto music of South
Texas was made up of a two-row, diatonic button accordion along with a bajo
sexto, a bass guitar with six pairs of strings tuned in fourths at F, C, G, D, A, and E.
There were also the tololóche (double bass), a drum set, and later the electric bass.
Martínez and his bajista , Santiago Almeida, revolutionized the Tex-Mex conjunto
sound. Instead of playing bass notes on the accordion, Martínez emphasized the
treble buttons with strong articulations. He created his own bright sound and left
the bass and chordal accompaniments to Almeida. This conjunto along with the ma-
riachi would reign as the most popular musics of the Tex-Mex region. Importantly,
the conjunto sound was reminiscent of norteño music, especially being based off
of polkas and corridos and Martínez, though a popular recording artist, considered
himself a folk musician playing regional folk music. This image would persist in
the Tex-Mex conjunto as a music for the lower, working class, which also had not
assimilated into American society as much as other tejanos.
Numerous Tejanos would follow in Martínez’s footsteps while adding elements
to the basic conjunto structure. Santiago Jiménez Sr., also an accordionist, famous
for his legato technique, added the tololóche to the ensemble in the 1940s. Valerio
Longoria played accordion but more importantly incorporated vocals, specifically
canciónes rancheras (ranch songs). These vocals evoke the romantic nationalism
found in Mexico since the revolution of 1910 and remain an element of conjunto
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401
music that cannot be separated from Mexico. Longoria also sang boleros , experi-
mented with the accordion reeds to create different sounds, and introduced drums
into the ensemble. The conjunto ensemble standard of accordion, bajo sexto, bass,
and drums therefore owes much of its structure to Longoria and later Tony De La
Rosa, an accordionist of the 1950s who kept the drum set and replaced the tololóche
with the electric bass. The 1960s saw more innovations from artists like Paulino
Bernal who used three-part vocals, two chromatic accordions, and advanced har-
monies, and Esteban Jordan who incorporated jazz. This incorporation has influ-
enced decades of modern conjunto groups that have used saxophones, keyboards,
and synthesizers.
The conjunto is not the only popular exponent of Tejano musicians. Orques-
tas (orchestras), featuring at least six members but usually over ten due to a large
reed section, were very popular in south Texas from 1945 to 1980. These big
bands attracted a middle-class audience, an audience more eager to assimilate with
American culture. Beto Villa would first popularize the orquesta sound by play-
ing rancheras and American big band music for IDEAL records. Isidro “El Indio”
López played saxophone and sang, becoming popular in the late 1950s. He played
Selena
Selena Quintanilla Pérez (1971–1995), the queen of tejano music, had been
performing for 15 years, and was a multiaward-winning vocalist, before her
death at the age of 23. Selena began singing with her father’s band Los Dinos
at the age of eight. Los Dinos featured Selena on vocals, her sister Suzette,
brother A.B., and, later her husband Chris Pérez. At 15, Selena was named
Female Vocalist of the Year and Performer of the Year at the Tejano Music
Awards, a title she maintained until her death. Selena’s distinctive tejano style
joined traditional Mexican music, pop, country, jazz, rock, and rap to the
standard tejano polka rhythm, which Selena made popular in Puerto Rico,
Mexico, and Central America.
Selena’s career included two gold albums,
Ven Conmigo, and
Entre a Mi
Mundo, a fi rst for a female tejano artist, a Grammy award for Selena Live, and platinum status for her posthumously released Dreaming of You.
Further Reading
Koegel, John. “Crossing Borders: Mexicana, Tejana, and Chicana Musicians in
the United States and Mexico.” From Tejano to Tango: Latin American Popular
Music, 97–125. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Rebecca Stuhr
402 | Timba
with Narciso Martínez and his orquesta had seventeen members at times. Orquestas
featured more American than Mexican aesthetics, moving away from the norteño
folk sound, but still included rancheras. Also, because of artists like Jordan, the
distinction between orquestas and conjuntos was blurred. By the 1980s the popu-
larity of synthesizers reduced the number of players necessary in a band, ending
many orquestas. The impact of orquesta music is still felt with the 1980s polquita (little polka) conjunto, which featured horn and accordion alternations. Also, solos
in conjunto groups by artists Roberto Pulido and David Lee Garza were inspired
by orquestas.
The recent decades have seen the popularity of Tex-Mex music spread through-
out America and the rest of the world. Jiménez’s son, Flaco, has played in Europe
and fused American rock ‘n’ roll and country music with the Grammy-award win-
ning group The Texas Tornadoes. While some of the lyrics are still sung in Span-
ish, groups like The Tornadoes have edited the conjunto ensemble to include an
electric guitar, played by Freddy Fender, and a piano, while still keeping the clas-
sic accordion sound. Conjuntos have sprouted in Japan (Los Gatos) and France
/> (Los Gallos). In the 1990s, featuring entirely electronic instrumention, Selena y
los Dinos achieved huge success in the United States with the backing of large
American record companies. Tierra Tejana has fused conjunto with rap and hip-
hop in much the same way orquestas had incorporated popular African Ameri-
can genres years before them. Still an annual event, the Tejano Conjunto Music
Festival began in 1982 in San Antonio, sponsored by the radio station KEDA.
The lineup in 2007 included Joel Guzmán, Flaco Jiménez y su Conjunto, and ac-
cordionist Eva Ybarra, one of the first popular female Tex-Mex musicians who
is not a singer.
Further Reading
Flores, Gomez, and Carlos Jesus. “The Accordion on Both Sides of the Border.” In Puro
Conjunto: An Album in Words and Pictures: Writings, Posters, and Photographs from the
Tejano Conjunto Festival En San Antonio, 1982–1998, edited by Juan Tejeda and Avelardo
Valdez, 71–80. Austin, TX: CMAS Books, 2001.
Guadalupe, San Miguel. Tejano Proud: Tex-Mex Music in the Twentieth Century. Fron-
teras Series 1. Austin: Texas A&M University Press, 2002.
Peña, Manuel. The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: History of a Working-Class Music. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1985.
Raymond Epstein
Timba
Timba is a style of contemporary black Cuban dance music, sometimes called salsa
cubana, that emerged in Havana in the early 1990s. Popularized by bands such
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as NG La Banda, La Charanga Habanera, Los Van Van, and Bamboleo, and once
dubbed by Puerto Rican jazzman David Sanchez as “the smartest pop music I’ve
ever heard” (Watrous), timba is an eclectic fusion of son and rumba with elements of U.S. jazz, funk, and rap.
The term timba has long been used in Cuba as a synonym for rumba , and today it describes a type of music that sounds loosely similar to salsa in its bipartite form
(ballad-like first part with a driving call-and-response as a second part), prominent
horns, and choreographic elements (as in the Cuban couple dancing variant called
casino ). Important differences, however, include content and language ( timba fre-
quently contains Afro-Cuban slang terms) and instrumentation (where salsa gen-
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 68
