This woman is credited with catapulting Tejano, or Texas-Mexican music, in to the mainstream market.

Tejano is a hybrid, a mixture of Conjunto, an accordion-based style dating back again to the belated nineteenth century, with a contemporary rhythm area of electric guitars, bass, keyboards and drums. By the mid-twentieth century Tejano had traveled through the cantinas to ballrooms, after which to groups where it had been played by smaller ensembles that included a key accordion, drums and guitar. Brand brand brand New, young bands—some sequin-clad, some with cowboy boots and ten-gallon caps —joined the Quintanilla household musical organization, Selena y Los Dinos, on endless trips on dilapidated buses to towns throughout the Southwest: Lake Jackson, Laredo, El Paso, surviving on candy pubs and baloney sandwiches.

After which started the street towards the top. Broadcast promoters played Selena y Los Dinos’ documents in growing numbers:

KXTN in San Antonio, KLAX/ Los Angeles, and KKLB/Austin. The venues got bigger, the crowds larger. They cut documents with independent Tex-Mex manufacturers – Freddie, Cara, Mabel — offering as much as 20,000 documents. In 1986 and once more in 1987, Selena won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the season. She won once again in 1989, as well as for seven years thereafter. (more…)