Overview
Music is an ever changing expression of the time, place, and people who create it. In the border areas of Mexico and the U.S. and in Mexican-American populations around the country, unique musical forms and styles have been developed to entertain, educate and uplift audiences. In this chapter we will discuss the genre of conjunto in its traditional and modern forms in Texas. These musical styles appeal to the working class and function in large part to accompany couple dancing. Forms will include the popular polka dance, the corrido (a type of narrative ballad) and the ranchera, (a popular type of Mexican song). The development of the traditional conjunto ensemble will be traced from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Examples are given of innovative hybrid musical styles formed in combination with mainstream popular music and Latin American music of recent years. Most of the music is sung in Spanish with the exception of some cross-over English songs.
Objectives
- Identify the ensembles and selected genres and forms of Conjunto aurally
- Recall the bajo sexto and accordion and their musical roles and functions
- Identify the following song/dance forms: polka, corrido, ranchera, cumbia
- Recognize the major artists of Conjunto music
- Analyze the cultural context that these ensembles, genres, and forms originate from as part of an ongoing, bi-cultural musical expression
Corrido continued
Selected verses of the corrido are found below. Note the stanzas of four lines in which the 2nd and 4th lines rhyme, in the original Spanish.
Gregorio Cortez ♫ by Ramon Ayala
por toditito el estado:
"Vivo o muerto que se aprehenda
porque a varios ha matado".
was issued throughout the state:
"Bring him in dead or alive,
he is wanted for murder."
con su pistola en la mano:
"No siento haberlo matado,
al que siento es a mi hermano".
with his pistol in his hand:
"I'm not sorry for killing him,
my concern is for my brother."
con su alma muy encendida:
"No siento haberlo matado,
la defensa es permitida".
with his soul ablaze:
"I'm not sorry for killing him,
self-defense is justifiable."
que por el viento volaban
porque se iban a ganar
tres mil pesos que les daban.
as fast as the wind,
because they would earn
a reward of 3,000 pesos.
varios cherifes lo vieron,
no lo quisieron seguir
porque le tuvieron miedo.
Several sheriffs saw him
but they didn't want to pursue him
because they were afraid.
venían sobre la huella,
pero alcanzar a Cortez
era alcanzar a una estrella.
following his trail,
but catching Cortez
was like reaching for a star.
"¡Pa' qué se valen de planes,
si no pueden agarrarme
ni con esos perros jaunes!"
"Why do you even try?
You can't even catch me,
with those hound dogs."
"¿Si lo vemos qué le haremos?
si le entramos por derecho
muy poquitos volveremos".
"What shall we do if we find him?
In an open confrontation
only a few of us will make it back."
lo alcanzaron a rodear,
poquitos más de trescientos
y allí les brincó el corral.
they surrounded him.
There were more than 300 men,
but he jumped through their ring.
asegún por lo que dicen,
se agarraron a balazos
y les mató a otro cherife.
according to what they say,
they had a shoot out
and he killed another sheriff.
con su pistola en la mano:
"No corran rinches cobardes,
con un solo mexicano".
with his pistol in his hand:
"Don't run you cowardly Rangers,
from one lone Mexican."
Gregorio is elevated in status as the hero, as one common man standing up to the Texas Rangers, whom he has intimidated. He has bested them with his ability to escape and fight them off, and they are discouraged from even trying to capture him and earn their reward of $3,000 pesos. The Mexican has won against the systematic oppression of his people through the Anglo rule of law.
. . . "conjunto" continues to represent an alternative musical ideology, and in this way it helps to preserve a Mexican, working-class culture wherever it takes root on American soil. Endowed with this kind of symbolic power, conjunto has more than held its own against other types of music that appear from time to time to challenge its dominance among a vast audience of working-class people.
