Grupera (also known as Grupero or Onda Grupera) is a subgenre of
regional Mexican
Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
music. It reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s, especially in
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...
areas. Grupera music traces its roots to the
rock groups of the 1960s yet has evolved significantly over time. Typically performed by ensembles of four or more musicians, the genre prominently features
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
s,
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, sho ...
s, and
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s. The popularity of grupera music surged notably during the 1980s, propelling it into commercial viability and establishing its place within the
Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...
landscape. Today, the genre is widely acknowledged and celebrated in prestigious Latin music awards ceremonies such as
Lo Nuestro Awards
The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish language, Spanish for "Ours") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music (genre), Latin music, presented by TelevisaUnivision, and is carried by its Univision network in ...
and the
Latin Grammy Awards
The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music, Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish language, S ...
, reflecting its enduring influence and cultural significance across Latin America and beyond. Grupera music is a distinct Mexican musical genre that blends traditional
ranchera melodies with influences from
norteño and other regional styles like
corrido
The corrido (Spanish pronunciation: Help:IPA/Spanish, oˈriðo is a famous narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a Ballad (music), ballad. The songs often feature topics such as oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaqu ...
s,
cumbia
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
s,
charangas,
ballads,
boleros and
huapangos.
Some of the most recognized groups and artists in the grupera genre include
Los Temerarios,
Marco Antonio Solís
Marco Antonio Solís Sosa (born 29 December 1959) is a Mexican musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán, Solís began his musical career at the age of six, performing with his cousin Joel ...
,
Los Bukis
Los Bukis (English: the Bukis; ''buki'' meaning "kid" in the Purépecha language) are a Mexican Grupera, grupero band. Formed in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán in 1973, the band's current lineup consists of singer and songwriter Marco Antonio Solís, ...
,
Bronco,
Grupo Bryndis, and
Grupo Limite among others. Grupera music has enjoyed great popularity in Mexico and other parts of
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, and continues to be an important part of Mexican musical culture.
History
The original wave of Mexican rock bands got their start mostly with Spanish covers of popular English rock songs. After this initial stage, they moved on to include in their repertoire traditional
ranchera songs, in addition to
cumbia
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
s and
ballads. Thus, the 1970s saw the rise of a number of grupera bands that specialized in romantic ballads and songs that up to that point had only been sung with
mariachi
Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...
.
The name comes from the fact that many of the bands had names starting with (Group).
Most of these groups had a rural origin and many previously played
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
. According to Madrid, cited by Rivera Godina,
the grupero movement had its peak in the 1970s with many famous artists who were included under the label
tropical music, such as Mike Laure,
Rigo Tovar,
Chico Che, among others, both Mexican and from other countries, who fused romantic ballads with more danceable rhythms, such as
Los Baby's,
Los Freddy's, Los Corazones Solitarios,
Los Pasteles Verdes,
Los Barón de Apodaca, and
Los Caminantes.
Under the influence of the music and film industries, the most well-known
norteño bands became synonymous with ''grupero''.
In the 1990s the term ''grupero'' and its variations started to be part of Mexico's music industry and began to receive media attention,
including different bands such as
Los Temerarios,
Los Bukis
Los Bukis (English: the Bukis; ''buki'' meaning "kid" in the Purépecha language) are a Mexican Grupera, grupero band. Formed in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán in 1973, the band's current lineup consists of singer and songwriter Marco Antonio Solís, ...
,
Los Tigres del Norte,
Bronco,
La Mafia, La Industria del Amor,
Conjunto Primavera,
Ana Bárbara,
Grupo Bryndis,
Los Acosta, Liberación, Grupo Mandigo, Mi Bande El Mexicano,
Banda Machos
Banda Machos is a regional Mexican band from Villa Corona, Jalisco.
The band specializes in the Banda music#Technobanda, technobanda genre. They are best known for popularizing the quebradita dancing style that became popular in the 1990s in Me ...
and, as the first American artist popular on both sides of the border,
Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter. Known as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Tejano Music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most cel ...
.
The media industry popularized this term to generate products based on grupera, such as the radio station
XEQR-FM
XEQR-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Located on 107.3 MHz, XEQR-FM is owned by Grupo Radio Centro and carries a grupera format as "La Z".
XEQR-FM broadcasts in HD and carries two subchannels, known as La Z on HD1 and Radio Centro XEQR ...
, whose slogan was (''savagely grupero''), specialized magazines like ''
Furia Musical'' and cable channels like
Bandamax.
Enterprises like Televisa included bands from the grupera wave like Bronco in telenovelas such as ''
Dos mujeres, un camino''.
Later,
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
cumbia
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
artists such as
Celso Piña, Margarita la Diosa de la Cumbia, and
Los Ángeles Azules would be included under the term ''grupera''.
A turning point in the development of grupera was the popularization of groups based on
banda sinaloense mainly through
Banda el Recodo and others like La Original Banda El Limón and
La Arrolladora Banda El Limón.
In the early 2000s, in Mexico the term
Regional Mexican
Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
began to be used. ''Regional Mexican music'' had already been used for several years in the United States to refer homogeneously to the regional variations of rural Mexican music and avoid including
tropical music artists under the label. Meanwhile, ''grupera'' came to refer specifically to the bands and solo artists that use electric guitars and basses, electronic keyboards and drums, but that played
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
s,
cumbia
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
s,
rancheras,
corrido
The corrido (Spanish pronunciation: Help:IPA/Spanish, oˈriðo is a famous narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a Ballad (music), ballad. The songs often feature topics such as oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaqu ...
s,
bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
s and
huapangos, with said genre being one of many styles under the Regional Mexican umbrella.
Awards
*
Latin Grammy Award for Best Grupero Album
References
External links
Gruperas.com: music
{{Music in Spanish
Regional styles of Mexican music
Latin music genres
1980s in Latin music