Can Puebla York Put NYC on the Map for Mexican Music?

In recent years, regional Mexican music has reached unprecedented global heights. Peso Pluma became a Billboard Hot 100 staple, scoring 23 entries in a single year. Carín León broke ground as the first Mexican artist to perform at a country music fest (California’s Stagecoach festival), expanding música mexicana’s influence beyond familiar spaces. And Fuerza Regida’s 2025 album 111XPANTIA debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — the genre’s highest-charting release ever.

Regional Mexican music — an umbrella that encompasses banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño, mariachi, and more styles — has cemented its status as an international phenomenon. For a genre that was, up until recently, largely confined to Spanish-speaking or family-oriented audiences, its global ascent reflects the emerging pride and power of the Mexican diaspora’s cultural identity, particularly in the U.S.

Still, while major hubs like California and Texas have long functioned as hotbeds for música Mexicana, New York City has historically been left out of the conversation. NYC’s music scene has largely been shaped by Caribbean rhythms: salsa and merengue blaring out of bodegas, bachata soundtracking Bronx block parties, and reggaetón dominating the nightlife. Identity-driving cultural landmarks like the Fania All-Stars, and later superstars like Marc Anthony and Romeo Santos, were New York-made, fostering the perception that the city is defined by its Puerto Rican and Dominican diasporas, while Mexican culture sat in the background.

“When I first came here, I didn’t even know there were that many Mexicans,” says Paulina Montiel, co-founder of Migo Events, who moved from the West Coast to NYC about seven years ago. “But there’s a big market — corridos shows that come here, they sell out or book two days, like Tito Double P who sold out Prudential Center two nights in a row [earlier this year].”

With rising musicians, events dedicated to uplifting the culture and communities preserving traditions like lowriders and sonideros (soundsystem block parties popular in Mexican culture, centered around a DJ playing cumbia), New York City is steadily carving out its role as a meaningful player in regional Mexican music. Its Mexican voices are loud and growing — and they’re ready to show the world that “Puebla York” is not just a geographic moniker, but a cultural movement equal to major hubs like Texas and California.

Fueled by New York’s growing Mexican community — particularly from Puebla, a state south of Mexico City that makes up an estimated 60-80% of Mexican New Yorkers — a new wave of first- and second-generation artists is carving out a space uniquely their own. The Mexican population in the greater New York area exceeds half a million, with estimates reaching as high as 800,000, according to the Associated Press.

The term “Puebla York” — similar to “Nuyorican,” which is a mix of New York and Puerto Rican identities — emerged in the late 20th century to represent NYC’s Poblano community and its deep ties to the Mexican state. Embracing this identity, emerging talents fuse regional Mexican genres like corridos tumbados, cumbias sonideras and Mexican folk with the city’s distinct urban flair (slang, visuals, fashion, etc.), crafting new sounds that embody their biculturalism.

Even so, jaripeos — traditional rodeo events where artists often perform while mounted on horseback — have also been part of the Mexican experience in the New York Tri-State area (while, again, more known in Texas and California). For instance, Pepe Aguilar — who has been performing since he was a toddler — joined his legendary father Antonio Aguilar on the road for family jaripeos, and made his debut at Madison Square Garden at age 3. But icons like Vicente Fernández and Joan Sebastian also put on Mexican folk equestrian shows in NYC. Today, events community page bailes.northeast focuses on amplifying these traditional events across the region, keeping the jaripeo culture alive.

Promoters like Montiel have been key in spotlighting NYC’s connection to regional Mexican music. She regularly organizes monthly parties aimed at uniting young Mexican and Latin creatives, while celebrating their roots. She was also behind what would have been NYC’s first-ever corridos-centric festival, Migo Fest — until it was canceled, with organizers citing the “political climate” that coincided with the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the nation, as well as visa issues for international artists and concerns about potential threats to audiences from ICE enforcement.

“New York is a huge market that people forget about sometimes in Latin culture. It’s always Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Bad Bunny, Maluma… Colombians out here are also very popular. It’s our time to shine,” Montiel says. “I want [our events to] reflect Puebla York, where we’re from and our roots. We’re here, we’re proud, and we’re not going anywhere.” 

Among these voices is HelloTones. Proudly calling himself El Hijo de Puebla York, the Bronx-born DJ has developed his signature “kumbias mezcladas” — a reimagining of traditional sonidero rhythms infused with hip-hop, electronic and experimental sounds.

