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Photos by Sandy Totten - MPR
By Sanden Totten, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — Maya Santamaria is our guide. Santamaria is a cultural anthropologist with an emphasis in musicology.
She is also the owner of El Rodeo Nuevo night club and restaurant on Lake St. in Minneapolis.
Maya Santamaria
On a recent summer night, El Nuevo Rodeo is hopping. Men in fancy hats are buying tequila for women wearing exotic ostrich-skin boots. Everyone speaks Spanish. It's hard to remember you're still in Minnesota. Santamaria says for this crowd, that's the point.
"They come here to feel home away from home," says Santamaria. "After a long week of being a laborer in a society where you're considered an alien, going somewhere where you feel familiar and accepted, and you feel that happiness of your home music -- it validates you as a person, it makes you feel whole and human again."
Santamaria says non-Latino Minnesotans rarely show up at her club. They're always welcome, but with the high cover charge and heavy Mexican vibe, most casual clubbers feel out of place. She says this is a change from the 1970s and '80s.
El Nuevo Rodeo
"In those years the Mexican-American community was very bicultural. The difference came right around the turn of the century, starting around 1995, when a large second wave, an influx of real regional Mexicans came through," she says. "Then all of the sudden it was more important to be authentic than to assimilate."
And this is reflected in the music. According to Santamaria, regional Mexican music packs her club like nothing else.
Many of the headlining acts come to Minneapolis fresh from playing dusty dance halls in Mexico. They play well-defined genres.
One example is Nortena music, a style from northern Mexico. It's heavy on accordion and features a Bajo Sexto, a 12-string guitar native to Mexico. Santamaria thinks of it as lonely cowboy music.
Another popular style is called Banda. It often features 20 wind instruments, mostly brass -- and is anything but lonely music.
Banda San Jose de Mesillas
Aside from at El Nuevo Rodeo, you can catch this type of music at outdoor festivals all throughout the summer. The Spanish language station Radio Rey hosts regular concerts at places like the state fairgrounds, and at the rodeo in Hugo, just north of St. Paul.
Even though the music hasn't changed much, Santamaria says the emotions behind it have. As an example, she points to the grito -- a cry you'll hear wherever good Mexican music is played.
A grito is a boisterous sound. And for Mexicans living abroad, Santamaria says it also conveys a sense of nostalgia for home.
"There are a lot of different emotions in that expression. And that's found in our music, too," Santamaria says, using one song as an example. "It's a celebratory music, we're dancing, but the accordion is so sad. You know, there's that real kind of longing in the music. And the beat, you're marching on, but there's something that kind of makes your heart feel that tinge of sadness while you're happy and while you're dancing."
Anthropologist Maya Santamaria says the grito says all that, without saying much at all.
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Interview by Larry Knudsen
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tell us about yourself?
I am Chicana, born in New Mexico but I spent my early life in South America and I have lived in many states in the US since then, but have made Minnesota my home.
Your club is very successful, tell us about El Rodeo?
El Nuevo Rodeo came out of a need for a venue that was dignified enough for our community, a community that spends good money and was previously reduced to doing dances in armories and VFWs like second-class citizens, without lighting, good sound, even decent bathrooms and air. We started el Nuevo Rodeo with the concept of a place made by Mexicanos, for Mexicanos with good service and all of the comfort of a quality club like we deserve. We could control the weekend nights to bring in our Latino artists without having to do weeknights at main-stream clubs. We decorated with Mexican ranch-style decor and brought in staff that was culturally-appropriate, and it was a hit!
How did you know when it was time to start your own night club?
We were doing Latin nights at the Quest and First Ave, but they wouldn't let us have weekend nights, only Monday-Thursdays. Our clientele is working-class. They have to work during the week. This became a conflict for us, so our search for our own club when we could book famous bands on Friday and Saturday nights began. Also, one night I went to see a band at the Armory and there was urine running down the hallway and a 20 minute wait to get in to go to the toilet. It was a disgrace, all the women were dressed to the nines and they had to put up with these conditions, it stank, and I knew that I could bring something better to the community.
Who was your most popular Artist that you brought to your club?
Almost every weekend we bring in very famous bands. Most of them are Grammy-Award winning artists that have sold various gold and platinum albums and pack in crowds in the US and Mexico. It would be hard to say which is the most popular, but some of the bands that have brought the best crowds are Jenny Rivera, Primavera, Intocable, La Arrolladora, Los Hor?scopos, Alacranes, and Conjunto Atardecer.
What made you choose Lake Street as your location and to include a separate dining establishment as the same location as your club?
The restaurant was a requirement by the City. Lake Street is the center of the Latino Community in Minneapolis, so it was location, location, location.
Tell us how today’s economy has effected your company?
A large percentage of our community works in construction, roofing, and the hospitality industry. Those three industries are down, way down, right now. All of the roofers that usually come up from the Southwest came and left right away due to a lack of jobs--these were they guys that would come and spend their cash at us on the weekends. Our clientele no longer has discretionary income for dancing and drinking. They have to save it for rent and food for their kids. It’s been a rough year, but we are hanging in there...
How do you market your night club to the Minneapolis Musical Scene?
We advertise on Mexican Radios and Television and also put flyers and posters in the Mexican businesses.
As a minority business, what was the biggest obstacle to getting El Rodeo off the ground?
It was a very big obstacle to get the banks to believe in us and take a risk to finance us as a start-up. But American Bank did, and they were very pleased with us.
We have now re-paid them in full. We appreciate that there was a person of color there at the time I applied that saw the potential of the Mexican market and what we could do in numbers.
How do you know what concerts will be profitable?
We don't know. The economy is tough, and we take a lot of losses. Shows that made money last year are not even breaking even this year. Every concert is a big-money risk. The best bets right now are the groups that attract the youth population, the hottest new bands.
How many employees did you start with and how many do you have now? We started with four. Now we have around 50.
Has your website contributed to your company profits?
I don't have any way of knowing that, but I assume so, because you can go on the website and see our calendar of events and hopefully you will see something you like that you want to attend, and that is one more sale for us. I invite all of you to our website, it is www.elnuevorodeo.com.
Who is your mentor?
I have had various throughout the years, but right now, I would say some of the older Promoters that form part of Promotores Unidos USA, a Mexican Promoters Union I belong to. I would list Pedro Zamora, Max Mu?oz, and Ivan Fernandez, amongst some of the more experienced promoters whom I have learned a great deal from.
Tell us about your hobbies?
I love to sing, but I no longer perform. I don't have time for hobbies anymore, but I do dedicate as much time as I can to my two kids because I am a single Mother, so I just try to give them as much as I can! We go all over the place and do as much as we can around the Twin Cities, things that are fun for the family.
Do you have advice for young Indigenous Entrepreneur’s?
I would encourage them to believe in themselves and never give up on their dream. If it doesn't work out the first time, it’s probably for a reason. Find the angle, re-create your plan, analyze where you could do something differently. Persevere. I wrote 5 different business plans and applied to 12 banks for four different locations before El Nuevo Rodeo became a reality. It took me five years.
Do your projections and study your numbers based on conservative observations, and plan on the fact that everything will cost 3 times more than you think it will!!
And don't forget to enjoy what you are doing!
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