Music is a big part of South Texas culture. It’s more than the birthplace or home to legends ranging from Kris Kristofferson and Freddy Fender to Roberto Cantoral and Gloria Trevi; more than the site where Narciso Martinez created the norteño genre that, along with its related Tejano and conjunto styles, has become a big part of Mexican culture. It also offers a unique amalgam English and Spanish styles, creating a musical culture that is as seamlessly bilingual as the chatter we hear in local shopping centers and school hallways.
So it’s welcome and appropriate that the city of McAllen has secured designation as a “Music Friendly Community” by the Texas Music Office, a department of state government.
It’s a designation the entire Rio Grande Valley can embrace, and other cities could consider pursuing as well.
To earn the designation, a community establishes a liaison between itself and the state; it can be part of the formal city government, tourism or convention and visitors’ bureau. It conducts a music workshop sponsored by the state office and registers with the state Texas Music Industry Directory. It also creates an advisory board with local music industry stakeholders, builds partnerships with nonprofit organizations that promote music and cultural development, and collaborates with music education programs at local schools and colleges.
Such pieces are in place all across the Valley, from music-related museums and displays such as the Tejano Walk of Fame in Edinburg to street festivals and weekly open-air concerts at local RV parks and flea markets. Valley schools, from the university down to local high schools and middle schools, have strong bands, choirs and ensembles that have gained state and even national recognition. Special events including the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Guitar Festival and Brownsville’s Latin Jazz Festival add to and enrich the mix.
This is one of the only places where school mariachis and estudiantinas are popular, and where even the coolest teenagers dance old cumbias and huapangos at weddings, quinceañeras and other celebrations.
The Valley’s unique musical culture is worth celebrating and promoting. It is one of the threads that tie residents, and generations, together. Also, many studies have shown that the promotion of music, including music programs in the schools, can help improve children’s cognitive development and understanding of several subjects including math.
Our musical culture is unique enough, and strong enough, that an organized effort to embrace and promote it could make South Texas’ music offerings one more avenue for attracting visitors — and artists.
Working with the Texas Music Office could help such efforts. Utilizing the office’s business referral network also could help local musicians make contacts that might help them follow in the tracks of Grupo Mazz, Del Castillo and other Valley natives who have found commercial success.
The Rio Grande Valley has something special in the musical world. Local officials should consider following McAllen’s lead and joining with the state to tell the world about it.
