April 1- 7, 2004

music

Know Mexico?

HATS OFF: Nati Cano and his Los Camperos hail from L.A., but make traditional mariachi music with soaring trumpet harmonies and passionate singing.

Masters of Mexican Music Tour unites and conquers.

by Mary Armstrong

Think of Mexican music. Chances are the image that comes to mind will be mariachis in their splendid charro suits and large hats. There’s also an aural impression: soaring trumpet harmonies, lush violins and passionate singers.

That's pretty much a thumbnail of Nati Cano and his Los Camperos, one of four groups on the Masters of Mexican Music Tour.

Cano was born in Jalisco, the home state of mariachi music. He has been an Angeleno since 1960. His group, Los Camperos, has existed almost as long, earning him world renown and an NEA prize which declares the recipient a national treasure, a bearer of irreplaceable cultural information.

Want to hear "La Bamba" as it has been handed down from one generation to the next in Vera Cruz? Well, then, José Gutiérrez is your man. Another adopted Angeleno and another NEA National Heritage Fellow, Gutiérrez plays the pure música jarocha. Tight harmonies, harp, jarana and requinto, and snappy rhythms supply the dance music of the region. When you dream of heel-pounding percussive zapateado dances, this is the soundtrack.

Marimba is a southern Mexican favorite, rooted in Chiapas, but heard across the country. Mellow wooden tones -- hammered sometimes with blinding speed and always with syncopation -- are the key. Marimba Chiapas is a Houston-based trio led by Lorenzo Cruz and named after the home state of its members. All three men play one large, elegant instrument at the same time. This will be the least familiar type of Mexican music.

For the most subliminally recognized, we have native Texan Mingo Saldivar heading up his conjunto Y Los Cuatro Espadas. Subliminal because conjunto is not just crossover when the Texas Tornadoes are in town, or when Flaco is touring with Ry Cooder. Conjunto is the sound that country music summons up when the lyrics look to the border. This is the Mexican music that arguably owns the Southwest.

When the Czechs and Germans arrived in Texas with accordions it didn't take long for Mexican-Americans to learn to love the instrument's reedy sound as it radiated polkas, mazurkas and schottisches.

The border between Texas and Mexico has always been more principle than fact. Families live on both sides, commerce crosses both ways, as does entertainment. Argue all you want as to whether conjunto is a Mexican or Mexican-American art form. If you cross the border and ask for música norteña, you will be directed to big racks filled with CDs by cowboy-looking vatos; or told to go down the street to hear the accordion and bajo sexto leading the dancers through the stately paces of polka as it is danced in the hotter climes. Conjunto or norteña, the beat, the instruments, the honky-tonk themes are the same and the best bands play both sides of the border.

Saldivar and his band are all San Antonians, in the middle of a tour that is otherwise rooted on the other side. Is there any jealousy? Any hissing that they are not "real Mexicans?" Not a bit, he replies. "That only happens with the younger bands who are not professional. Everyone is professional on this tour and we respect each other."

It is quite possible that Saldivar's conjunto is more widely celebrated in Mexico than any of the other groups on the tour. "We were scheduled to play a dance on July 4, 1994, just a weekend or so to try it out. This DJ had been playing "Rueda de Fuego,'" -- yes, a bilingual version of "Ring of Fire," -- "for some months."

The response was so great that, "We only went home to do laundry and a couple of festivals we were committed to." Place after place was packed to capacity. "They loved us so much they made up a new dance, the "Mingo Mania.'"

The key to his success: "I've always repeated the same thing, 'cause I believe it. I'm gonna be 68 this coming August, God willing. What's kept us going is the style. We've kept it up, doing our bilingual thing. Some are original, some are my Spanish words to country hits."

Saldivar's alias is "The Dancing Cowboy." Is he still frisky enough to earn that title? "I'm still dancing on the stage with the wireless [mic'd] accordion, getting off the stage, mixing it up with the crowd. But, I dunno, bad lights, bad aim? A coupla years ago I tore up some discs in my back jumping off the stage while playing the accordion, so I'm a little more careful now."

Saldivar remains down to earth, even despite the "unexpected" National Heritage Fellowship on his resume. "I've always been fortunate enough to be blessed with good talent around me. That makes up for anything that I lack," he states without a hint of false modesty.

Masters of Mexican Music, April 3, 8 p.m., $16-$18, Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell Campus, 340 De Kalb Pike, Route 202 and Morris Rd., 215-641-6518.