We're an American band

Headnote

How did La Mafia get to be the biggest tejano group in the world? By stretching the boundaries of their musicand crossing borders,

"SEN ORITA ME-XI-CO. ."

Upstairs, the guys in the band were fidgeting and yawning, fighting off boredom in their windowless dressing room. Downstairs, on the stage of Mazatlan's elegant nineteenthcentury opera house, mainstream Mexico was putting on its best face for the world. "Senorita Me-xi-co. ."

The pageant's canned theme song soared over the audience. Folkloric dancers twirled and kicked. Mariachis strummed mute guitars and shirtless Indians rowed invisible boats. To a chorus of whoops, the young lovelies began parading out in traditional garb-the statuesque Aztec princess, the sombrero-clad rodeo queen, the fruit-on-thehead tropical vixen-each delivering a paean to the wonders and warmth of her native state. The requisite stable of telenovela stars and overripe celebrities blew kisses from the judges' aisle. After an hour of bikinis and evening gowns, the 32 contestants in last May's Senorita Mexico contest had been trimmed to 10: Senorita Campeche, Senorita Oaxaca, Senorita Sonora, Senorita Chiapas, Senorita Distrito Federal, Senorita Jalisco, Senorita Baja California Norte, Senorita Sinaloa, Senorita Veracruz, and Senorita Chihuahua.

The announcement of those names was La Mafia's cue, even though half of the guys in the band would have needed an atlas to figure out where in Mexico the girls were from. "T-laska-la. . T-las-ka-la," Miss Tlaxcala had repeated for the benefit of La Mafia's bassist, Eutimio "Tim" Ruiz, earlier during a break. The percussionist, Brian Doria, had his eye on Miss Michoacan. "How do you say, `Don't worry. Your smile is very beautiful?"' he had asked La Mafia's more fluent publicist. La Mafia may be Texas' number one Spanish-language musical act-winners this year of a second consecutive Grammy in the best Mexican American-tejano category-but that is no guarantee of making it south of the Rio Grande. A good many borders have to get crossed before a group of Mexican Americans-most of whom live in the suburbs of Houston, speak English as their first language, and fret about Montezuma's revenge as surely as any gringo-can land an internationally televised gig on Senorita Mexico '98.

"Un millon de rosas," crooned La Mafia's lead singer, Oscar de la Rosa, as he took the stage....