Musica Nortena

Muacute;sica nortentilde;a, a musical genre with its roots in the folk ballad traditions of Northern Mexico and the Texas-Mexican border region, has become a hugely popular musical style in the U.S., particularly among Mexican immigrants. Featuring evocative songs about undocumented border-crossers, drug traffickers, and the plight of immigrant workers, muacute;sica nortentilde;a has become the music of a "nation between nations."Muacute;sica Nortentilde;ais the first definitive history of this transnational music that has found enormous commercial success in norteameacute;rica. Cathy Ragland, an ethnomusicologist and former music critic, serves up the fascinating fifty-year story of muacute;sica nortentilde;a, enlivened by interviews with important musicians and her own first-hand observations of live musical performances. Beyond calling our attention to musical influences, Ragland shows readers the social and economic forces at work behind the music. By comparing muacute;sica nortentilde;a with other popular musical forms, including conjunto tejano, she helps us understand and appreciate the musical ties that bind the Mexican diaspora.

Cathy Ragland is an Assistant Professor in Music and the Arts at SUNY/Empire State College. She is a former music critic for the San Antonio Express-News, Seattle Times and Austin American-Statesman, where, among many things, she wrote about Tex-Mex and Norte±a music. She is also a former folklorist and co-founder of the Mariachi Academy of New York, an after-school program in East Harlem.