For almost a century ago, Mexican workers in America would tune into their radios at the break of day only to listen to Spanish folk songs. In a community immersed in various musical forms, corrido was the most popular. As explained in the Bedford reader in American history the corrido is, “a style of folk song characterized by storytelling about both heroic figures and everyday folks.” (148) This kind of music was so prominent in the Mexican community that doing something as simple as walking down the street you would encounter its melody. Every song has a story behind it, but for this style of music the story was all about the “loss and gain, personal love and political anger, national loyalty and cultural change; ethnic pride and racial …show more content…
The fact that using song lyrics as a historical source provides the listeners or readers of the lyrics real and pure thoughts from the writers. The songs are stripped of any malicious intent and simply, “created by people without wealth or power” as said in the aforementioned history book. (152) Another benefit is that the song evolves overtime and that also makes it diverse for any town to listen to. However, it expresses a new way of telling stories and assists in conveying emotion to the listener and truly involves them into the song. Also, I believe these song lyrics brings the Mexican community together whether they are rivals in the community or not it helps them forget about their differences. Besides the song lyrics ability to bring the Mexican community together it also gives them secrecy in a way only they understand their songs because although they are different in personality and looks they share similar worldviews. Although a blind spot may be that the song lyrics aren’t created for people outside of the Mexican community, but for historical sources there may be a major setback for today’s society outside of the Latino community to comprehend. As a result of this it may also be a disadvantage of having to translate it for a history class and with translations the actual message of the lyrics may be miscommunicated. Despite this, song lyrics do provide historians potential insight, but these lyrics can also be
For centuries, music has been defined by history, time, and place. To address this statement, Tom Zè, an influential songwriter during the Tropicália Movement, produced the revolutionary “Fabrication Defect” to challenge oppression as a result from the poor political and social conditions. On the other hand, David Ramsey discusses, in mixtape vignettes, the role of music to survive in New Orleans’ violent setting. Furthermore, “The Land where the Blues Began”, by Alan Lomax, is a film and perfect example to understand under what musical conditions profound ways of communication are made to stand the hard work of cotton plantations. As a result, music plays a crucial role in the sources’ cultures and its creation relies on particular conditions such as the social
Many of their fans have crossed the border illegally, or have relatives that have done so. The song goes into saying, “Mis hijos son grandes y no les entiendo-- no hablan español,” translating into “My children are grown but I do not understand them-- they do not speak Spanish,” (1:14). A study done by the Pew Research Center reveals that the number of Latinos in the United States that speak Spanish is slowly decreasing (Krogstad and Lopez), which shows that this is an all too real issue facing those among the Latino community. This particular occurrence is becoming too common for many families because as they push to fit into the American way of living, their roots may sometimes get lost in translation. It is one thing to not be able to properly communicate with your children, but it is another to not be able to talk to them because of a language
In essence, the corrido genre is legendary for its hard-bitten lyrics of drug traffickers plus gunfights, and moreover functions as a genus of musical tabloid, singing of regime dishonesty, the lives of émigrés in the United States, in addition to the scuffles of the Zapatista insurgency in Chiapas. Although principally anonymous to English speakers, narco corridos top the leading Latin charts and govern radio playlists equally in the United States as well as points south. Examining diverse recent studies, the authors present in-depth examinations at the songwriters who have changed groups like the trendy Tigres del Norte into permanent celebrities, as well as the upcoming artists who are hauling the narco corrido into the 21st. In proving for the poetry as well as social demonstration at the back the ornate lyrics of in...
Ragland, Cathy. Música Norteña: Mexican Migrants Creating a Nation between Nations. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2009. Print.
I grew up in a Mexican family listening to corridos, which are a type of song, since at every party, every celebration, and every occasion, that’s what the family would play. As I became more aware and conscious, I began to realize what these songs were actually saying. These corridos were telling a life story, ranging from life issues such as poverty, hard times, immigration, social and political problems, and/or life in general. A prominent and recurring theme that I saw developing throughout was immigration. Many of these songs, were expressing strong feelings that many Mexican immigrants, including my parents and other family members, were feeling regarding they’re citizenship status, how they were being discriminated against, and ultimately how they were feeling.
