HIST

 5345I   Evaliza  Fuentes  

  Oct.  28,  2013  
   

Peña, M. (1999). Musica Tejana: The cultural economy of artistic transformation. College

Station: Texas Press.

In Musica Tejana, ethnomusicologist and folklorist Manuel Peña provides a historical

and musical survey of Mexican American music in Texas. He offers the context of music-as-

culture by separating music and its performance into organic, culturally meaningful performance

based on use-value; and super-organic, commodity production driven by exchange-value. He

effectively argues that musica tejana is not vulnerable to the pressures of exchange-value and

retains its cultural power as an organic music due to its indigenous commercial production.

After establishing his framework, he commences the task of musical study. He begins

with a musical overview of the nineteenth century that is inclusive of vocal music such as the

cancion and corrido, and dance music such as the polka, waltz and schottish. He continues with

an expanded discussion of the cancion and corrido in the twentieth century that incorporates the

beginning of sound recording for the Hispanic market and its development after World War II.

This chapter also considers the role of women in disseminating musica tejana. Vocalists Eva

Garza, Rosita Fernandez and the duet of Carmen y Laura are mentioned. Guitarist Lydia

Mendoza receives attention as well as vocalist Chelo Silva. In the following two chapters, he

discusses the Texas –Mexican conjunto and the orquesta tejana. He dedicates a chapter to “La

Onda Chicana” as the pinnacle of the orquesta tejana tradition with the careers of Little Joe and

Sunny Ozuna as the ambassadors of this style. His concluding chapter examines Tejano as the

contemporary music of the Texas-Mexican community with profiles on Grupo Mazz, La Mafia,

Selena and Emilio.

©  2013  Evaliza  Fuentes   1  

HIST  5345I   Evaliza  Fuentes  
  Oct.  28,  2013  
   

Peña writes chronologically within each ensemble style. However, the styles are in

parallel, therefore, a timeline would have beneficial to the reader. A selected discography is

made available as part of the appendix, yet, its alphabetical order does little to support the

musical genres and may have been more helpful at the end of each chapter. With musica tejana

deriving from Mexico, a reference list that made greater use of Spanish language resources

would be welcomed.

Musica Tejana is highly recommended reading for students of Mexican American music.

Peña is detailed and often supplies portions of his in-depth interviews. The pioneers and

innovators receive extensive consideration and their achievements are well presented. This

summative volume draws on the diversity of musica tejana and produces a singular reader.

Tejano music has many fans and this text is a historical source for its musical roots. With recent

media attention regarding the differences between conjunto norteño and conjunto tejano, a

Spanish language edition may find an audience among Spanish speaking scholars and fans.

Dr. Peña is a leader in the field of Mexican American music studies. Musica Tejana is a

definitive contribution in the study of ethnic music. Among his other works, The Texas-Mexican

Conjunto: History of a Working-class Music and The Mexican American Orquesta: Music,

Culture, and the Dialectic of Conflict, complement this text and should be regarded as a Mexican

American music series.

©  2013  Evaliza  Fuentes   2