In the film, there’s this powerful moment when we see Selena y Los Dinos perform in Mexico. They don’t exactly bomb, but they don’t connect either. The audience is polite but confused. Brother, songwriter, and executive producer A.B. Quintanilla shares that they weren’t ready for that audience at that time. But then they learn. They bring on band members who speak Spanish. They became interested in cumbia and other popular Mexican art forms. But, as the documentary emphasizes, they don’t just replicate what Mexcian artists were doing. Selena and her family make it their own, mixing influences from both sides of the border like only we “ni de aquí, ni de allá” folks can do. That’s Chicano culture. And there’s no denying that Selena y Los Dinos shaped how my generation, and the ones that came after us, define ourselves.
