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Grupera (or onda grupera) is a genre of Mexican folk music. It is influenced by the styles of cumbia, norteño, and ranchera, and reached the height of its popularity in the 1980s, especially in rural areas. The music has roots in the rock groups of the 1960s, but today generally consists of five or fewer musicians using electric guitars, keyboards and drums. Artists in this genre include Yonics, Los Humildes, La Migra, Los Caminantes, Limite, Ana Bárbara, Joan Sebastian, Los Temerarios, Grupo Bryndis, Marco Antonio Solís, Myriam, and Bronco. The music increased in popularity in the 1990s and became commercially viable, and is now recognized in some Latin music awards ceremonies such as Lo Nuestro and The Latin Grammy Awards.
History
The original wave of Mexican rock bands got their start mostly with Spanish covers of popular English rock songs. After this initial stage they moved on to include in their repertoire traditional ranchera songs, in addition to cumbia, and ballads. Thus the 1970s saw the rise of a number of grupera bands that specialized in slow ballads and songs that up to that point had only been sung with mariachi. Among these we can include Los Muecas, Los Freddys, Los Babys, Los Bondadosos, La Migra, etc.