Know the Difference Between Corridos, Norteño and Sierreño? Our Mexican Music Dictionary Breaks Down the Genre’s Styles

Hailing from Cocula, Jalisco, in central Mexico, mariachi emerged in the late 19th century as the emblematic and grandiose sound of Mexican music. A typical mariachi ensemble is composed of at least eight members that play guitar, guitarrón, vihuela, violin, trumpets, and a harp. The music is always acoustic and the musicians wear charro suits with metallic buttons. Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán has been one of the the biggest exponents of mariachi for many generations, emerging in the late 1800s.

The songs commonly touch on themes of love, heartbreak and Mexican pride, with plenty of bravura. Just listen to classics like “El Son de la Negra,” “Guadalajara,” “Cielito Lindo,” and more.

One variant of this style is the mariacheño (mariachi norteño) which emerged when Sonora-born Christian Nodal refreshed the mariachi sound in late 2010, adding the accordion, a staple in norteño music.

Key players of yesterday and today: José Alfredo Jiménez, Lucha Villa, Vicente Fernández, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Juan Gabriel, Alejandro Fernández, Pepe Aguilar and Ángela Aguilar.

With a more bohemian aesthetic, son jarocho originated from the fandangos of the African diaspora which made its way to the coastal state of Veracruz in the 18th century. It’s a musical reverie that consists of various jaranas of different pitches and sizes, a requinto, a harp, a cajón, and a donkey’s quijada.

Although this musical style isn’t dominating global charts like corridos, banda and norteños, it’s indeed an important part of regional Mexican music history, especially when rockabilly pioneer Ritchie Valens decided to plug in his guitar to recreate the son jarocho staple song “La Bamba” in a rock ‘n’ roll fashion during the late ‘50s. Later on, Los Lobos from East L.A. revived the style. Other traditionalists too like Los Cojolites from Veracruz, and Las Cafeteras from Los Angeles keep uplifting the storied regional genre. 

Key players of yesterday and today: Ritchie Valens, Los Lobos, Los Cojolites, Las Cafeteras, Sonex, and Radio Jarocho.

In a similar musical approach to son jarocho, son huasteco particularly stands out for its unique huapango rhythm, which originated in the Huasteca zone of along the Gulf of Mexico, in states like Veracruz, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosí. Consisting of a violin, a huapanguera (an eight-stringed guitar-like instrument), and a jarana huasteca, the musical style developed in the 19^th century. The sones that have transcended time include “La Llorona,” “Cielito Lindo Huasteco” and “El Gusto.” 

Key players of yesterday and today: Son de Madera, Trío Huasteco Caimanes de Tamuin, Los Camperos de Valles and Federico Villa.

The accordion is the instrument that immediately identifies Norteño music. Originating in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, in northern Mexico, it emerged in the early 20th century. A norteño group is much smaller than a mariachi, although it must have basic instruments such as the guitar, the bajo sexto and its flagship instrument, the accordion. Norteño musicians wear vests, cowboy hats and boots, and perform dance songs such as cumbias.

When Julión Álvarez, Calibre 50 and other artists added the tuba to norteño music, norteño banda was born. Groups like Conjunto Primavera, La Maquinaria Norteña and La Energía Norteña added a saxophone, for what is now known as norteño sax.

Key players of yesterday and today: Los Alegres de Terán, Los Relámpagos del Norte, Lorenzo de Monteclaro, Ramón Ayala, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Los Tigres del Norte, Los Huracanes del Norte, Los Cardenales de Nuevo León, El Fantasma, Los Dos Carnales, Los Rojos, La Leyenda and Edén Muñoz.

Originating from the Texas-Mexico border, this style is also known as Tejano music. It fuses the sounds of Norteño with the rock sensibilities of the Mexican immigrants of the 1940s. In addition to the instruments used in norteño music, Tex-Mex often adds electric bass, drums and keyboards. Selena, known as the queen of Tejano music, globalized this style in the ’90s.

Key players of yesterday and today: Selena y Los Dinos, Intocable, La Mafia, El Duelo, Bobby Pulido, Selena, Emilio Navaira, La Firma, Vilax, Siggno, Emily Navaira, Elida Reyna and Grupo Frontera.

Inspired by polka with roots in Durango, Mexico, Duranguense originated in Chicago and became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It encompasses a fusion of brass-led subgenres such as technobanda and tamborazo. Chicago-based groups such as Montéz de Durango, Alacranes Musical and Los Horóscopos de Durango quickly became representatives of this fast-paced genre, which is accompanied by an accelerated dance or quickstep, called “el pasito duranguense.”

Key players of yesterday and today: Grupo Montéz de Durango, Diana Reyes, Los Horóscopos de Durango, Alacranes Musical, Patrulla 81 and K-Paz de la Sierra.

