The Mexican Corrido
…Although every single culture produces a series of interpretations of its own history, in very few occasions the writer has the opportunity to interpret the biography of his own culture. A culture is the blend of the contribution, knowledge, and appreciation of those of us who still want to continue it. On the contrary to what many think, though, a culture is not something that can be inherited genetically generation after generation. In addition, a culture can not be defined as a learned property that represents the ideas and actions of a social group, because culture may not be found in books, or in the cultural resources, but it can be understood in different terms of reasoning with many initial scenarios of the societies marked by change. Lamentably, the popular culture often excludes certain social groups because they are not recognized like legitimate, or own from that “culture.” In consequence, the marginalized groups use aspects of the popular culture to be able to defend their space. As well as the Mexicans, which they come and they continue with his traditions, the Corrido has survived after the years and, as well, as the popular culture is simply our way to live and our social force.
The main function of a Mexican “Corrido” as one can notice is that of narrating a history that usually is a glorious event, the feats of a brave man, a tragedy as a loving treason, or to the death of a hero. The “corridista” takes a very important function; as it is that of narrating the trajectories of a Corrido, because this establishes a very important relationship with the people, as it is that of maintain them informed of the events that occurred in their surroundings. According to the investigator Vicente T. Mendoza, the first Corrido known to the investigators of Corridos is “El Corrido Macario Romero”. This Corrido dates approximately from 1898, with origin of Durango. A Corrido always narrates the event beginning for saying one or two phrases, which talk about the motive of the Corrido, and also deposes the date and/or the place where the event occurred.
The Corrido of Macario Romero is the first Corrido that mentions a date in its lyrics: 1810. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Corrido of the Mexican Revolution, were songs of rebellion against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. By which it is very important to take in account that in addition to the main function of informing, the Corrido, is also used to take resistance against the injustices of the daily life. The how the modern Corrido was born is still a debate, nevertheless, it does not matter of how it came to this stage, but on the other hand it’s vital importance mean of the exposure the calamities left behind by the Mexican Revolution.
Vicente Mendoza illustrates us by telling us that the Mexican Corrido is derived of a Spanish tradition called “ROMANCES.” He suggests that the Corrido derives from these romances that were sung to a quick one more step, called therefore “romances corridos” (Vicente Mendoza 1939). As who it says, the Corrido is a song that is sung “very fast,” that counts the history of an important event. It is therefore that is believed that the Corrido popularized the Mexican revolutionary movement. The favorite themes, inside the revolutionary period are that of the heroes that were murder in the battlefield to bullets, defending a woman, treason, etc. The Corrido, even speak of the horses that help won the battles, or that help a hero to survive for an extra day in the battle field.
One if not the dearest of all the heroes is the General Emiliano Zapata, which began the revolutionary movement in the state that dwell him, in 1911. The following are fragments of a Corrido that Antonio Aguilar sings in honor to the General Don Emiliano Zapata, that as will be able to see it is an account necessary to the history:
“El Corrido del General Emiliano Zapata” “…Nació Emiliano Zapata En un risueño pueblito Del estado de Morelos Que se llama Anenecuilco, En 1911 en armas sé levantaba Allá en la sierra suriana… …Con gente bien armada Peleaba contra Carranza Defendiendo el plan de Ayala… …En Chinameca murió El agrarista suriano Por la villana traición Del carrancista Guajardo…”
“The Corrido of General Emiliano Zapata” “Emiliano Zapata was born In a happy little town In the state of Morelos That was called Anenecuilco, In 1911 he raised in arms There, by the Southern Sierra… …With people well trained He fought against Carranza Defending his Plan of Ayala… … The southern agrarian [Emiliano Zapata] Died in Chinameca, By the villain treason Of the carranzista Guajardo…”. Antonio Aguilar, Year undefined (Translated by J. Juan Calderon)
Antonio Aguilar, Chavela Vargas, Amparo Ochoa, Cuco Sánchez, Vicente Fernández among others are popular interpreters of the traditional Corrido, their main focus are the caudillos of the Mexican Revolution. In many occasions these singers have sung them Corridos that José Guadalupe Posada rescued from disappearing. As some persons remember, many Mexican Corridos were printed in a form that incorporates imagine music and text with a language that can be understood by any social class. Melody Mock, author of “HOJAS VOLANTES: José Guadalupe Posada, the Corrido, and the Mexican Revolution” said that:
Circulating throughout most of Mexico, Posada’s Corrido prints were distributed by corridistas, musicians who traveled from one market to another. While singing the corridos, the corridistas sold cheaply printed broadsides with lyrics to their songs illustrated by Posada’s engravings. The Corrido served as an audiovisual method of communication: as people heard the music, they looked at the art and lyrics of the broadside. Not only did text, image, and music rely upon each other in the Corrido, but also the artist, writer, printer, and musician were also intrinsically related (Melody Mock, 1996).
