Vivir Quintana and Musica Mexicana: where music is going
I was listening to “La Casa de la Esquina” by Vivir Quintana and scrolling through the Spotify page The Women of Musica Mexicana. As frequent readers know, I follow women in Mexican music pretty closely. Since I live in Mexico I get a strong dose of the music Mexicans listen to both live and recorded.
Most of what I see on stage and promoted in live concerts is either guys in boots and hats (ranchera and banda and norteño ) or young heartthrobs like Peso Pluma. Banda and ranchero and norteño and their various derivatives have their place – on stage or from speakers with a dance floor and people rocking out to the tuba and the accordion and the horns. The best party music around – with the possible exception of cumbia.
But with the emergence of women in both regional “Mexican “ music, and the popularity of bi-national talent from the US like Nancy Sanchez, has given me – and Mexicans – a lot more musical choice. As of now, one of the most popular young singers in Mexico is Sofía Reyes. Other rising stars in the Mexican firmament are Danna Paola, Adriana Ross, Helen Ochoa – all different, and all singing in different genres. But all adding new colors to the red, white and green tapestry of Mexico and its music.
Mexican music is now a major force worldwide with genres such as mariachi, norteño, and Mexican cumbia gaining international recognition, particularly in the United States, where it has a significant following among both Mexican and non-Mexican communities. Additionally, artists like Carlos Santana, Shakira, and Los Tigres del Norte have contributed to the global appeal of Mexican music.
On Spotify, Mexican music grew 400% worldwide over the last five years, according to Uriel Waizel, lead editor at Spotify Mexico. And on YouTube, Peso Pluma bested Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny to become 2023’s most streamed artist on the platform – hard to believe, but true.
But back to Vivir Quintana (aka Viviana Monserrat Quintana Rodríguez), whose journey is both typical and unique. Vivir’s music is a mix of regional music with popular Mexican lyrics, or regional folk and she has composed more than 150 songs. Her career has been typical in that it took a while in the male-dominated music world of Mexico but was propelled forward by another women, Mon Laferte. It is unique in that much of her music is focused on the problem of femicide in Mexico- sometimes a fraught topic, but which fits well within the corridos tradition, and that has also propelled her forward.
Vivir Quintana premiered Canción sin miedo , together with Mon Laferte and El Palomar, in the capital’s Zócalo, an anthem about gender violence that has been streamed over 20 million times . Her project “Rosita Alvirez, I killed Hipólito”, is a series of corridos that talk about cases in which women killed their aggressors in self-defense. In 2020, her songs about feminicide and her blend of music prompted Forbes Mexico to name her as one of Top100 Mexican Creatives.
So take a listen to one of Mexico’s top 100 Creatives and the other women on the Women of Musica Mexicana and get a peek at where one of the fastest growing genres in the world is going.
Patrick O’Heffernan
