theBloodline

In my feeble attempt to establish yet another “separation” of Tejano music, I am slowly noticing that the state of my solitude decreases with every passing day.

In a write-up a couple of months ago, it was mentioned pretty much how history (not sure if you would call it that) is repeating itself; in other words, what was being played a couple of years ago, is being re-recorded by new bands, almost like verbatim regurgitation. In Tejano music, we are limited to certain beats like the cumbia, ranchera, and bolero. So as far as beats go, there’s nothing to change(not yet anyway!). But as far as lyrical and musical content go, we’re still singing love songs by the window, copying other bands who originated ideas.

Very few can pull it off, this attempt. Take the Tex-Mex Kadillaks for example: whilst virgin ears notice them for the first time, you will notice they sound an awful lot like Mazz. When you hear the singer’s voice, however, you’ll notice his vocal style is of his own, and the music is much more simple than Mazz while the singing proceeds.

Another progressing attempt (and successful one as far as I know) is Mr. Johnny “El Brujo” Cruz. “Listen to Folsom Prison Blues.” That’s a positive step towards changing the Onda. Notice how the song is on his CD, not just a side-song he plays live-only as other bands tend to do. And what is the name of his band? The Texas Chain Gang.

From the young crowd, we have a young bajo-sexto player who goes by “Champ.” He’s from Temple, TX. At 18 years, this young man can (and should) very well call himself a professional. If you hear him playing traditional conjunto, you will freak out at the arreglos he employs with his flying Pasaye. Other times, you will hear him playing around with different chords and coming up with beautiful schemes (the most beatiful I’ve ever heard from a bajo). When he does this, he’s clearly breaking the tejano/conjunto/norteño borders. If I didn’t know any better, I’d see Champ and I could very well start a musical revolution! Formalities aside, this dude is badass. Check out this week’s video of the week if you don’t believe me.

In conclusion, its very good to see other people working and actually changing the scene up a bit. Although unintentional it may be, these guys are contributing to a major change that we will soon see in the years to come. Get ready, Tejanos, to embrace a new era.

–Vincent