Tex-Mex Music: Hybridity of Culture and Class

Although many Chicano artists are up and coming today, Little Joe y su familia remember a time when his music, Tex-Mex, was a genre floundering on the margins of the music industry. Little Joe's music is the epitomy of hybridity, bringing together two cultures and classes. Before there was Tex-Mex, Mexican-Americans had a choice of two kinds of music: orquesta Tejana, distinguished as an upper-class genre, and conjunto, considered a more lower-class style of music. Musician Beto Villa first combined the two playing ranchero music or "jaiton," a more high class music. But not until the early 1970's that Little Joe took hold of his roots, a Texan with strong Mexican heritage, and took hold of his identity, a musician that combined the two cultures, did the sound of his music evolve into what it is today: Tex-Mex. He is known in the music industry as the "Father of Brown Sound." Listening to the music, you can hear the Mexican influence through the beat that is "muy ranchero," but also the Texas influence comes through with the powerful signature jazzy brass section. Little Joe's singing versitility can be summed up in the comment made by the MC at Sat. night's concert. "Have you heard Little Joe belt out "New York, New York? Man, he has a set of lungs, que no? But you ain't ever heard Sinatra sing "Borachera." The crowd laughed and applauded with approval.

http://littlejoeylafamilia.homestead.com/ Little Joe's Official Website...

"I don't know. It just feels rights. If you're Mex-American, it takes your alma frontera and carries it back and forth over the musical boundaries," my husband Alex commented on the music after the concert. The concert we attended on Saturday night, March 3, 2007, was not a rock concert, a bash held in some dark auditorium (but don't get me wrong, he's played at his share of smokey, Texas, outback holes-in-de-wall bars throughout his career). Little Joe y La Familia played at the first class Plaza Theater in downtown El Paso. http://www.theplazatheatre.org/ Along with spotlight artist Little Joe, Ruben Ramos "El Gato Negro" and the Mexican Revolution opened the venue to an almost sold-out crowd. http://rubenramos.homestead.com/menu.html

More important than the glitz and glamour of the concert is the reason the concert was held. Over a year ago, Little Joe committed to this benefit concert at the Plaza Theater. The concert benefitted the non-profit organization Sin Fronteras Organizing Project established in 1983 promoting the betterment of the working conditions for the agricultural workers in the region. El Centro de Los Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizos, which was estabilished in 1995 to provide educational and health services to the region farm workers, also benefitted from the efforts of Little Joe and the other Tejano Legends. These types of benefits are typical for Little Joe; he has not forgotten his roots. As a young boy, he also worked as picker, toiling long hours in the fields. Being in the industry for over 40 years, he has supported figures such as Cesar Chavez in their humanitarian efforts. His philanthropy, combined with his Tex-Mex music, infused with a passion for his culture and people, places this Chicano Emmy winning artist en su propio mundo.

Viva La Raza! Viva! Viva La Raza! Viva!