Pop hits in English now also sound in Norteña

At first, Jaime Guevara's version of “Hey There Delilah” sounds exactly like any other cover of Plain White T's hit song from 2006. But after a few seconds, an accordion enters. Guevara then switches from English to Spanish. “How are you, Delilah?” he intones.

The song has become a northern song, a ballad of a regional Mexican genre heavily loaded with accordions and other acoustic instruments.

Guevara, a Houston musician, and his EZ Band have created more than a dozen northern-style covers, like Taylor Swift's “Blank Space” and Adele's “Easy on Me” — and they've been successful. The EZ Band's version of “Hey There Delilah” has been streamed more than 1.5 million times on Spotify, and at least 2 million times on TikTok.

“It's kind of changed a lot of my life,” Guevara, 33, said of the growing interest in the group and its album “Make It Norteño Vol. 1.”

Norteño music, and other regional Mexican genres, such as tumbados, are becoming more popular. Combining that style with Top 40 hits gives first- and second-generation Americans a way to connect with a musical heritage they didn't know or might have left behind.

The sound of norteño music has influences dating back to the 1840s, when Germans began settling in what is now South Texas, said Celestino Fernández, a retired sociology professor and consultant for the University of Arizona.

“They brought their music with them and the accordion was a foundational instrument for the waltz and the polka,” he explained. “Then, with the 12-string guitar, Mexicans basically created norteño music.”

Guevara, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, noted that his covers were a product of his origins: he grew up listening to norteño songs thanks to his father, who played music in trucks for tips in Mexico. When Guevara moved to Houston with his family at age 9, he was exposed to new genres of music in a new language.

“I was from the generation that grew up here listening to all music in English, but also has family members who listen to Norteño,” he noted.

For decades, norteño music has been popular mostly in northern Mexico, the southwestern United States, and California. But in recent years, he has gained new recognition thanks, in part, to the prominence of other Latin artists such as Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma. They have collaborated with northern groups.

Fernández commented that part of the rise of norteño music could be attributed to the growth of the Latino population in the US.

“I think what we're seeing is that there are more and more Mexican immigrants in the United States, particularly in the Southwest, and people are taking their culture with them,” he said. “Some of them listened to that music when they were children in their homes and maybe now they are reconnecting with it.”

Catherine Ragland, a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of North Texas, said she had noticed the interest in her own neighborhood. Teenagers who used to play rap and reggaeton in their cars now listen to regional Mexican music at full volume, she said.

“This is a way to feel more authentically Mexican and really connect with it,” Ragland said. “The more you go back to these older styles, the more you feel like you're really connected to something.”

By: Jesus Jiménez