While overall sales for Latin music slowed in 2002, regional Mexican music continues to make inroads.

Following pop music’s lead and developing sub genres, regional Mexican music continued expansion and ongoing immigration from Mexico meant more choices and more competition among bands.

Comprising such styles as banda, norteño, grupero and Tejano, regional Mexican accounted for 58 percent of Latin music sales in 2001, up from 55 percent in 2000, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Hip-hop/cumbia fusions continued to draw label interest and whip live crowds into a frenzy, but only Los Kumbia Kings reaped major commercial success from the style. Los Chicos del Barrio, Los Capi and new groups like Los Vatos Regios and Bermudas showed promise and could break out of their regional box if the trend keeps rising.

Los Kumbia Kings reached No. 5 this month on Billboard's Top Latin Albums with “All Mixed Up—Los Remixes,” though first single “La Cucaracha” failed to infest radio due to its marijuana references.

Kumbia Kings leaders A.B. Quintanilla and Cruz Martinez were also busy forming management company King of Bling, which signed face-painting Brownsville band Big Circo. Big Circo immediately scored a hit with cumbia “Yo No Fui.”

The hardworking Quintanilla and Martinez also produced “Soy Asi,” the first album in over two years from norteño-pop pioneers Grupo Límite.

Tejano endured another tough year, buffeted by the loss of stations in Houston and the Valley. Several artists who weathered the storm got a boost from the still-cresting vallenato wave. Top-requested singles at Tejano flagship KXTN-FM included Tejano-vallenato fusions like Los Desperadoz’s “Bailadora,” Bobby Pulido’s “Vanidosa,” and Frijoles Romanticos’ “No Me Asustan.”

Already a strong regional artist, Corpus Christi-based Jennifer Peña finally became a superstar with her fifth album “Libre,” produced by the pop-oriented Rudy Perez and Kike Santander. The collaboration gave the 19-year-old singer her first No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks with the cumbia “El Dolor de Tu Presencia.”

Lovers of old-school Tejano, meanwhile, were heartened by the success of Latin Breed’s new album “Retro,” featuring Adalberto Gallegos on vocals. Unabashedly Tejano, brassy cumbia single “Sin Tu Amor” was a near magical amalgam of classic and modern elements.

On the west coast, banda music continued its comeback, as bicultural producer twins Omar and Adolfo Valenzuela almost single-handedly revitalized the genre with their ingenious, danceable arrangements. This year, they were behind such hits as “It’s OK” by Rogelio Martinez and “Estoy Sufriendo” by German Lizárraga, the former Banda El Recodo director.

However, the banda-based narcocorrido youth movement seemed to peak, with new albums by Lupillo Rivera and Jessie Morales charting lower than their 2001 efforts.

Meanwhile, the lighter-themed, Monterrey, Mexico-centered, norteño-cumbia and norteño-romantic subgenres kept rolling along.

Valley-based Grupo Control, which burst on the scene in 2000, scored another boot-scooting cumbia hit with a cover of Rigo Tovar’s “No Que o.”

But Control’s co-founders, brothers Sergio and Lupe Degollado really truck gold producing new Matamoros, Mexico, group La Onda. La Onda follows Control’s template of two-stepping cumbias and choreographed stage moves, but features two female singers; Belen Gutierrez, 18, and Yessica Ruiz, 20.

Striking while the iron is hot, La Onda recorded a norteño cover of Las Ketchup’s “Aserejé” which burst on to Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks top 10 this month. Though novelty cover tunes rarely serve as launching pads for long careers, La Onda is an amiable group with strong management and label support.

Iman scored with soft, accordion-fueled hits “De Que Sirvió” and “Me Has Robado El Corazón,” and also accompanied pop singer Pilar Montenegro on the cumbia version of her surprise smash “Quítame Ese Hombre.”

Though La Costumbre’s label, Hollywood, folded, the group didn’t fade, thanks to the appearance of members Edgar Lujan and Jose Zamora, Jr., in the critically acclaimed movie “Real Women Have Curves.”

While regional Mexican music’s increasing competitiveness, genre fragmentation and fan fickleness pose challenges for artists and business people, the music’s bright demographic prospects and ability to assimilate new styles bode well for its continued growth.