Listening to Rosita

The Business of Tejana Music and Culture, 1930–1955

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Business & Technical, Business Aspects, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Listening to Rosita by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal, University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal ISBN: 9780806153216
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: October 20, 2015
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author: Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
ISBN: 9780806153216
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: October 20, 2015
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

Everybody in the bar had to drop a quarter in the jukebox or be shamed by “Momo” Villarreal. It wasn’t about the money, Mary Ann Villarreal’s grandmother insisted. It was about the music—more songs for all the patrons of the Pecan Lounge in Tivoli, Texas. But for Mary Ann, whose schoolbooks those quarters bought, the money didn’t hurt.

When as an adult Villarreal began to wonder how the few recordings of women singers made their way into that jukebox, questions about the money seemed inseparable from those about the music. In Listening to Rosita, Villarreal seeks answers by pursuing the story of a small group of Tejana singers and entrepreneurs in Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio—the “Texas Triangle”—during the mid-twentieth century. Ultimately she recovers a social world and cultural landscape in central south Texas where Mexican American women negotiated the shifting boundaries of race and economics to assert a public presence.

Drawing on oral history, interviews, and insights from ethnic and gender studies, Listening to Rosita provides a counternarrative to previous research on la música tejana, which has focused almost solely on musicians or musical genres. Villarreal instead chronicles women’s roles and contributions to the music industry. In spotlighting the sixty-year singing career of San Antonian Rosita Fernández, the author pulls the curtain back on all the women whose names and stories have been glaringly absent from the ethnic and economic history of Tejana music and culture.

In this oral history of the Tejana cantantes who performed and owned businesses in the Texas Triangle, Listening to Rosita shows how ethnic Mexican entrepreneurs developed a unique identity in striving for success in a society that demeaned and segregated them. In telling their story, this book supplies a critical chapter long missing from the history of the West.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Everybody in the bar had to drop a quarter in the jukebox or be shamed by “Momo” Villarreal. It wasn’t about the money, Mary Ann Villarreal’s grandmother insisted. It was about the music—more songs for all the patrons of the Pecan Lounge in Tivoli, Texas. But for Mary Ann, whose schoolbooks those quarters bought, the money didn’t hurt.

When as an adult Villarreal began to wonder how the few recordings of women singers made their way into that jukebox, questions about the money seemed inseparable from those about the music. In Listening to Rosita, Villarreal seeks answers by pursuing the story of a small group of Tejana singers and entrepreneurs in Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio—the “Texas Triangle”—during the mid-twentieth century. Ultimately she recovers a social world and cultural landscape in central south Texas where Mexican American women negotiated the shifting boundaries of race and economics to assert a public presence.

Drawing on oral history, interviews, and insights from ethnic and gender studies, Listening to Rosita provides a counternarrative to previous research on la música tejana, which has focused almost solely on musicians or musical genres. Villarreal instead chronicles women’s roles and contributions to the music industry. In spotlighting the sixty-year singing career of San Antonian Rosita Fernández, the author pulls the curtain back on all the women whose names and stories have been glaringly absent from the ethnic and economic history of Tejana music and culture.

In this oral history of the Tejana cantantes who performed and owned businesses in the Texas Triangle, Listening to Rosita shows how ethnic Mexican entrepreneurs developed a unique identity in striving for success in a society that demeaned and segregated them. In telling their story, this book supplies a critical chapter long missing from the history of the West.

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book Bound Like Grass by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Sea of Sand by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Custer, Cody, and Grand Duke Alexis by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Lois Lenski by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Land Too Good for Indians by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Nicodemus by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Lone Star Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Western Heritage by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Into the Breach at Pusan by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Colonial Intimacies by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book White Hat by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction, and Use by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Jersey Gold by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
Cover of the book Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne by Dr. Mary Ann Villarreal
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy