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The KUT Longhorn Radio Network Presents: Mexican American Experience Collection

Audio recordings including interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns in the series "The Mexican American Experience" and "A esta hora conversamos" from the Longhorn Radio Network, 1976-1982.

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PROGRAM INFO

Title:
The Development Of Chicano Music
Program #
1978-26
Theme:
Culture

Series:
Music
Host:
Armando GutiƩrrez
Guest:
Armando GutiƩrrez
Date:
Jun 6, 1978

The Development of Chicano Music

Host Armando Gutierrez discusses the development of Chicano Music and offers several examples of the different styles that have evolved over the years. He first discusses the corrido and its basic elements, including its instrumentation and narrative structure and he plays a clip of the song El Gato Negro. Gutierrez then explains that some Chicano music incorporated elements of other American music styles, including jazz, and increased the beat to make the songs more conducive to dancing. Other groups, such as Los Chachos, have experimented with the accordion and tried to make new sounds with the instrument, sometimes by connecting it to an amplifier.

Gutierrez then discusses another band, Los Fabulosos Cuatro, and its unique sound, which blends polka and country influences. Some Chicano musicians have been able to cross-over to Anglo audiences, including the San Antonio band, The Royal Jesters. The last clip Gutierrez plays is from the band Mayo, a Corpus Christi group which incorporates some Dixieland elements as well as polka and which has lately found some success outside of South Texas. Gutierrez concludes that Chicano music is as diverse as the community from which it comes.

KEYWORDS

Accordion
Al Echevarria
Chicano Music
Conjunto
Conjunto Bernal
Corpus Christi
Corrido
Dance Music
El Buque de Mas Potencia
El Gato Negro
Harmonic Accordion
Horns
Jazz
Los Chachos
Los Fabulosos Cuatro
Mayo
Musical diversity
Polka
Rio Grande Valley
Roberto Pulido y Los Classicos
San Antonio
Saxophone
Si a caso vuelvas
South Texas
The Royal Jesters
Trumpets
Y Andale
 

Center for Mexican American Studies | Department of History | The Benson Latin American Collection

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