On NPR a while back, there was a brief piece on the history of icehouses in Texas. I just tracked it down on mp3. (FYI, the bit about music starts about 4:30. Also, the content stops at 6:40, though the music goes on.)Before the advent of electric refrigeration, you had an icebox, and you bought a big chunk of ice for your icebox at an icehouse. In addition, you could stock up on typical items that needed refrigeration (beer, milk, eggs) at the icehouse. Eventually, these stores extended their hours -- to, say, 7 am to 11 pm -- so that, conveniently, you could go before or after work (thus one became 7-Eleven). One icehouse owner put a totem pole in the front of his store, and it became known as the totem store. "Totem" became "tote'm" because you could tote your items home with you. (The dominant chain of convenience stores in my hometown of Amarillo is called Toot'n Totum. Perhaps in the old days you had to drive up and honk so they would open the door for you.)
Unlike convenience stores of today, icehouses also served a social function, not unlike a pub, as a gathering place for working people. At that time, working people in Texas largely consisted of Germans, Czechs, and Mexicans. They would hang out after work and play music together, the Europeans providing the instrumentation and the Mexicans singing stories over the music. Thus Tejano music was born. (The NPR piece mentions this collaboration as the root of Conjunto/Northern Mexico music, but clearly the same is true of Tejano/Southern Texas music.) So if you've ever wondered, like I have, why Tejano can sound so much like polka, there's your answer.
I've gotta be honest -- I've never developed a taste for Tejano myself, but I know Tejano is a big deal to a whole lot of people. (I lived in Amarillo -- about as far from South Texas as you can get and still be in Texas -- when Selena died, and I've never witnessed such an outpouring of grief before or since.) The history of this music is fascinating, and I am always proud to learn of fruitful collaborations among the cultures of my home state.
