Latinx Files: The música Mexicana partí taking over Southern California

In Southern California, música Mexicana is king.

The Latin music subgenre has had a presence in the region for decades. On Olvera Street, you can find a 10-foot statue of Antonio Aguilar, “el charro de Mexico,� who along with his musical family, helped popularize jaripeos on this side of the border. In Boyle Heights, there’s Mariachi Plaza and Vicente Fernandez Street, a small stretch of pavement rechristened two years ago — on Mexican Independence Day, no less! — in honor of the recently deceased “rey de la musica ranchera.� In Long Beach, there’s a park dedicated to the homegrown Jenni Rivera, the U.S.-born “diva de la banda� who died tragically in a plane crash in 2012.

Música Mexicana makes up a huge component of the Los Angeles playlist — as of this writing, 13 of the 25 songs on Apple Music’s daily trending chart for the city are by artists of that genre. It’s part of the region’s cultural DNA, and has been a huge focus of coverage for De Los — the launch of the section somewhat coincided with música Mexicana’s shift from the fringe into the mainstream. What we’ve seen is a borderless, bottom-up cultural movement growing exponentially thanks to a predominantly Mexican American Gen Z audience that’s very online; many of the genre’s stars first broke through on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Música Mexicana is so in right now that I recently joked with a friend that it was the unofficial theme for this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. Suffice it to say, after our colleagues over at The Times’ feature desk graciously offered us the opportunity to do a print takeover of last Sunday’s Weekend section, we knew that the focus would be on how the genre makes itself present in everyday Angeleno life, how much it dictates how we spend our time and money.

The end result was a collection of eight stories that touch upon subjects like fashion, music, language and business.

In it you’ll meet people like Danny Ramirez, a former construction worker from Zacatecas, Mexico, who has become a full-time TikTok influencer who gets paid to dance at música Mexicana clubs across the country looking to attract younger crowds. You’ll read about the way in which the music of artists like Juan Gabriel is being used by educators to help English-dominant Mexican Americans learn Spanish and reconnect with their cultural heritage. You’ll also read about how música Mexicana acts like Grupo Firme were instrumental in restarting the live entertainment industry in Los Angeles after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

You’ll find several guides, including a breakdown of the musical instruments used to make música Mexicana; a list of clubs and dance parties where you can get your quebradita on; and a rundown of online and brick and mortar stores where you can find the perfect vaquero fit. And because the central focus is music, the De Los staff assembled a playlist with some of our favorite música Mexicana jams, both new and old.

You can find the entire story package here. We hope you enjoy!

(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)

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