Released in 1997, Buena Vista Social Club immediately became an international success and won a Grammy Award in 1998. Around the world, especially in U.S. where the album was welcomed most heartily, Ry Cooder was considered the hero of Cuban music (Hernandez 65). Being the producer of the album, Cooder was assumed to discover a “lost treasure” in Cuban culture. However, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, in an article about Buena Vista Social Club, revealed that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, not Cooder, was the person “who masterminded and facilitated the collaboration.” (Hernandez 62). Also in this article, it is noted that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez “implicitly acquiesced to Cooder’s propagation of the colonial myth for the purpose of ensuring the commercial success of the collaboration.” (Hernandez 64). Other musicians in the Buena Vista Social Club ensemble followed Gonzalez’s step, as there was hardly another choice for them.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, a form of Mexican folk music called the corrido gained popularity along the Mexico-Texan border (Saldívar). Growing from the Spanish romance tradition, the corrido is a border ballad “that arose chronicling the history of border conflicts and its effects on Mexican-Mexican culture” (Saldívar). A sort of “oral folk history,” the corrido was studied intensely by Américo Paredes, who then constructed his masterpiece, George Washington Gomez, around the “context and theme” of the corrido (Mendoza 146). But the novel is not a traditional corrido, in which the legendary hero defends his people and dies for his honor. Instead, through its plot, characterization, and rhetorical devices, George Washington Gomez is an anti-corrido.
This song from the time of Mexican Revolution puts into perspective to me about how things were back then and how the citizens realized why people wanted to be president.
The struggle to find a place inside an un-welcoming America has forced the Latino to recreate one. The Latino feels out of place, torn from the womb inside of America's reality because she would rather use it than know it (Paz 226-227). In response, the Mexican women planted the seeds of home inside the corral*. These tended and potted plants became her burrow of solace and place of acceptance. In the comfort of the suns slices and underneath the orange scents, the women were free. Still the questions pounded in the rhythm of street side whispers. The outside stare thundered in pulses, you are different it said. Instead of listening she tried to instill within her children the pride of language, song, and culture. Her roots weave soul into the stubborn soil and strength grew with each blossom of the fig tree (Goldsmith).
Music is an art and a wonderful gift to human race. It soothes, stimulates and makes us feel happy. It affects our moods in many different ways from lullaby to war cry for changes in the society. Music is actually distinct to different people. Above all, it has a transformational importance that is captured in its art and nature. Music draws our emotions and it has an impact of bridging different cultures across the continents. Slave songs were very vital channels through which all kind of information was conveyed both positive and negative.
As a lover of most types of rock music, I find myself listening to quite the array of songs from all sorts of artists. From recent hard rockers such as Seether and System of a Down, to more classical performers such as Styx or Aerosmith, they each created songs with many unique meanings to them, even with the more recent artists sticking to love. One soft rocker of the 1970’s, however found a meaning to write and perform a song concerning the events of the conquistadors’ arrival to the Americas, more specifically, Cortez and his invasion of the Aztec society. Neil Young, along with the group known as Crazy Horse, wrote and released a song in 1975 known as “Cortez the Killer,” and while it never even made the top 200’s in Billboards during that time, it can still enlighten us with the history that Young’s lyrics possess.
Border corridos and Badman ballads contain different styles, however, were shaped by similar social and cultural factors in history, such as interethnic conflict and discrimination. Border corridos and Badman ballads emerged from the oppression of a particular ethnic group and reflected the events that were occurring during those times. Although the Badman ballads and Border corridos portray relevant events to those times, there is no certainty the events happened in history.
The reader could feel the pain and frustration from the words that Alarcon was using, such as, “hurts, burns, strikes, offends, and cries (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, p. 543).” The use of “Mexican” at the beginning of the first two stanzas was very interesting, but Alarcon had a reason for doing
Minority groups have made huge contributions in a number of different areas such as the arts, music, dance, and theater that have shaped the United States’ culture. This paper will discuss the contributions that the Hispanic group have contributed to the U.S. culture in terms of music. The sounds of the Hispanics can be heard across almost every genre of music today with few exceptions. The Hispanics’ influence on American music can be traced as far back as the early 1900’s with the integration of Latin music into jazz. Some of the major types of music that Hispanics have introduced to American society would be Tango, Salsa, and Son.
Nearly in everyday life, songs are able to help deepen our understanding of various situations. For example, a movie might play a song to build suspense for its viewers. It might also be added to show deep emotions of the characters in the movie. With that said, songs are also able to show multiple meanings to stories and other literature. There are many songs that show a strong connection to a story.