The Rock Music Scene on the US/Mexico Border: Cultural Translation and Adaptation
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Abstract
This study addresses how rock music integrated into the local culture of a region where the dominant music genres were Tejano and other Mexican-influenced forms. Using a series of in-depth, qualitative interviews with long-practicing musicians, we discuss how rock was shaped and melded into local customs and practices. Musicians discussed being flexible in their live performances, playing British invasion songs right after a corrido, being pushed to the margins, and performing at ranches outside the city limits when clubs would not feature them. Nevertheless, the local rock music scene developed in South Texas and became a unique cultural hybrid. We use this example to discuss what cultural hybridity looks like in the context of music performance, the role of new media in advancing it, and what it means for border identity.
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