A SYMPHONY OF LOVE FOR TEJANO ICON SELENA
Selena’s 2002 album “Ones” is familiar territory for fans. It’s one of several compilations of her biggest hits, including six No. 1 singles.
But the album closer, “Con Tanto Amor Medley,” cast her in a new light. It took three of Selena’s songs — “Amor Prohibido,” “Si Una Vez,” “Como la Flor” — and reworked them into a lush, symphonic arrangement. Even her pleading vocals, stripped from Tejano backdrops, sound wholly different against the music.
That renewed sense of discovery is what the Houston Symphony is betting on with “The Music of Selena,” this weekend’s tribute to the late Tejano singer featuring San Antonio singer Isabel Marie Sanchez.
Art Vivar, the Houston Symphony’s Hispanic Leadership Council Chair, says they started working on a Selena tribute several years ago.
“We basically have a mandate, if you will, to bring the Hispanic community to the symphony and bring the symphony to the Hispanic community,” Vivar says. “The idea of Selena, from the Astrodome to Jones Hall, is cool. It’s poetic, if you will, that it’s happening here in Houston.”
Selena was murdered in 1995 by her fan club president at the cusp of what promised to be a successful crossover career. In life, she effortlessly soared to heights that women, and Tejano music in general, never reached, taking her pop-enhanced sound to Mexico and eventually around the world. No other act has come close to replicating her success.
In death, Selena has become a legend, a beacon of hope for
generations of fans. She was immortalized in a 1997 film that also made Jennifer Lopez a star. Her final RodeoHouston performance became a bestselling album. Her songs are still in heavy rotation, and her albums regularly return to the charts. Incredibly, that 2002 “Ones” album was the bestselling Latin album by a woman in 2016. Last year, it returned to No. 1 on the iTunes Latin Albums chart, outpacing new projects from Shakira, J Balvin and Maluma.
Earlier this year, Kacey Musgraves, Camila Cabello and Prince Royce honored Selena during their RodeoHouston sets. A Netflix series about Selena is in the works. A tribute cruise plans to set sail next year.
Stepping into Selena’s shoes
That’s a whole lot of legacy to live up to. But Sanchez has powerful allies in her corner. She records on Q-Zone Records, the label owned by Abraham Quintanilla, Selena’s famultiple ther.
“It’s an honor, really. I would have never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be able to work with her family,” Sanchez, 16, says.
Sanchez was a finalist on “La Voz Kids,” a junior version of “The Voice” on Telemundo. After her time on the show, she released a cover of the ’80s tune “De Mi Enamorate,” which was eventually seen by “Mr. Q” and led to a meeting. He asked her to learn half of one song when they met. Sanchez learned two full numbers.
“He wanted to just hear how I sound in the studio,” Sanchez says. “I really wanted to impress him. He left for 30 minutes to get coffee, and when they came back, I had learned both songs. My mom and I were writing the lyrics on a napkin in the studio.”
Sanchez signed with Q-Zone Records at 12 years old and has released three albums, including last year’s “XOXO Hugs & Kisses.” Her sound leans heavily into Tejano but she says she doesn’t like to limit herself to one style of music. Sanchez’s biggest successes, though, have been in Tejano, where she says the fans are “super, super loyal.” She won the 2017 Tejano Music Award for best new female artist and is a regular on Tejano radio countdowns.
Growing up in Chicago, Sanchez was inspired by pop divas like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. And, of course, Selena.
“I remember my mom cleaning the kitchen to ‘Baila Esta Cumbia’ or crying listening to ‘No Me Queda Mas,’ ” Sanchez says. “I was subconsciously learning all the lyrics and just dancing to it all the time.
“We moved to Texas when I was 9 years old. Our minds blew when we came here because there was a whole genre. We fell in love with it, really.”
‘She looked just like me’
She began singing at Trader’s Village and Market Square in San Antonio, her family making their own albums to sell to fans. Today, Sanchez has become a go-to for official Selena events, performing at the MAC makeup launch and Fiesta de la Flor. She also performs her own material throughout Texas.
Sanchez says performing with a symphony has always been one of her “main goals.” During a recent rehearsal in Houston, she brought emotion and sensitivity to “Dreaming of You” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” Not a copycat, but a tasteful homage to a woman who Sanchez says inspired her beyond the music in a deeply personal way.
“Selena is such a big stamp in our culture,” Sanchez says. “I saw a lot of artists out there who were Mexican, but they had blond hair, blue eyes. Then I saw Selena, and she looked just like me: dark skin, dark hair. I really, really connected to that because I knew that someone who looked like me could eventually make it.”