Posted by Brent Herhold on February 15, 2002 at 13:19:59:
In Reply to: Corridos tuba licks? posted by jlb on February 15, 2002 at 08:56:33:
Banda is (or at least was recently) the most popular form of popular music played on latin radio stations in the LA area. Even here, in No. California, turn on a latin station and you'll hear Banda.
The form, which is not polka-like (2 beat,) but rather waltz-like (3 beat--hence the omp-pah feel) is a marriage of Latin and German styles which had its birth in No. Mexico when a group of Germans immigrated to that part of the world. (I don't remember the actual village or the period of time where and when this all occurred, though I think it was late 19th. century.)
I would agree with the previous poster that Banda is, like jazz, a musical style played "by ear" and not from charts. The tuba/sousaphone players I've heard play some interesting and technically challenging lines; the style calls for tuba "fills" at the end of phrases. It is a different sytle/form than Mariachi.
Personally I find that a little Banda goes a long way and I am surprised by its popularity with the young latino community, but at least it provides tuba gigs!
Brent Herhold