Popular norteño quintet Oro Norteño, formed in 1996, is not a grupero or Tejano outfit in the strict sense; while the slick, urbane, polished grupero and tejano styles are essentially Latin pop with Mexican overtones, Oro Norteño has tended to favor a grittier, tougher, more hardcore approach to regional Mexican music. The band has recorded songs by romantic Latin pop singers like Joan Sebastían and Marco Antonio Solís, but at the end of the day, they're essentially a straight-ahead norteño band. ~ Alex Henderson