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Viva La Mafia: Do you know the difference between tejano and mexicano-regional music? Well, neither does the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), those people who produce the grammies. Houston's La Mafia won the 1998 grammy for best tejano/Mexican-American performance for the album En Tus Manos, the sextet's second consecutive Grammy. Before the trophy had even cooled off, however, they were hearing complaints from one of the losers, San Jose, California's Los Tigres Del Norte. Los Tigres, who have been nominated for ten grammies and won only one, cried foul at the voting process on two accounts: that the voting is skewed towards Texas' Latin population, giving Texas bands an advantage; and that Los Tigres is not a tejano group. "That's like putting Garth Brooks or Madonna in that category," says Los Tigres manager Alfoso de Alba. "You do that and they would win every time. There needs to be two categories -- tejano and mexicano regional." He has a point, not only are Los Tigres not tejano, but La Mafia is becoming less and less tejano as they travel the globe picking up new styles. "They have much more a world music sound now," says La Mafia publicist Abel Salas. I talked to Freddie Martinez, Jr. who helps run Freddie Records in Corpus Christi and who also chairs the Texas chapter of NARAS. He agrees about the need for another category and, in fact, says he's been diligently working to that end for the last couple of years. But as far as unfair voting practices, he says "no way." In fact, Los Tigres' complaints, says Martinez, are "a sign of sour grapes, I think, but also show a lack of understanding of the voting process."
None of this fazes La Mafia, though, who are definitely at the peak of their long career. Not only have they won grammies, played to huge crowds in Texas and elsewhere, but they recently received a deal to do commercials for Jumex, the Mexican juice company (think guava nectar). In and of itself, that may not sound significant, but it's a big deal for a foreign group to be popular enough in Mexico to land a prime endorsement contract.
As for Los Tigres, perhaps NARAS will get the picture by the time next year's grammies roll around.
 Blues club opens its Gates: Friday, April 10, saw the public grand opening of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's Dallas club, One Foot in the Bayou. The Dallas Morning News reports that it "bears more than a passing resemblance to the House of Blues nightclubs. Colorful folk art pieces and corrugated metal cover the walls, and the club glows with light from cathedral-style fixtures and a candle-lined religious shrine." Brown is one of the most influential and revered of Texas' blues guitarists and at 73, he played the opening night with impressive spunk.
(4/15/98) |
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