Regional Mexican music in Mexico

[e-dawg]

I know Regional Mexican music (banda, nortena, rachera, etc) is very popular among Mexican Immigrants in the United States, however, I heard the format is not that popular in big cities in Mexico i.e. Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara. Someone told me in Mexico City alot of people listen to Techo or Spanish Pop instead of Regional Mexican. When I was visiting Tijuana, I heard a lot of stores listen to either EXA-FM, Radio Latina 104.5, Digital 107.3, or Pulsa 107.7. Where do people who listen to Regional Mexican music come from in Mexico?

 

[davideduardo]

I know Regional Mexican music (banda, nortena, rachera, etc) is very popular among Mexican Immigrants in the United States, however, I heard the format is not that popular in big cities in Mexico i.e. Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara. Someone told me in Mexico City alot of people listen to Techo or Spanish Pop instead of Regional Mexican. When I was visiting Tijuana, I heard a lot of stores listen to either EXA-FM, Radio Latina 104.5, Digital 107.3, or Pulsa 107.7. Where do people who listen to Regional Mexican music come from in Mexico?

"Regional Mexican" is a US term not used in Mexico. The similar formats in Mexico are called "grupera" and in Mexico City, the #1 station is La Z, with arround a 17 share... it is grupera. The next closest station has around a 5 or 6 share. And La Ke Buena is also in the top 5 stations.

In Monterrey, three of the top 5 are grupera, and the same applies to Guadalajara. In the smaller cities, grupera is even a bigger factor. In more rural areas, it is the only format.

 

[Huff]

...in Mexico City, the #1 station is La Z, with arround a 17 share... it is grupera. The next closest station has around a 5 or 6 share. And La Ke Buena is also in the top 5 stations.

The top-line (8+) numbers for DF posted on INRA's site show Zeta with a 1.059 rating (~ 8.71 share) for 2008 (Ene-Sep).
http://www.inra.com.mx/archivos/rating_para_universitarios.xls

Does Zeta perform that much better in demo? I wish INRA would follow Arbitron and BBM's lead and at least make their top-line releases accessible, not just these partial year aggregates.

 

[elchupacabras]

I know Regional Mexican music (banda, nortena, rachera, etc) is very popular among Mexican Immigrants in the United States, however, I heard the format is not that popular in big cities in Mexico i.e. Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara. Someone told me in Mexico City alot of people listen to Techo or Spanish Pop instead of Regional Mexican. When I was visiting Tijuana, I heard a lot of stores listen to either EXA-FM, Radio Latina 104.5, Digital 107.3, or Pulsa 107.7. Where do people who listen to Regional Mexican music come from in Mexico?

I would agree with the above posts, and living in Mexico, I can tell you that "grupera" is the most dominant format. The reason why it is referred to as "Regional Mexican" in the United States is simple: There are a number of regional elements that help comprise the format:

1) Banda Sinaloense - Originating from the northern state of Sinaloa, weaving in a little German influence and local charm, "banda" (and later sub-genres such as techno-banda) is very popular among the 18-45 crowd.
(Examples: Banda El Recodo, La Arrolladora, Banda Machos)

2) Duranguense - Born in Chicago and later exported to Mexico, some consider this mix of high energy music to also be a sub-genre of "banda" since it relies heavily on an updated version of the Zacatecan "tamborazo," or small wind group accompanied by a marching drum. It is mistakenly attributed to the state of Durango, perhaps because most of its originators (Montez de Durango, Los Horoscopos de Durango) were Durango natives living in Chicago.

3) Ranchera - A musical art form carved out of the traditional mariachi, primarily associated with the state of Jalisco. (Vicente Fernandez, Pepe Aguilar)

4) "Grupera"- A musical movement that embodies all of these genres to a certain degree, but in its strictest sense, originates from central Mexico in the 1970's and 80's with such as Los Bukis and Bronco.

5) Norteno - Literally "northern music." Typically associated with the states of Nuevo Leon and Sinaloa, relying heavily on the accordion. A sub-genre associated with this style is corridos, or stories of drug deals gone bad or "brave men" (i.e. Pancho Villa, the Revolution). Narco-corridos are very popular on some U.S. stations, but are banned on the air in Mexico. Examples of artists: Tigres del Norte, Conjunto Primavera

6) Tropical - A broad term referring to many styles of music generally heard from Mexico City to South America (although popular elsewhere in Mexico too). Cumbia (a Colombian export) is the most popular of these "ritmos" but salsa, merengue and bachata have made recent incursions into Mexico City and Puebla as well.

Now you can understand why it is called "Regional Mexican." But at the same time, you can also see that while it is the most widely listened to format in Mexico ("grupera"), it is not universal. (My wife is Mexican and hates "grupera" music. She listens to English AC. I listen to "pura banda" and I'm not Mexican by birth!) It would be like saying all Americans listen to Country music.