Tejano is a modernized, hybrid Latin style strongly rooted in the conjunto and norte?o music popular in the region near the U.S./Mexico border, although it isn't quite the same thing. It was developed by working-class Mexican-Americans living in Texas -- hence the name, which is the Spanish word for "Texan" and became the accepted term for the music in the early '80s. Bandleader Beto Villa was a pivotal figure in the music's birth, adding instrumentation and song structures (i.e. ranchera, cumbia, polka, etc.) from conjunto/norte?o music to his orchestra, which drew upon a regional synthesis of Mexican folk music and big-band swing.
