Los Texmaniacs: Unifying borders through music
With the euphonious tunes of accordion, bajo sexto, drums and electric bass, the band Los Texmaniacs, formed in 1997, creates a form of folk music that is very different from the folk music we grew up listening to. Having won a Grammy Award for Best Tejano Album in 2010, the band consists of Max Baca on bajo sexto, Josh Baca on accordion, Noel Hernandez on electric bass and Lorenzo Martínez on the drums. The band came all the way from the USA to participate in the Dhaka International Folk Fest 2018 and spoke to The Daily Star about the event and more, ahead of their performance.
How would you characterise the folk music of Los Texmaniacs?
The term folk music comes from the word Volksmusik, which originated in Germany. Instruments that accompany this genre of music comprise of accordions, violas and many others. The Mexican-American people who lived in that region took up the music. The type of folk music we make is derived from that province too.
How do you feel about participating in the Dhaka International Folk Fest 2018?
We are eager to show our culture through the music. It is a great honour to come here and show the people of Bangladesh the music of Los Texmaniacs.
What are your expectations from the audience?
We hope that they feel what we are trying to convey. Folk music is all about your culture and where you come from. We sing Spanish and English, so even if they do not understand our words, we hope that they can feel our emotions with our tunes.
Did you ever listen to the folk music of the South-Aisan sub-continent?
We did actually. It's beautiful music. As soon as we arrived in Bangladesh, one of the immigration police officers played the folk music of Bangladesh for us. He described the tabla to us. It was a great experience!
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