# What is "Mexican Polka" music all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109 "2005-11-08T21:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/21 "2005-11-09T19:06:31Z")
**Los Lobos** (from east LA, of “How Will The Wolf Survive” fame) definitely make their own music, but seem to have been _influenced_ by “Mexican polka” type music. I love those guys. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/22 "2005-11-09T19:14:10Z")
by Johnny L.A.: > [@](#): > > ‘Ekkeess-tay-aray-ah, effay-emmay, Tijuana, Mexico.’ What? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/23 "2005-11-09T19:14:32Z")
> [@Tijuana\_Golds](#): > > And to answer the OP: most are love songs and laments but some are about drug dealing and coyotes (immigrant smugglers), those are banned by alot of radio stations in Mexico. A clue to the OP: listen for key words like _corazon_ (heart), _esposa_ (wife) or _mujer_ (girlfriend), and _El Norte_ (The North, a reference to the United States). It’s guaranteed that one or more of those words will appear liberally in any noretna/ranchero/banda song. If you hear all of those words in a song, the song is probably about someone who’s working as a migrant laborer in the States, and how they miss their lover back home; it’s an EXTREMELY common theme. In Mexico itself, the music is supposedly most popular among rural residents in northern states. Demographically, it’s the equivalent of country music in the US. Since so many immigrants to the US are from rural areas in northern Mexico, the oompa tunes are about the only ones you’ll hear in Mexican-American neighborhoods. Imagine if there was a wave of American immigrants in … oh, Sweden, and they all came from rural Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. Same thing. One thing about that style of music: I’ve never, ever heard it played at anything but ear-splitting volumes. I lived in New Mexico for four years, and I was never in a store, restaurant or someone’s house where Mexican oompa music was playing softly, much less a volume that didn’t cause your _orejas_ to bleed. The decibel level of mariachi and guitar music was normally comfortable, but anything accordions and tubas into the mix, and the volume knob was _always_ turned up to 11. ---
**Author:** ![pocelene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/0ea827/32.png) [@pocelene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pocelene)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/24 "2005-11-09T19:19:18Z")
Accordians are fun. What’s to guess? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/25 "2005-11-09T19:26:45Z")
> [@Tijuana\_Golds](#): > > by Johnny L.A.: > > What? On English stations that also broadcast in Mexico, they periodically have a recorded station identification message in Spanish. And it’s _Baja California, Mexico_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/26 "2005-11-09T19:37:30Z")
> [@](#): > > On English stations that also broadcast in Mexico, they periodically have a recorded station identification message in Spanish. :smack: XETRA FM, Of course! I thought it was pig latin! No wonder it didn’t make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/27 "2005-11-09T19:52:15Z")
[These](http://www.olg-parish.org/fiesta/music.htm) [sites](http://www.hispaniconline.com/hh/tejano.html) explain it all. Here you will see that Banda is definitely not what the OP is referring to. If his description is correct, what he’s hearing is likely tejano, conjunto or norteño. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/28 "2005-11-09T20:27:34Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > Ya missed Post # 6, huh? And #9 apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/29 "2005-11-09T20:37:03Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > And it’s _Baja California, Mexico_ The XETRA station ID used to be “Tijuana, Mexico,” but changed to “Baja California, Mexico” sometime around the '70s, IIRC. It was a little more rhythmic the first way. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/30 "2005-11-09T21:34:48Z")
> [@lorinada](#): > > [These](http://www.olg-parish.org/fiesta/music.htm) [sites](http://www.hispaniconline.com/hh/tejano.html) explain it all. Here you will see that Banda is definitely not what the OP is referring to. If his description is correct, what he’s hearing is likely tejano, conjunto or norteño. I was thinking conjunto when I read the first few posts. Impossible to stay in a bad mood with this stuff playing, but the craving for guacamole is overwhelming. I love it! PBS ran a real good special on the art recently. ---
**Author:** ![iluvurmom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iluvurmom/32/7276_2.png) [@iluvurmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iluvurmom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/31 "2005-11-09T21:57:55Z")
For some reason this music always makes me laugh, I have no idea why…just the sound of it and the way people react to it…jumping, yelling, screaming…humor at it’s best my friends, humor at it’s best… ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/32 "2005-11-10T04:17:59Z")
_Loveline_ plays a game based on this stuff from time to time: Ace’s Mexican Ranchero Accordion Countdown. They load up a random song, set the seek bar to a random point in the song, and then Adam, Drew, and their guests place bets on how many seconds it’ll be from the time they push play until they hear an accordion. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/33 "2005-11-10T15:11:07Z")
Any reason why the genre is only played at EAR-SPLITTING VOLUMES? Don’t say “It’s because you can’t hear it from passing cars if it’s quiet” - even in public places, I’ve never heard it at a reasonable volume. Mariachi music and classical Spanish guitar are normally played at tolerable volumes, but when there’s accordions and tubas, the volume is _always_ 11. If I’m at a construction site, the mullet rock played by the framers and drywallers is never as loud as the norteno blasting when the landscapers come in. When I lived in New Mexico, same thing; in a neighborhood restaurant, all would be fine until “♪♫♬OOMPAOOMPA♪♫♬ mi corazon ♪♫♬OOMPAOOMPA♪♫♬ ay ay ay ♪♫♬OOMPAOOMPA♪♫♬ dios mio ♪♫♬OOMPAOOMPA♪♫♬ hwah hwah hwah ♪♫♬OOMPAOOMPA♪♫♬”, at which point the volume knob would be turned clockwise as far as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/34 "2005-11-10T15:46:59Z")
Still, beats the shit out of Arab pop music. ---
**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/35 "2005-11-11T06:56:29Z")
Y’all are conflating a lot of different Mexicano genres. Tejano has accordions, guitars, drums and a solid polka beat. Santiago Jimenez (Flaco’s dad) was the master. Norteño came through California, had accordions & polka beats but also included guitars, violins, sometimes horns. Lots of waltzes, cumbias and rancheras (one-steps) in the mix, too. Los Tigres del Norte is one of the biggest bands in this genre. Los Lobos eran puro Norteño but also genius enough to combine it with blues, rock, country & punk. Banda is from Mexico proper, is usually in waltz time and the bass line is all about the sousaphone. It’s usually vocals against the bass line, then blasts of mariachi-flavored brass. Banda orquestas are la-arge. Banda Macho and Banda Sinaloa are my two favs. Me gusta ella todos. ---
**Author:** ![ms.deanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@ms.deanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ms.deanna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109/36 "2005-11-14T04:14:22Z")
I love a good cumbia myself. Orale! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mexican-polka-music-all-about/330109.md?page=1)