“Cumbia was always in the background for me growing up,” says HelloTones, whose parents migrated from Puebla in the late 1970s. “It subliminally entered my brain — I feel like cumbia has always been subliminally in the minds of New Yorkers across the spectrum… It wasn’t until much later as a DJ that I started connecting it to all the other music I loved, like hip-hop mixtapes I grew up on in the Bronx.”

When HelloTones began experimenting with integrating cumbia into his electronic and hip-hop sets, audiences reacted with curiosity and excitement. “I realized I was hitting two sweet spots: people familiar with sonidero-style cumbia but who had never heard it remixed like this, and people who didn’t know what cumbia was but loved the energy and rhythms,” he says.

At Brooklyn’s Viva Toro, a Mexican bar and restaurant in East Williamsburg, Puebla York’s presence was felt in full force last October. The stage welcomed more established Mexican-American talent from California (DannyLux), Indiana (Los Aptos), alongside emerging stars from New York, such as SpliffHappy, and more, during the unofficial afterparty for the canceled Migo Fest. Among the night’s standout local performers was Santy y Su Estilo Único, who fronted his band as both singer and tololoche player. Among the night’s standout local performers was Santy y Su Estilo Único, who delivered a captivating set featuring the corrido “5 Condados,” a tribute to NYC’s five boroughs and its Mexican diaspora.

“There is a lot of Mexican culture here, whether it’s sonidera, regional, or traditional dances,” says Santy, who leads Santy y Su Estilo Único as both singer and tololoche player. “That’s why we have the nickname Puebla York — there are a lot of Mexicans here, and most of them are from Puebla.”

Santy’s pride in blending his roots with NYC’s identity is intrinsic to his work. “Nueva York es cultura,” he attests. Born and raised in Ridgewood, Queens, with parents from Ecatepec de Morelos and Ciudad Neza, the 18-year-old finds significance in Mexican touchpoints across NYC. “L.A. has always had that essence of simplemente being proud of where they’re from, being so close to Mexico, de la frontera. I was like, ‘Why is nobody doing it over here?!’ New York is also part of our history — whether it’s graffiti of a little Virgin Mary, a Mexican deli with the attendant you’ve known since you were little, or the train you used to ride to go to school. For me, it’s a lot about feeling proud of where I’m from and where I come from.”

La Virgen de Guadalupe holds deep cultural and spiritual significance for Mexicans, serving as a powerful symbol of faith, identity and unity, and is often regarded as the patroness of Mexico.

The artist channels his deep connection to his roots in his 2025 EP Straight Outta NYC (a clever nod to N.W.A’s landmark west coast rap album Straight Outta Compton) with songs and music videos showcasing quintessential NYC landmarks — trains, bodegas, and even the streets that shaped him.

But Santy also draws inspiration from New York’s Mexican cultural traditions, like sonideros. His father, a DJ, exposed him early to community events that mirrored sounds associated with Mexican nightlife. “Since my parents have been around here, in 1999, there were already sonidero dances,” Santy says. There are many sound systems with more than 20 years of history, right here in New York. That’s something that you would only see in Puebla, Mexico.” This year, the rising star and his band also performed at the 2025 Mexican Independence Day Parade on Madison Avenue. 

SpliffHappy — Billboard‘s Latin Artist On Our Radar alum — shares a similar dual identity, but brings a distinct origin story to the table. Originally known as a Jersey club and New York drill rapper, the 26-year-old native of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood transitioned into regional Mexican music in 2023. His songs convey a mix of street pride and heartbreak — with metaphors straddling Mexican and NYC cultures. In his single “Brooklyn,” he pays homage to his borough, featuring visuals of Knickerbocker Ave, while in the music video for “Ando,” a heartfelt ballad, the artist is showcased outside Mexican restaurant staples like Santa Ana Restaurant & Taquería, backed by musicians in ski masks. “The way we dress, me having cornrows, my belt [with the scorpion buckle]… that’s all New Yorker,” he says, adding, “Santy and I are constantly trying to evolve that.”

On the singer-songwriter front is 21-year-old Selines, a Bronx-based indie folk artist who was also part of Migo Fest’s original lineup. Signed to Interscope Records, her music is often introspective, often framing themes of identity, belonging and growth within poetic soundscapes.

“Growing up, we really didn’t know Puebla was dominating the city,” shares Selines, whose mother is from Puebla, Mexico, and her father from Veracruz. “I was way more in tune with my Poblana side because my mom has more family here. My mom listened to a lot of mariachi-heavy music, and my dad was more into tropical [music]… people started saying, ‘I’m also from Puebla.’ It started popping up more, especially because of social media. Little by little, we all started building up that community […] Even Cuco, saying it out loud, ‘Puebla York,’ [in his album-release celebration] gave us this sense of pride.”

