Musica Tejana: The Cultural Economy of Artistic Transformation (University of Houston Series in Mexican American Studies , No 1)

Texas-Mexican music, or musica tejana, is not one single music but several musica and musico-literary genres, ensembles, and their styles, encompassing the corrido, cancion, and what author Manuel Pena calls the cancion-corrido. Musica tejana also includes two major regional ensembles and their styles -- the conjunto and the Texas-Mexican version of the orquesta. A more recent crop of synthesizer-driven ensembles and their styles, known since the mid-eighties as "Tejano, " is another representative of musica tejana. Despite their diversity, these ensembles, genres, and styles share two fundamental characteristics: they are all homegrown, and they all speak fundamental social processes shaping Texas-Mexican society. As Pena argues, they represent a transforming cultural economy and its effects on Texas-Mexicans.