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"Música Mexicana: On both sides of the border," is a broad-based 2-phase project which draws on the scholarly, cultural, and technical resources of a newly formed consortium. The University of Missouri-Kansas City serves as the lead institution, which also includes The School of Mexican Popular Music in Mexico City and Center for the Study of Peoples of the Americas/Department of Chicano Studies at California State University-Northridge (CSU-N).

Traditional and folkloric Mexican musical genres are highly regionalized and directly reflect Mexican culture and history. An essential aspect of this project (which is directly reflected in the title) is to highlight and recognize some of the foremost practitioners of these musical genres who reside in Mexico and the United States. Paradoxically, some of the purest performance practice of Mexican music takes place north of the political boundary. In that regard, this project will attempt to draw a new cultural map showing that Mexican folkloric and traditional musical genres exist without borders. Most significantly, traditional and folkloric musical genres (which are not best represented on paper) are being transformed into interactive media that will significantly enhance classroom teaching of traditional Mexican music. Furthermore it will permit self-study vis-à-vis the Internet throughout the United States, as well as in Mexico and other nations, thus empowering a broad range of students, scholars, and those who wish to further their knowledge in this area.

Phase I of this projecthas been supported by a generous grant from the University of Missouri Research Board, the Center for Studies of Peoples of the Americas and the Schools of the Humanities of California State University-Northridge, as well as La Escuela de la Música Mexicana, S.A.

Laurence Kaptain
Coordinator and Project Director
Música Mexicana: On both sides of the border
Professor of Music
Conservatory of Music
University of Missouri-Kansas City
kaptainl@umkc.edu