At first, Jaime Guevara’s model of “Hey There Delilah” appears like simply one other cowl of the Plain White T’s unique. However some seconds in, an accordion enters the combination. Then, Guevara shifts his crooning from English to Spanish.
“¿Qué tal, Delilah?” he sings, deciphering the lyrics and feeling of the music for a brand new viewers. “Aquí estoy si te sientes sola.”
Abruptly, the music that was a success within the mid- to late aughts has grow to be a norteña, a ballad from a regional Mexican style that depends closely on accordions and different acoustic devices.
Guevara, a Houston musician, and his EZ Band have created greater than a dozen covers in norteña type, similar to “Creep” by Radiohead and “Straightforward on Me” by Adele — they usually’ve taken off.
The EZ Band’s rendition of “Hey There Delilah” has been performed greater than 1.5 million instances on Spotify, and at the very least two million instances on TikTok. The band’s model of “Santeria,” initially by Elegant, even drew discover from a fan account. And most just lately, the band ventured into Swiftie land with a remake of Clean Area, from the “1989” album by Taylor Swift.
“It has sort of modified numerous my life,” Guevara, 33, mentioned in an interview, referring to the latest rising curiosity within the EZ Band and its album “Make it Norteño Vol. 1.” (Both norteña or norteño are used to explain artists, songs, music and awards within the style, as a result of nouns and adjectives have a gender in Spanish; the Grammy Awards, as an example, identify a class for Greatest Norteño Album.)
Covers of various genres usually are not a brand new idea, after all. There have been Beatles songs made into polka music, and “Resort California” has gotten the ukulele therapy. However the EZ Band’s songs are rising in reputation at a time when norteña music, and different regional Mexican genres like tumbados, are gaining popularity.
These blends of once-High 40 and norteña music provide first- and second-generation People a technique to join with a musical heritage that they don’t at all times know or might have left behind. It additionally exposes new audiences in america to the distinctive norteño sound.
The sound of norteña music has influences that date again to the 1840s, when Germans started settling in what’s now southern Texas, in line with Celestino Fernández, a retired sociology professor and marketing consultant for the College of Arizona.
“They introduced with them their music, and the accordion was a foundational instrument for the waltz and polka,” Dr. Fernández mentioned. “Then the mexicanos, with the 12-string guitar, principally created música norteña.”
Guevara, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, mentioned his covers have been the product of his background: He grew up listening to norteñas due to his father, who Guevara mentioned performed music on buses for ideas in Mexico. When he moved to Houston together with his household, at age 9, he was uncovered to new genres of music in a brand new language. Later, Guevara’s spouse, who’s from Minnesota, launched him to extra new music from the wide selection of American pop.
“Me, rising up, it’s the era that grew up right here listening to all of the music in English, but additionally have household that take heed to norteño,” Guevara mentioned. “I get numerous feedback the place folks say, ‘You’re placing my two worlds collectively.’”
For many years, norteña music has largely been standard within the areas the place it originated: northern Mexico, the U.S. Southwest and California. However in recent times, the style has gained a newfound recognition thanks, partly, to the prominence of different Latino acts like Unhealthy Bunny and Peso Pluma. Each have collaborated with norteña bands.
Since Peso Pluma collaborated earlier this yr with the regional Mexican band Eslabon Armado on “Ella Baila Sola” (“She Dances Alone”), the music has reached No. 4 on the Sizzling 100, Billboard’s mainstream pop chart, and it has been performed greater than 380 million instances on YouTube.
“I didn’t suppose it will ever attain the extent it has gotten to,” Guevara mentioned of the present curiosity in norteña music. “It’s a little shocking to see it blow up as a lot because it has.”
Dr. Fernández mentioned a few of norteña’s rise might be attributed to the expansion of the Latino inhabitants in america.
“I feel what we’re seeing is there are an increasing number of Mexican immigrants in america, notably the Southwest, and folks convey their tradition with them,” he mentioned. “A few of them have heard that music once they have been youngsters of their houses, and possibly now they’re reconnecting to it.”
Catherine Ragland, a professor of ethnomusicology at College of North Texas, mentioned she had seen the curiosity in her personal neighborhood. Teenagers who have been as soon as taking part in rap and reggaeton from their automobiles, she mentioned, at the moment are blasting regional Mexican music.
For immigrants who moved to america just lately or at a younger age, listening to extra conventional music is usually a method to connect with their tradition, Dr. Ragland mentioned.
“This can be a technique to really feel extra authentically Mexican and actually join with that,” Dr. Ragland mentioned. “The extra they return to those older types, the extra you’re feeling such as you’re really related to one thing.”
However maybe a extra easy rationalization for norteña music’s new reputation is that it’s catchy and simple to maneuver to.
“Norteña music is dance music,” Dr. Fernández mentioned. “When you could have occasions, folks like to bop — and Mexicans and Mexican People have numerous occasions round.”
Throughout Mexico and components of america, norteña bands are sometimes employed to play at celebrations for baptisms, first communions, weddings and even funerals, Dr. Fernández mentioned. In Houston, the EZ Band has performed at bars, events and, just lately, a halftime present at a Main League Soccer match.
After discovering the EZ Band on social media, Juan Loya, director of multicultural advertising for the Houston Dynamo, reached out to the band and invited it to carry out.
Mr. Loya, 45, grew up in Houston and mentioned that the band’s music resonated with him as a result of his mother and father got here from Mexico, and he used to take heed to norteña music at events and different occasions. Mr. Loya mentioned that he thought the largely Hispanic Dynamo fan base would take pleasure in it, too.
“Listening to it in a unique lens or in a unique taste,” Mr. Loya mentioned of the EZ Band’s norteña sound, “it’s positively actually impactful to me, and I feel I’m not alone in that.”
Adriana Torres, 38, of Maryland, mentioned that she realized in regards to the EZ Band whereas scrolling by social media, and he or she was hooked to the sound.
“It instantly took me again years,” Ms. Torres mentioned, including that she grew up listening to norteñas and different Mexican genres.
“It actually touches folks like me who’re Mexican People, but additionally everybody,” she mentioned. “It exposes our music in that fashion.”