Monday, April 18, 2011

Mexican Banda Music

At the center of the pop music world in Mexico is a style of brass music called Banda. Although first seen in the 1880's, banda music exploded into Mexican pop music in the 1990's. The instrumentation uses brass, woodwinds, and percussion: sousaphones, trombones, trumpets, Latin percussion, and clarinet/saxophones.

Banda el Recodo is a very famous group today that plays in this style. It is remarkable that this group has been around since 1938 and is STILL in the pop scene today. That kind of longevity is the opposite of American pop. The ensemble consists of four clarinets, three trumpets, Latin percussion, a sousaphone, three trombones, and three singers.

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