In 2001 the Great Mexican Shoppers Drug War was not yet in full swing. That didnt happen until 2006 when President Felipe Calderon decided to take on the "independent" with the cowboy's Mexican cartels. In 2001, Elijah Wald, a Journey Into Narcocorrido published The Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas. He had traveled through Mexico, in a way now that would be impossible ", or at the very least inadvisable. That is he hitchhiked or rode buses, and not always the first class ones, but the second and third class as well ... the kind that allow musicians and entertainers to play for tips from the passengers. The History of Mexico is in the music. The corridistas (corrido musicians) have been singing and declaiming to the people for a long, long time. And before them "were the minstrels and the more well-known of their cousins, the troubadours that performed for the rich and elite. In the Middle Ages, and even in present day Mexico, literacy is not that high. The balladeers were and are still maintained in many in the chroniclers and the founts of information, as well as providers of entertainment and many times, social commentators as well. Of course this could be a dangerous and many ended up in the minstrel during the colonial period stocks, flogged, or if luck would have it, just run out of town. The Church was "just as dangerous as the secular and" reflecting ... the more fearsome.
Of course these minstrels, balladeers, that in time became corrido singers, with didn ' t crossing the line and flirt igniting repressive reaction just for the fun of it or for whatever social consciousness they l have had at the time. The people loved to hear the powerful and mighty brought down a little bit, and to hear some of what was really on a. .. resembling the truth "something.bak. It would be hard to call it an art form, but in the modern world we have tabloid journals, that swing between adoration of celebrities gushing, be it sports, entertainment, politicians, or someone (usually female for some reason) that is famous just for being famous, and sordid revelations about trashing and the very same high and mighty. Here in the US we have these tabloids and a 24 hour news cycle that is increasingly tabloid, and internet and tv, and mobile internet and thousands of different distractions. In Mexico, in areas not entered, so much. Here the corridistas maintain much of their traditional function.
The life of a corrido singer, can be risky. Since the publication of Narcocorrido, some have lost their lives corridistas. Especially the local and regional writers that will do a song for hire, and if some mark doesnt like the vato (guy) being lauded in the song, "a well-known passage of an enemy. Other popular singers or their family members have fallen to crime, fun, although some of that comes from labeled shipped late nights in nightclubs, and also the general chaos and lawlessness rules that Mexico now.
The book is not just a study and history of a form, but was also a journey into the heart of Mexico and the people that make the music ... and of the fans that make it possible. Regions option have vast and subtle differences. The Rio Grande Valley and the northeastern border region in many gave birth to the corrido maintained form. It's popular here, but in a nostalgic kind of way. Compared to the Nortenos out in the deserts and mountains to the south, the modern day Tejano accordion sound has a definite sweetness bubble-gum. Not the same. It is Also a region that could be compared to a great caldo (beef soup) of sound as Hispanic-American culture collides with, and, at the same time colludes and mingles with Anglo-America.
"There's west coast and Los Angeles. The rough edge sound Sinaloa ... Mexico City, the country that is a country within the country of Mexico. Also the political ballads of the revolutionary groups in Chiapas and elsewhere. The historical of the Mexican corridos ".
Large portions of the book are transcribed from interviews of the corrido singers and writers themselves, along with many of their lyrics, both in Spanish, and translated to English.
Fortunately for us Elijah Wald got in under the wire. The research that went into this book would be very difficult to do today
The national war that the Narcocorridistas "about can't be prettied up. It's grim stuff. But it's happening and la gente (the people) want to hear about it. Much Like pentatonic, blues, country music, and the real rap, and others, the charge has been made at one time or the other, that the songs glorify delinquency and criminal behavior, and are anti-social etc. "There has been radio censorship in some places and condemnation from so called respectable society and please
Elijah Wald writes: The United States national policy is so riddled with hypocrisy, so casually racist and oblivious to it is singer, that's worthy of no respect. In a country that exalts wealth and celebrity while providing ever fewer chances for poor kids to get ahead, and directs that it's far more of anti-national funding to flashy hardware than to conflict-under, it is delusional at best to blame pop music for the fact that many youngsters want to barrio become big-spending, gun-wielding narcos.
The rough edges, the uncompromising instrumentation and the in your face lyrics are at times harsh. But in this world north of the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) rules, and the unreality where horrors of wars both internal and foreign are ignored or covered up, the world of the Narcocorrido may just be some of what we need. Well worth the read: "Narcocorrido, A Journey into The Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas" by Elijah Wald.
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