ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses such issues by focusing on the hugely popular acoustic banda from Mexico's northern Pacific coast. The brass band movement of nineteenth-century Europe swept Latin America rapidly as large numbers of migrants settled in the new continent carrying with them, as part of their 'cultural baggage', the latest fashion of popular music. Banding was readily introduced by musically inclined newcomers. 'Banda' is a generic term for a variety of ensembles consisting of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments found throughout Spain's former colonies. Urbanization, capitalism and, eventually, the culture industry altered Sinaloa's society, its lifestyles, its habits and its popular musical tastes. Changes mainly occurred in the two main cities, the capital of Culiacan and the port of Mazatlan. Rural areas and the Sierra Mountains in particular lacked attractions and newer forms of pastime.
