Fiesta Musical, Taking Tejano to the Future in Kansas City

DJ Feature:DJ Ritmo

Fiesta Musical is going strong after five years with a fresh brand of Tejano programming in Kansas City. Fiesta Musical features an unrivaled new artist music library; insightful and informative guest artist interviews; edgy commentary and informed opinions; and listener’s song requests. The fiesta begins every Monday night at 7:30 pm and lasts until 10:00 pm (central standard time). Fiesta Musical airs on 90.1 FM in Kansas City and simulcasts via live web stream at http://www.kkfi.org. For an enhanced, interactive experience, join us in our chat room at http://www.myspace.com/fiestamusical during the show to interact with the djs and make your requests while chatting with Tejano fans from across the nation. Fiesta Musical…Taking Tejano to the Future!

Interest in Tejano

Back in the early 1970s when Ritmo was a wee tot, he sat on his grandfather’s lap while listening to Mexican or Spanish music. Ritmo’s grandfather would sing in Spanish and strum out those songs on guitar as well. Tejano was not even a genre back then and all music from Jose Alfredo Jimenez in Mexico to Conjunto Bernal in El Valle was lumped together into a single category. These fond memories of summers spent in Chanute, KS with his grandfather and the music planted the seeds of passion for today’s Tejano music.

A newer style of Spanish music had emerged and became tremendously hip and popular during the 1970s. Ritmo discovered Little Joe and the Latinaires. Little Joe’s orquesta style of music was fresh. Ritmo enjoyed the variety of music by Little Joe which ranged from rancheras to cumbias to English. Another of Ritmo’s favorites was Freddy Fender because he liked the Tex Mex sound as well as the Spanish and English songs. Like many kids during this time, Ritmo eventually expanded his musical tastes and went away from Mexican or Spanish music for several years as he explored rock and top 40.

Eventually, in college, Ritmo returned to the music which had generated so many fond memories. By this time in the early 1990s, the music of Ritmo’s grandfather had changed and even had a new name. Tejano had arrived to the music scene. One day, by chance, Ritmo’s college dorm roommate went home for the weekend. Ritmo noticed his roommate had a couple of cassettes on his desk. There was a cassette by Mazz and another by Jaime y Los Chamacos. Out of boredom and curiosity, Ritmo put the cassettes in the tape deck and he discovered a whole new style of music. Mazz had a powerful sound with synthesizers and Jaime y Los Chamacos were young and they played a conjunto, accordion-style music similar to Ritmo’s grandfather’s music. Jaime’s medleys were unique and exciting and Ritmo was hooked. At this time, La Sombra had come onto the music scene with a brass sound and edgy youthfulness. Basically, La Sombra combined the best of Ritmo’s music worlds with the brass sound reminiscent of the Little Joe days and their rock influences which Ritmo had become fond of as well. Ritmo credits La Sombra’s style for reigniting his passion for La Onda.

Involvement in Radio

Ritmo always had a tape player and recorder since he was a little child. One day, maybe when Ritmo was 5 or 6 years old, a few Oakland neighborhood kids came over to his house and they had a recording session in the bedroom. This would be Ritmo’s first recording production. During the recording, the kids told jokes and acted out skits. One skit was a reenactment of Greased Lightning from the movie Grease. A few years later and armed with a new cassette player/recorder/radio, Ritmo recorded a few shows with neighborhood kids, interviewed puppets and played music. This happened during the Pac Man craze and Ritmo used the Pac Man Fever song as the intro and outro to his recorded shows.

During the mid 1990s when Ritmo discovered Tejano music and started his mobile dj business, another opportunity presented itself. Victor Rodriguez invited Ritmo to his Tejano radio show on KVOE 1400 AM in Emporia, KS. Ritmo hung out at the studio during the show from time to time. One day, Victor asked Ritmo to get on air. Ritmo remembers being very nervous and he did a segment on Selena. Although Ritmo thought his first on air experience was very raw to say the least, this was a humble beginning to Ritmo’s radio experience.

In 2005, Ritmo met Tomas Pacheco at the Topeka Fiesta. Ritmo and Tomas became friends in the coming months and Tomas asked Ritmo to join the Fiesta Musical radio show on 90.1 FM in Kansas City. Ritmo saw eye-to-eye on many issues with Tomas about the Tejano industry, marketing the show, setting a direction for the show, etc. and he has helped Tomas take Fiesta Musical to another level using his ties with the Tejano industry. In fact, Ritmo coined the phrase “Taking Tejano to the Future” and the rest is current history.

Interest in Mobile DJ


Ritmo started his mobile dj business, Ritmo Productions, in 1995 while still in college. Armed with a six-channel Peavey mixer amp; a pair of unknown brand speakers; a cd walkman and a cd player, Ritmo was ready to hit the road. Inspired by a couple of parties Ritmo attended, he noticed that people were complaining how the dj was not playing their requests. Ritmo thought to himself “how hard can it be” to play requests and satisfy the crowd? Inspired by a passion to satisfy customers and for music, Ritmo set out as a Tejano and R&B mobile dj. Today, Ritmo plays a wide variety of music ranging from the 1940s to current including genres like rock, country, hip hop and Latin music. Ritmo Productions is known for quality as well as reliability. In fact, Ritmo is the dj of choice for several dj companies in the Topeka/Kansas City area when they need a dependable backup to get the job done right.