Friday, September 21, 2001
San Antonio music critic to
speak in Abilene
By Helena Rodriguez
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Ramiro Burr suddenly became one of the most
wanted men in America on March 31, 1995.
That was the day the promising career of
Tejano singer Selena was cut short when her fan club president
shot and killed her. While millions of people asked, “Who
is Selena?” the national media turned to Burr for answers.
Author, longtime music critic and syndicated
columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, Burr is considered
the nation’s authority on Latin music. He is often also called
upon to share his expertise on country, rock and pop music, having
written about singing stars from Emilio to Janet Jackson.
This weekend, he will be one of the busiest
folks in Abilene. Burr is scheduled to teach a journalism class
this morning at Abilene Christian University. He will speak at
the Festival of the Americas in downtown Abilene tonight and Saturday
night, and will serve as a panelist and speaker at the West Texas
Book & Author Festival on Saturday at the Abilene Civic Center,
1100 N. 6th St.
In addition, he will speak to reporters
today at the Abilene Reporter-News, sponsor of his trip to Abilene.
During his visit, Burr’s topics include
“How to Get a Book Published,” “History of Tejano
Music,” “Literacy” and “Is a Career in Journalism
Right For You?”
Burr said his main message will be about
the importance of literacy.
“I stress the importance of literacy
because a lot of kids and young adults still can’t enjoy
things that the rest of us take for granted, particularly in the
Latino community,” Burr said.
“There are high dropout rates and continuing
cycles of poverty. Literacy also applies to the music scene, but
in a different way. A lot of musicians don’t know how to
get into the business and how to understand the importance of
a contract and attorneys.”
Burr said he will encourage ACU students
to put a lot of thought and research into their career choice.
“Journalism has to give you purpose
and a passion because you will spend a lot of hours at it,”
said Burr, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from
the University of Texas. “If you want to go into journalism,
you have to make sure writing and reading is easy or fun because
you will have to do a lot of it, and very quickly.’’
Bob Gomez, coordinator of the office of
student multicultural enrichment at ACU, said the opportunity
for ACU students to interact with a role model in their chosen
profession will be invaluable.
“I think it is great for us to have
a Hispanic writer on campus and to find out how he got started
writing,” Gomez said. “Burr also brings an interesting
facet in that he’s an expert in Tejano music. That’s
something that not that many people know about.”
Seventeen years ago, Burr knew little about
Tejano music himself. He was a crime reporter for the now-defunct
San Antonio Light when an editor asked him to cover the Tejano
Music Awards. Burr, who had grown up in Laredo listening to Led
Zeppelin, Rush and Genesis, attended the awards and realized there
was a whole industry that had never gotten any news coverage.
He started tracking the growing Tejano music
industry, based in San Antonio, and in 1990 began writing a weekly
Latin music column.
While there is not a heavy demand for Latin
music writers, Burr said the timing is right for writers who specialize
in Latin music or, “on a broader scope, on world music —
music that doesn’t get mainstream play.’’
Burr said the Latin music craze is not a
fad but a trend he thinks will continue to grow.
“The No. 1 misconception is that all
Latin music is Ricky Martin, when Latin music is actually as big
and diverse as mainstream music,” he said. “I can count
up to 34 subgenres of Latin music, and even in Norteño
music alone, it can be subdivided.”
Burr penned The Billboard Guide to Tejano
and Regional Mexican Music, the first resource book of its kind.
When it was published in 1999, the Los Angeles Times praised it
as insurance that “no one should again be surprised by a
phenomenon such as Selena.”
Burr’s outlook on the music industry
as a whole is optimistic.
“Music is becoming more and more important
in our society,” he said. “There is music in commercials,
waiting rooms, buses and airplanes, and we have new technology
like DVDs and MP3s, and more soundtracks. I see continued growth.”
Contact leisure writer Helena Rodriguez
at 676-6761 or rodriguezh@abinews.com
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©2001, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps.
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