This style generally consists of romantic ballads with electric guitars, keyboards and drums serving as the canvas for its sound. But música grupera, or grupero, also includes in its repertoire traditional ranchera songs and cumbias. In the U.S., the genre peaked in the late ’80s and early ’90s with Los Bukis, Los Temerarios and Bronco as the genre’s biggest exponents.  

Key players of yesterday and today: Los Bukis, Bronco, Grupo Limite, Los Temerarios, Ana Bárbara, La Mafia, Grupo Bryndis, Liberación, and Los Acosta 

From the highlands of Mexico’s northern states Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, this style is a variant of norteño music based on the sound of the twelve-string guitar, accordion, and tuba. It emerged in the ’90s — and the artist who popularized the sad style, now known as sad sierreño, was the late, great Ariel Camacho, with his group Los Plebes del Rancho, whose songs include “Hablemos” and “Me Mentiste”.

More recently, artists like Ivan Cornejo and Yahiritza y Su Esencia continue the tradition by singing mournful lyrics using only guitars.

Key players of yesterday and today: Miguel y Miguel, Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho, Marca Registrada, Marca MP, Eslabón Armado, Ivan Cornejo and Yahritza y Su Esencia.

Hailing from Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, these large wind and brass bands generally consist of 16 musicians playing saxophone, tarola, bongos, timbales, trumpets, clarinets, tambora and their signature element, the tuba. For decades they were only instrumental groups until Don Cruz Lizárraga, founder of Banda El Recodo, added vocalists. They are immediately distinguishable by their instruments and their clothing: flashy suits, but always in uniform. In this male-dominated scene, Jenni Rivera was the first woman to become a banda megastar, with hits like “Inolvidable” and “De Contrabando,” also widely known as La Diva de la Banda.

Key players of yesterday and today: Banda El Recodo, La Original Banda El Limón, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón, Banda La Costeña, Jenni Rivera, Banda Los Recoditos, Banda La Adictiva, Banda Renovación, Grupo Firme and Banda MS.

Since the Mexican Revolution in 1910, corridos have been fundamental to profile the exploits of characters persecuted by the government, heroes and anti-heroes. Throughout the years, music has been linked to these enigmatic characters. It is important to clarify that the corrido is a narrative, not a musical genre, since it has always been accompanied musically by mariachi, norteño and banda sinaloense. Nowadays, it is sung with fewer instruments — but in the end, a tuba, a guitar and a tololoche have always been involved.

The following is a chronological explanation of the evolution of the commercial corrido.

Based on horses or characters of the revolution, this style was sung with mariachi by great ranchera legends like José Alfredo Jiménez (“El Caballo Blanco”) and Vicente Fernández (“La Tragedia Del Vaquero”).

Emerging in the late 1980s and booming during the 1990s, this notorious subgenre is dedicated to characters linked to drug lords and drug trafficking. Early hits include “Contrabando y Traición” and “Jefe de Jefes” by Los Tigres del Norte, and “El Corrido de Anastacio Pacheco” by Chalino Sánchez.

This subgenre originated around 2010, and it’s charged with aggressive lyrics and themes based on high-powered weapons, with songs like “Mafia Nueva” by El Komander and “No Tengas Miedo” by Los Buitres de Culiacán.

Emerging almost at the same time as the alterados variant, the difference lies in its lyrics, which tell long stories about a character in a single song. Hit songs include “El Primer Ministro” by Gerardo Ortiz, and “El Secuestro del Cachorro” by Régulo Caro. Their instrumentation fuses norteño music with progressive rock.

Emerging in 2016 in California, the lyrics in these songs allude to the consumption and distribution of marijuana, with a norteño backdrop. The most prominent key players of this style are Legado 7 and T3R Elemento, who play it in the same way as a traditional corrido, but only sing about their pride in being bien relax. Codiciado and Herencia de Patrones are other artists who make corridos verdes.

Modern corridos as we know them emerged at the start of the new millennium — and, like traditional corridos, they often allude to cartel figures or risk-taking fictional characters who are seemingly unafraid of death, with songs like “La China” by La Adictiva, and “Soy El Ratón” by Código FN. This style is usually accompanied by banda sinaloense and norteño banda music.

Corridos tumbados burst onto the scene in the late 2010s, thanks to the style’s pioneer Natanael Cano and also Junior H, whose explicit lyrics tell stories in a self-portrait kind of way. Luxuries and excesses are usually featured in the content. The music is norteño-styled, but with a trap flair. Cano’s 2019 album Corridos Tumbados, via Rancho Humilde, is considered a staple within this subgenre.

Emerging in 2020, corridos bélicos speak of characters whose victories are achieved using weapons and violence. Their sound is slow, combining sierreño with trombone, trumpet and tololoche. The performers’ get-up is usually flashy and luxurious. However, they appear to the public as attainable people with aspirational life stories; from rags to riches. Examples: Junior H (“El Azul”), Luis R. Conriquez (“Ando Bien”, “Me Metí En El Ruedo”), Peso Pluma (“Por Las Noches”), Fuerza Regida (“TQM”, “Ch y La Pizza”).