Corridos
are narrative ballads popular on both sides of the Mexico-Texas border. They are usually presented as
waltzes
or furious
polkas
, and the subject matter ranges across the board from immigration issues and social conflicts to labor strikes, assassinations, natural disasters, and celebrations of the lives of local criminals and heroes, not unlike the material and melodies that American musicians like
Woody Guthrie
(and later,
Bob Dylan
) used as song fodder in the states. This set collects a wide range of
corridos
recorded by various local border recording companies -- mostly by the
Ideal
and
Falcon
imprints -- between 1949 and 1975, including interesting tracks like
Los Desveladores
' account of Mexican-styled horse racing (two horses at once down a straight quarter-mile track),
"La Llegua y la Potranca,"
los Nortenos de Teran
's
"Kilometro 1160,"
which details the car crash death of small-time gangster
Arturo Garza Trevino
, three
for
President John F. Kennedy
(both
JFK
and his brother
Robert Kennedy
were beloved and admired in Mexico and their deaths inspired countless
), and one for
Dr. Martin Luther King
(also much admired in Mexico) --
Gregorio y Maria
"Corrido De Martin Luther King"
was recorded only four days after
King
's death in 1968. It all makes for fascinating listening, and
Arhoolie Records
has provided embedded transcriptions and translations of all of these
as part of the CD, which is a definite plus, since with
, it is the story that matters more than anything. ~ Steve Leggett