“Her years' long career included such honors as 20 million albums sold, making her the highest earning Banda singer of all time.” (Billboard magazine) In 1999, the late Jenni Rivera changed music history forever, becoming the first female Banda singer. Banda is a form of traditional Mexican brass-based music. It varies from Cumbias and salsa being a type of Columbian and Latin dance. Banda is better known for their style of ranchera music, a type of genre of Mexican music sung by originally one performer with a guitar. In the time, Banda music was dominated by men and the type of songs they primarily sang were about love, sex, alcohol, and women. Alejandra Ora from Spanish news had a lot to say about her describing her as “She was the first female voice to express what women were thinking at the time, when you were listening to male songs, there were always about women, or drinking, or at that time it was more about drug trafficking, but she was talking about domestic violence, being poor and being a single mother, and how hard is it to be a Hispanic women in this …show more content…
Rivera had her children and their children start a taco catering truck and would have them cook, clean, take orders, and deliver to customers. She did this to teach them about hard work and to keep them humble. All the profits she made, she donated to churches, hospitals and elderly homes. “My kids may be well off for the rest of their lives, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to work for their money. I came from absolutely nothing, and I didn’t get to where I am by doing absolutely nothing.” (p.126) This shows her true compassion not for being an artist, but for being a mother and a human being. “She wasn’t just an artist. I saw her as a genuine human being who makes music, because she wasn’t afraid of saying what she wanted to say, she didn’t care who was hearing or who was capturing picture of