[Música Grupera]
Mexican popular musical genre. The Spanish term onda grupera (literally “the group wave”) refers to the “group phenomenon,” one of Mexico’s commercially most successful forms of popular music. Grupos (groups) are ensembles with electric guitar, synthesized instruments, and a lead vocalist which play easy-listening Mexican and international pop ballads, as well as cumbias (a typical Mexican style not to be confused with its Afro-Colombian source). Grupos are characterized by a common-denominator style or “bubblegum sound” rather than a distinctive Mexican regional style or flavor. Among the top bands are Los Bukis, Los Temerarios, Liberación, and Los Fugitivos.
Grupo is both a hybrid and a transnational genre. It has its origins in the 1960s Mexican pop ballad/rock groups that imitated English and American rock groups. The Mexican rocanroleros (rock ‘n’ rollers) Los Teen Tops and a number of rock groups signed on to the Peerless label. Despite a lack of access to the Mexican mainstream media, ...
