Selena: Thoughts y Recuerdos

We all remember where we were when a major event or catastrophe occurred. Whether it was 9/11 or the first lunar landing, those moments are tucked away in the crevices of our brains' memory banks. I remember where I was when Selena died like it was yesterday, and cannot believe twenty years have passed since that dark day. Though I am not an adherent of Tejano music, Selena's passing still resonates with me all of these years later.

I grew up in the Corpus Christi area, but I never saw Selena in concert like some of my friends. Tejano music has never been my music or my scene, although I somehow found myself spending many a boring Saturday night at Tejano music clubs in my early twenties. The things we do for friends, right? But just because Tejano music was not my thing did not mean I was oblivious to Selena and her music.

It was not hard at all to miss Selena's beauty, which was on par with her infectious personality: both equally beautiful. Like many others, I found her music catchy, however, what resonated was that she was not much different than me in a few ways: she was not a native Spanish speaker but picked it up along the way; she did her best to straddled two distinct, predominant cultures in South Texas (American and Mexican); and like me, she had a fondness for classic rock. It would probably surprise some, but Selena was influenced by classic rock artists such as Pat Benatar.

But unlike Benatar, Selena's music career was short-lived and to me she belongs in the group of musicians who left this world way too early: Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan, et al. She had only begun to scratch the surface of crossover success with an album that was released posthumously.

Such as the aforementioned artists, we will miss out on all of the great future-music that was silenced that cloudy spring day in Corpus Christi. I have always imagined how Selena's vocal heft in "Si una Vez" would have translated into rock music, which I think she would've done at some point. Now imagine her covering a Benatar tune. Chills.

Twenty years later, we are left with thoughts and memories of an artist whose life was cut short by a bullet. The sky was the limit for someone whose stardom and talent was partly unrealized. Little did I know that I was only a few miles away from a superstar's demise, a supernova whose presence is still felt all these years later.