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Norteno music, so named because of its origins in northern Mexico, is played to a polka beat, which traces back to German influences in Monterrey and south Texas. The two common types of songs in the genre are corridos, ballads that often tell of controversy or struggle, and rancheras, roughly the Mexican counterpart to American country music.

Arrazola, of Homestead, is apprentice to Tomas Granado. He excels on the guitar, bass, drums, and bajo sexto, a 12-string guitar with unusually heavy strings. A musician since age five, he will be learning the ornamentation, phrasing, and rhythms of the norteno style and building a repertoire of tunes.

Photographed at Granado's music store, T. G. Music.