Hispanic Heritage

La Mafia

Tejano Musicians
Formed 1980, in Houston, TX, USA

Members: Oscar De la Rosa, vocals; Leonard Gonzales, guitar; David de la Garza, keyboards; Tim Ruiz, bass; Michael Aguilar, drums; Mando Lichtenberger Jr., accordion, keyboards. (All members are from USA.)

Before Selena, most Americans had never heard of Tejano music — but before Selena there was La Mafia. Think of Tejano as a kind of Tex-Mex country music, folding in Mexican ranchera balladry and European polka styles, all electrified for the modern pop market's sonic tastes. Until La Mafia's breakout, Tejano was confined to the ethnic neighborhoods of Houston, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande River Valley, too country for the salsa markets of New York and Miami, too cowboy for California tastes, and too provincial for the Mexican and Latin American markets. But then La Mafia made it to the top of Tejano music — and for their next trick, did something no other U.S. band has done. La Mafia set out to conquer the huge Spanish-speaking audience outside the United States — which they did, with their sure-fire, roots-based, market-savvy pop. As a top Tejano band, La Mafia's albums sold 50,000 units; as an international pop band, the formula was good enough boost that figure to two million units per title. At the top of their game in December 1998, the band suddenly announced they were breaking up to pursue solo projects. It's hard to imagine any of the current Tejano bands succeeding at such a level, but then nobody expected La Mafia could do it a decade ago.

La Mafia's Estas Tocando Fuego (Sony, 1991, prod. Mando Lichtenberger Jr.) successfully combines Tejano tracks with cumbia dance music and pop ballads to reach a Spanish-speaking audience in Mexico and Central America. Purists in Texas gave the band heat for selling out. On the other hand, this was the album that demonstrated how to transcend Spanish musical ghettos.

Eufora (Sony, 1998, prod. Mando Lichtenberger Jr.) is full of power-pop tunes and lush bolero ballads, a state-of-the-art Pan-Spanish musical spectrum. Like it says, La Mafia: Hits de Coleccion (Sony, 1998, prod. Mando Lichtenberger Jr.) is a collection of the group's more recent hits, heavy on the pop side.

Other Recordings

1986 (CBS International, 1986)
A Todo Color (CBS International, 1986)
La Mafia Live (CBS International, 1987)
Amame (CBS International, 1987)
Xplosiv (CBS International, 1989)
Enter the Future (CBS International, 1990)
Con Tanto Amor (CBS International, 1990)
Ahora y Siempre (Sony, 1992)
Vida (Sony, 1994)
Exitos en Vivo (Sony, 1995)
Un Million de Rosas (Sony, 1996)
En Tu Manos (Sony, 1997)

La Mafia's early material is not available on CD. However, EMI is reportedly planning to release some of the group's albums originally recorded for the Discos Cara label. In the meantime, search out the cassette-only Carino if you want to hear the group's R&B- and rock-influenced Tejano phase, or 15 Hits if you want to know how La Mafia first got to the top of the Tejano genre.

Source: MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 2000.