Mexican Sounds Come Alive in Area By HANNAN ADELY Without a hint of
squirming, Tony and Jorge toast the crowd and toss down The two men croon into microphones at a leisurely pace, while the sounds of trumpets and accordions stream from the speakers. They are delivering the Mexican home-style sound called ranchera to a group of young Spanish-speaking males gathered at El Diamante Poblano, a Mexican restaurant on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood. Ranchera, sometimes referred to as the Mexican version of polka or of American-style country music, gets the crowd singing. One 20-something male even replaces Jorge for two songs, boldly singing the words to a few of his favorites with Tony. The crowd is passionate. Ricardo Diaz, a Norwood resident who was raised in Guerrero, Mexico, is a regular at El Diamante. "This place is great," Diaz says. "You can drink, eat and listen to music from home." Diaz also says he appreciates the wide selection of Mexican beer, which includes Tecate, Negra Modelo, Pacifico, Sol and Presidente. Jorge and Tony make up the duo Los Dos Plebes, and can be found every Sunday night at El Diamante. Other ranchera acts visit the restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights. Latin music - especially salsa, merengue, and pop acts like Selena and Ricky Martin - has spread like wildfire in the United States in recent years, but many regional music styles are still a mystery to the American public. In small restaurants and clubs in the northwest Bronx like El Diamante, though, the flavor of Mexican regional music is alive and kicking. Two Mexican restaurants on Webster Avenue, El Tenampa and El Vaquero Chicano, feature bands and DJs who play norteño (polka-influenced festive music, with accordions, drums, saxophones and guitars), tejano (guitar-driven Tex-Mex sound, also featuring accordion), baladas (romantic, pop-style music), and mariachi (includes a sombrero-wearing band of eight to 10 members, singing and playing guitars, trumpets and violins). The most dance-inducing of all Mexican music styles is cumbia, with its conga drums and Afro-Caribbean beat. "Cumbia is very common to Mexico," says Latino musician and Norwood resident Ibrahim Gonzalez. "It tends to have a more tropical beat. It's rhythmically accented." Bronx resident Raul Martinez, from Puebla, Mexico, says a good cumbia or ranchera group playing weekend nights at El Tenampa can draw a big crowd. "When there's a popular band here, you can't even get in. The line is out the door," Martinez says. "The dance floor gets packed when cumbia plays." But one does not have to be a night owl or club crawler to soak up the full Mexican music experience. A sprinkling of Mexican restaurants throughout the northwest Bronx showcase juke boxes with all types of regional music. One at the intersection of Kingsbridge and Fordham roads, features half a dozen records from Vicente Fernandez, a famous mariachi singer with a long and acclaimed career, romantic ballads by the band Los Bukis, and Tex-Mex pop acts like Selena. Patrons who venture over to Montezuma's Restaurant on Kingsbridge Road, may even find themselves serenaded by a strolling mariachi band. Lovers of this music can also visit two Latin music stores in Norwood - Ritmo Musical on E. Mosholu Parkway North and Cholula Records on Perry Avenue, which specializes in Mexican music. The owner of Cholula Records, Oralia Zacatelco, opened the record store to appeal to the Bronx's large Mexican population, most of whom, like Zacatelco, come from Puebla. Jouvanin Zacalteco, who works at Cholula Records, says the store caters to Latinos who cannot find their homeland favorites in music stores like The Wiz or Sam Goody. "This place is different," he says. "We have all Spanish and just a little bit of English ... People miss the music, so they come here." With the local Mexican population increasing, Mexican music spots will continue to gain in popularity. As one Cholula Records customer remarked: "Mexicans, wherever they go, bring their food and music with them."
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shots of tequila.
Placing cowboy hats atop their heads, they saunter toward the microphones,
their cowboy boots clicking and clacking lightly. The pink neon lights of
the dimly-lit restaurant bounce off their large, luminous belt buckles
that bear engravings of eagles.
