Selena, “Le Reina de Tejano”, was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson. She was the youngest of three children of Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcela, his wife. At a young age, Abraham had a strong passion for music that he still has. During the 1950s and 1960s, him and his friends made a group called “Los Dinos” and played at nightclubs and restaurants. Even though his passion for music, he gave it up when he got married and earned a job at Dow Chemical as a shipping clerk.
From his experience, he taught his two oldest children, A.B. III and Suzette, how to play the instruments. A.B. III learned how to play the bass guitar and Suzette played the drums. As Selena saw how attached Abraham was with A.B. III and Suzette, she became jealous and asked her father why she couldn’t learn how to play an instrument. He told her she was too young, so she started to sing.
By the time she was 6, her father saw talent in her as she sang with purity and perfect pitch as he played his guitar. Then with enthusiasm, Abraham got a hold of instruments and formed a family band with A.B. III as the bass, Suzette as the drummer, and Selena the lead singer. Their family band was named Selena Y Los Dinos and they started playing at weddings, fairs, and clubs close by. When they barely formed, A.B. III and Suzette hated the rehearsals practice they had every night because they took time from their friends; on the contrary, Selena loved the rehearsals because she had the same passion as her father for music.
As a child, Selena was cheerful all the time and had the gift to bring everyone together at the playground. She was very athletic and did well in her classes. As athletic as she was, she loved playing with dolls, like dressing them up in customs...
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...pm. Until this day, Saldivar is being held in prison with a bond of $100,000.
Selena’s death sent “shockwaves” across the Latin community as well as the English-language. Tens of thousands went to her funeral to pay their respect to her and her family. After her death, Selena’s first English album, “Dreaming of You”, was released and became a huge hit. They made a movie of her biography in 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez as Selena and James Edward Olmos as her father. Thousands of people visit her grave, Mirador de la Flor, in Corpus Christi, near the Selena Museum dedicated to her life, fame, and career. Even today, she’s still considered “La Reina de Tejano” and her legacy still lives on.
Works Cited
1) http://www.biography.com/people/selena-189149
2) http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20105524,00.html
3) http://www.selenaforever.com/
Ester Hernandez is a Chicana artist, best known for her works of Chicana women. Ester’s goal is to recreate women’s lives to produce positive images of women’s lifestyle and to create icons. Her piece, Frida y Yo, contains the iconic painter Frida Kahlo. Frida, after being in multiple accidents causing long-term pain and suffering, began painting, mostly self-portraits, to portray her reality and glorify the pain. Similar to how Hernandez's goals are a juxtaposition to Frida’s artwork, the art piece Frida y Yo creates a juxtaposition between life and suffering and death and fortune.
After Papagayo went bankrupt Selena’s family packed up and moved to Corpus Christi,Texas. Selena’s father Abraham loved music and
My first knowledge of her came from the movie that was produced about her life. This movie included her childhood, her rise to fame, her relationships with her family and her husband, and her untimely death. She was a stunning flower that bloomed very young and kept growing with no sight on stopping. She had a gorgeous appearance. She had big brown eyes, ever changing hair styles, and a petite figure. Her husband was just as cute. A smaller guy but not too small. Selena and Chris fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. I developed a deep admiration for these two people and the things they experienced in their youth. I was always looking to learn more about their lives and what happened in Selena's tragic end that shook the world. After finding out that her widow wrote a book about her life, I was excited to get it and begin reading. I wondered if the movie had been completely valid. What did the movie leave out? How did Chris felt about her death? How does he feel now about all that transpired after Selena's death since this was not a perspective that the audience got to clearly see the movie? So, I went immediately, to buy the
Selena is a very well known name in the Latin-American community. She started her music career while she was still a child with her dad’s group Los Dinos. Selena married her lead guitarist and ended up being killed by her “biggest fan.” After her death Selena became even more popular.
While the eight year old girls were outside having fun, Selena was out singing at bars, weddings, fairs, and restaurants. She lived in an unstable household that eventually relied on the family band, “Selena y Los Dinos”, to eat and have a roof over their heads.
Del Rio’s life was not always glamorous, born in Durango, Mexico, in 1905, she was the only daughter of Jesus Jacques and Antonia Lopez-Negrete. Her father was the director of the Bank of Durango, but the family lost their wealth in the Mexican revolution. A forced relocation to Mexico City, when Dolores was five, quickly reestablished the familial standing in society. Little Dolores studied at prestigious Liceo Franco Mexicano convent (taught by French nuns), gaining a lifelong passion for literature, dance, and art.
Celia Cruz was born in a humble neighborhood of Santo Suarez in Havana, Cuba on October 21, 1924. She was one of 14 children. One of her chores was to sing to her youngest sibling to sleep. Her first appearance as a child earned her a pair of shoes from a tourist that was watching. As a teenager she performed in many talent shows at school and community gatherings. Also her aunt took her cousin and her to nightclubs and cabarets. Yet, while her family supported her talent, her father was insisting for Celia to continuing her school so she could become a teacher.
Selena Quintanilla-Perez, was an American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, model, actress, and fashion designer. She was called the Queen of Tejano music, her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers. Selena was born on April 16, 1971 and died of a gunshot wound on March 31, 1995. Furthermore, in the 1980s, Selena was often criticized and was refused bookings at venues across Texas for performing Tejano music—a male-dominated music genre. However, her popularity grew after she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1987, which she won nine consecutive times. Selena signed with EMI Latin in 1989 and released her self-titled debut album the same year, while her
For me it all started out with Selena. I remember a boy in my middle school class dedicating me "Como La Flor" at one of our school dances in seventh grade. After that Tejano just sort of stuck in my head and all I ever thought of the song was that I had rejected that boy. Selena was quite a Tejana star at the time, and I was shocked with her murder two years later. She was a five star role model for Mexican-Americans to relate to and appreciate. Her songs live on in the Tejano world, as does her sprit and love for the music.
Most girls were already adequate musicians, as they were taught music since a young age, and playing in the school's marching band, but Jones had set a higher ramp for the sweethearts. They were taught the art of playing in a big band, and soon had concert dates in the area, playing high school dances in gymnasiums and dance halls.
Celia Cruz was born Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso on October 21, 1925, in a working-class neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. She began singing professionally on Cuban radio and in nightclubs in the late 1940s while studying music theory and voice at a music academy in Havana from 1947 to 1950. In 1950, she began singing with the popular Cuban orchestra La Sonora Matancera. Over the next 15 years, they collaborate had many hit singles, which raised Celia to the top and she performed diverse Afro-Cuban music throughout the Caribbean, South America, and the U.S.
The musical group started out playing weddings and clubs in their native Texas. The band featured her brother Abraham on bass guitar and her sister Suzette on the drums. Her father, Abraham, a former musician, managed and produced the group. Selena grew up speaking English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish so she could resonate with the Latino community. She learned the lyrics phonetically at first, and eventually learned to speak Spanish fluently.
successful lyricist. Also, it was Ira’s interest in music that made their parents purchase the
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
I think that both Esperanza‘s Great Grandmother and Rafaela were both creative and expressive individuals. In both cases their marriage suffocated their personality. Esperanza did not want to end up like this. Eserpanza‘s Great Grandmother had been a wild woman in her younger years, until she was married. Esperanza never wants to regret her life and decisions like her namesake, and secretly wishes to change her name. Rafaela is a beautiful woman entrapped in a bad marriage. She waits alone all day, looking outside the window. And on Tuesdays, she drops money down to Esperanza and her friends to buy her some Coconut and Papaya Juice. Both were in marriages that didn‘t allow them to be who they were and tried to suppress their natural creativity