Thanks to Posada’s work, “las hojas volantes” circulated throughout Mexico, by corridistas, and musicians who traveled around Mexico. Posada’s hojas volantes not only satirized and glorified people of all classes, accompanied the rhymed verse of the Corrido, but also provided an income for unemployed campesinos. Thus, while they sung them, copies of hojas volantes were sold to a very cheap price. The Corrido according to Mock, served like an audiovisual method of communication: “as people heard the music, they looked at the art and lyrics of the broadside. Not only did text, image, and music rely upon each other in the Corrido, but the artist, writer, printer, and musician were also intrinsically related” (Melody Mock, 1996). This type of art glorified the Mexican Corrido glorified for maintaining account of what happened in that painful stage for all Mexicans. “The Corrido” Like the current Of a grown river That lowers in an instant Impetuous and brave Voice of our people A repressed scream A valiant song That is the Corrido Voice of the oppressed A spoken portrait Qualitative
When immigration took the new theme, aspects the daily life of the Mexicans, the Corrido was the voice that narrated those most important events. If we study the history of the border of Mexico with the United States, we can see that when Mexico opened the territory of Texas to the Anglo-Saxon immigration in 1821; the Anglos began to be feel that they where superior than the Mexicans. Unfortunately, the north of Mexico could not govern the Anglos, and there was hostility in Texas. The same hostility caused the lost of half of Mexico in 1846, which exists in the border even today. It is believed that discrimination in the border, is responsible for which Mexico elaborated the “high voltage” Corrido against the Anglos. To talk about “Corridos Pesados” is meant to talk about Los Tigres del Norte, because they are considered the best Corrido Norteño of Mexico. In 1989, Los Tigres del Norte, were considered by many Los Reyes del Corrido (the kings of the Corrido), as a tribute to the very genre that has made them famous, they debuted in a concert with their song entitled “El Corrido”. The opening verses are their attempt to outline the essence of a Corrido, thus it is through the Corrido that “la voz de nuestra gente,” (the voice of our people), rises from a repressed call to attain the force of a river, “Impetuous and brave”. El Corrido is “un canto valiente”(a valiant song), that serves as a voice of the oppressed, for which it serves as the “tribunal” that by the people has been judged. The Corrido is voice of the voiceless, which has established itself as the popular form of “knowledge distribution”.
Image of northern Mexico-Southern US, where Corrido is popular.
Many studies have been focused in theme of the Corrido, for example, Américo Paredes, Vicente Mendoza, José Limón among various, have taken the history of the Mexican Corrido very seriously. However, studies have always been centered in the more traditional Corridos. Many more, have contextualized this study that is concentrated in the tradition of the contemporary Corrido. A sub-genre is the “narco-Corrido” that is derived from the Corrido traditional, nevertheless, this last sub-genre has been seriously criticized for its content: the glorification of the narco traffic in agreement of the style of life of the corruption of the government. In many occasions, is believed that the narco-Corrido is related to the Corridos that speak of the immigrants to the US; however, sadly they are tied to the traffic of narcotics.
Consequently, many Corridos are classified like rebellious folkloric songs, in time, critically to be studied like the production of “an alternative expansion”. This cultural process can be described like the “folklorización” as well as the demonstration of the Hip-Hop is seen like gangster music. Nonetheless, this discrimination of the Corridos has been done without consideration of what the Corrido has offers to as a social conscience that awakes of the subterranean reality.
Even though, it is believed that narco-Corridos serve to glorify Los Narcos “the Drug Lords,” they also offer us different perspectives that communicate the violence that is constantly ignored in the border. The Corridos in general are parts of the Mexican culture, is the traditional Mexican music. The Corridos have passed through a great evolution, since its beginnings, during the Mexican revolution. Part of the evolution consists of the European influence of instruments as to the guitar and its derivation of the Spanish Romance. Nowadays, Corridos are played with electric instruments, and with other genre of music as the technobanda. Nowadays, also, Corridos speak of the contraband of narcotics, since is a very serious problem in the Mexican society. Corrido are used to speak of a history upon an important figure, or to criticize the government, since they have forgot the peasants. The Corrido can be very easily distinguished because speak of Mexican characters, upon emigration from Mexico, the drug contraband, and upon the poverty lived by the great majority in Mexico.
Bibiography:
El “Corrido” Por Ana Cecilia Pujals http://elportaldemexico.com/musica/corridos.htm
Vicente Téodulo Mendoza http://www.geocities.com/a1ma_mia/corridos/vicente.html Mendoza, Vicente
T. “El Romance Español y el Corrido Mexicano.”
“Antonio Aguilar” (singer) “El Corrido del General Emiliano Zapata
Los Tigres Del Norte. “El Corrido” Corridos Prohibidos. Fonovisa CD/8815, 1997. HOJAS VOLANTES: José
Guadalupe Posada, the Corrido, and the Mexican Revolution Excerpts from Master of Arts thesis Introduction University of North Texas, 1996 by Melody Mock http://www.swcp.com/~mmock/posada/posada.html
