During the 1930s and 1940s a music developed which mirrored the evolution of Hispanics in southwestern cities into Mexican Americans, a bicultural community emerging from Mexican roots within the United States. This was the first generation of Americans of Mexican descent to aspire for inclusion in Anglo-American life. Popular dance band ensembles catered to this generation's biculturalism by playing genres chosen from both the Latin and the American traditions: bolero, danzón, guaracha, and rumba alternating with boogie, swing, and fox-trot, among others. After World War II, a type of fusion of the traditions took place that developed into a distinctive sound, especially among the orquestas and conjuntos in Texas, where the largest Hispanic recording companies existed at that time. The result was a music that came to be known as Tejano.

As orchestras became more professional and ballroom dance circuits extended throughout the Southwest, the...