Nortec Collective was a musical ensemble formed by various individual one- or two-man production projects. The group came together in

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico. Their genre mixes

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

with musical elements and instrumentation of tambora and norteño music, resulting in the nortec ("norteño" + "techno") style. The various projects began producing and performing nortec music around 1999. In 2001, they were signed to a recording contract with Palm Pictures, and released their first album, ''Tijuana Session Volume 1'', under the name Nortec Collective. The line-up for that album included Bostich, Clorofila, Fussible, Hiperboreal, Panoptica, Plankton Man and Terrestre. The latter two would leave Nortec Collective in 2002. Nortec Collective's second album, ''Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3'' (

Nacional Records Nacional Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It is home to numerous artists including Manu Chao, Grammy-nominated Mexican electronica group Nortec Collective, Colombian rock band Aterciopelados, Argentine roc ...

), received much critical praise and was nominated for two

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has bee ...

awards in 2006. In 2008, Nortec Collective ceased to function as a proper collective, with the various individual projects performing and recording separately. According to the Collective's Myspace page, "For the time being, Nortec Collective has decided to release music separately..." and "Until further notice, there will be not be any bookings for Nortec, Nortec Collective or Colectivo Nortec with the full four member line-up." The various individual projects went on to release and perform separately. 2008's ''Tijuana Sound Machine'' by Bostich and Fussible (Nacional Records) was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album (until 2020: ''Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album'') is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, ...

. The Nortec Collective has borrowed several elements of

Banda music Banda is a genre of Regional Mexican music and type of ensemble in which wind (mostly brass) and percussion instruments are performed. The history of banda music in Mexico dates from the middle of the 19th century with the arrival of piston br ...

sub-culture and have used them both in their songs ("Narcoteque", "Almada") and in their visuals and album covers.

Performances and projects

Since 1999, the Nortec Collective musicians have toured throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, Japan and Latin America. They have played

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Central Park SummerStage Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center (disambiguation), center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa ...

and

Irving Plaza Irving Plaza (known through sponsorship as Irving Plaza, powered by Klipsch and formerly known as the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) is a ballroom-style music venue located within the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. ...

, as well as the

Winter Music Conference The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a week-long electronic music conference, held every March in Miami Beach, Florida, United States since 1985. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings togethe ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

, the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and shows at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Elysée Montmartre in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. Former Mexican President

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...

invited Nortec to provide music for the Mexican pavilion at the

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were exp ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, and they have done remixes for

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...

, Calexico,

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classic ...

Kronos quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary class ...

, Leigh Nash, and Lenny Kravitz among others. In 2006 Nortec performed at the ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose pare ...

'' Detour Festival in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, sharing the bill with Beck,

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line ...

, and

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

. The band also performed "Que Bonita Bailas" for the AIDS benefit album '' Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux'' produced by the

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

. Nortec's music has appeared in commercials for

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, Fidelity Mutual, Edwin Jeans (with

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

), and Nissan. The song "Tijuana Makes Me Happy" is on the soundtrack '' 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany'', the video game by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

, and is the title song of the feature film by the same name. An interactive book entitled ''Paso del Nortec: This Is Tijuana'' dedicated to the Nortec phenomenon was released in the US, Mexico and Europe in 2004. In 2005, Nortec Collective released their most acclaimed work to date, the album ''Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3'', which received two Latin Grammy nominations and earned significant airplay on tastemaker radio stations like

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

(Los Angeles),

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the non- ...

(Seattle) and KUT (Austin). The omission of a second volume was thought to have been in imitation of the

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 albu ...

' intentional numbering of their two albums as Volumes 1 and 3, but it was more in reference to an unfinished Volume 2 album that was not released. The book ''Nor-tec Rifa!: Electronic Dance Music from Tijuana to the World'' by Alejandro L. Madrid was published in March 2008. It describes nortec music's composition process and its relation to the nortena, banda, and grupera traditions. In 2008 the album ''Nortec Collective Presents Bostich + Fussible: Tijuana Sound Machine'' was released. ''Corridos Urbanos'' by Clorofila was released in 2010. ''Bulevar 2000'' by Bostich + Fussible was released in 2010 on

. In 2008, Nortec released a music video for their song "Polaris", created by the late Heath Ledger's film collective,

The Masses ''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...

. They released what was stated to be their final album, ''Motel Baja'', on 16 September 2014 –

Mexican Independence Day Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

. Hear Nortec Collective Take the Tom Tom Club to Tijuana on 'Motel Baja'
Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2015-12-01. In April 2015, Nortec Collective: Bostich+Fussible performed a live/DJ set for Boiler Room in Mexico City.Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible
YouTube. Retrieved 2015-12-01. As of 2020, Nortec: Bostich+Fussible have been the most active duo of the former collective, performing at Coachella, Glastonbury, PortAmerica, Vive Latino and numerous venues around the world.

Recognition

Nortec Collective's album ''Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3'' received two Latin Grammy nominations in 2006 for "Best Alternative Music Album" and "Best Recording Package." The 2008 album ''Tijuana Sound Machine'' by Bostich and Fussible was nominated for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album for the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

Discography

* '' Nortec Sampler'' (1999) * '' Nortec Collective: The Spaced TJ Dub EP'' (1999) * '' Bostich+Fussible: Nortec'' (2001) * ''

The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (2001) * '' Nortec Experimental'' (2001) * '' Panoptica: 01 * 02 * 03 * 04'' (2001) * '' ¡Terrestre vs Planktonman!'' (2003) * '' The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3'' (26 July 2005) * '' Nortec Collective Presents Bostich+Fussible - Tijuana Sound Machine'' (29 April 2008) * '' Nortec Collective Presents Clorofila: Corridos Urbanos'' (13 April 2010) * '' Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich+Fussible - Bulevar 2000'' (14 September 2010) * '' Nortec Collective: Hiperboreal - Border Revolver'' (5 May 2012) * '' Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich+Fussible - Motel Baja'' (16 September 2014)

Bibliography

* '' Paso del Nortec. This is Tijuana''. José Manuel Valenzuela. Trilce Editores 2004 * '' Rockin the Americas. The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/o America''. Deborah Pacini, Susana Ascencio. UNiversity of Pittsburgh. 2004 * '' Loops -una historia sobre la música electronica-''. Javier Blánquez. Reservoir Editores. 2005. * '' Nor-tec Rifa Electronic Dance Music from Tijuana to the World''. Alejandro L. Madrid Oxford University Press. 2008.

References

External links