While her work strays from regional Mexican traditions like corridos, Selines sees her music as part of Puebla York’s evolving spirit. She is currently working on her first album with Interscope and addresses identity themes while carving a space for Mexican-American diversity in NYC’s music scene.

But curtailed visibility doesn’t mean a lack of history. Before Puebla York artists began mixing hip-hop references with corridos tumbados, NYC-based musicians like Mireya Ramos, founder of the Latin Grammy-winning all-female mariachi group Flor de Toloache, were laying the groundwork. “In early 2000, the Mexican community was just starting to grow,” Ramos recalls. “I lived in Sunset Park at that time. Sunset Park was just starting to become more Mexican [populated]. We were part of that growth, and the part of history where Mexican culture became part of New York’s culture.”

Ramos’ mariachi project disrupted traditional narratives by centering women in a genre largely dominated by men. She explains that while her group was received with open arms, it was not by genre traditionalists at the time. “One, we were all women. Two, we were not all Mexican. Three, it wasn’t traditional. We were doing our own song,” she adds. But the scene has grown on its own terms. “There’s nothing compared to the West Coast,” says Ramos, adding that New York City’s imprint is unmistakable: “Just taking the subway alone is a whole different experience. And how hard you have to work here compared to the vibe in California is different. That changes you.”

Santy explains, “If you go to a sonidero, you’ll see cumbia playing for four or five hours straight, with people completely energized — dancing, sending shoutouts, enjoying themselves as if we were back [in Mexico]. The scene is here; the problem is that there’s no one who truly knows how to highlight it the way it deserves.”

Even with this rising momentum, Puebla York still faces challenges — especially when it comes to promoting and spotlighting NYC’s Mexican voices. “Sometimes it’s difficult for artists because they don’t receive as much support as they do in Los Angeles or Mexico,” observes Moisés Ceja López, creator of Onda Regional Show, a New York-based podcast dedicated to elevating the regional Mexican music scene on the East Coast. Inspired by figures like Pepe Garza, Ceja López uses his platform to amplify up-and-coming New York talent, such as Aumento, Arturo Torres and Izan Rodriguez.

“Over there [in L.A. or Mexico], there are more promoters, record labels, and venues, but here we’re more limited,” Ceja López adds. “There’s so much talent, but if artists don’t feel supported or don’t have a platform, they sometimes get discouraged.”

This theme of visibility resonates with Brooklyn photographer and videographer Jonathan Reyes, better known as Brklynj0n (pronounced Brooklyn Jon), whose work visualizes cultural traditions like lowriders, street vendors and barbecues, all of which have long shaped New York’s Mexican identity, but rarely get the spotlight. “There’s been a lowrider scene here for years, but nobody has really captured the style and culture out here,” he says. “[People] didn’t know there were lowriders in New York, and these cars have been around for years. They weren’t being showcased the way they should be.”

“A lot of people that follow me on my Instagram are from the West Coast, and they’re like, ‘We didn’t know there were that many Mexicans out there,’” says Brklynj0n. “For me it’s always been like representing the culture the right way… so people know that we’re also out here and it’s big out here too — the cars, music, foods, everything.”

Ceja López has a similar vision for showcasing Puebla York’s many grassroots artists. He remarks that there are more than 50 — possibly even 100 — local acts in NYC and expanded regions like Philly, Connecticut and Delaware. He supports younger musicians experimenting with corridos tumbados or blending regional Mexican styles, while also drawing attention to traditionalist performers like Connecticut’s Jovani Miranda y Los Chavalos de Oro, who brings an Ariel Camacho-inspired style to his live shows. The lack of venues and resources has limited growth, but, as Ceja López explains, the talent and potential are undeniable. As of late, he is using his network to address these challenges with the recently launched Mítico Events, where he is hosting his first show, Cuerdazos, featuring New York-based corridos artists Los Meros Sospechosos and T3R Legado on Dec. 6. 

The question remains: Can Puebla York put NYC on the map for Mexican music? These artists are set to make it impossible to ignore.

“I think there’s a need for something — a conference or a meeting point for these groups, to create a moment not just for New York, but also including Philadelphia, Delaware, and beyond,” Ceja López reflects. “Sometimes they need a bit more support to truly see everything they’re capable of achieving.”