Week XIII: Las Mexicanas

Las Jilgeurillas

Las Mexicanas: Cantantes / Hermanas  / Bravías

Last year we had two weeks for all this--so what follows is a lot of material. As pointed out, you'll find particular singers to engage with now--and many starting points for beyond the class!
For now, we'll look at your concluding project next week (May 1),  but you'll have the songs to continue with in the week leading up to our final evening--la fiesta en el 8 de Mayo...

DOWNLOADS:
Elvira Ríos:
https://berkeley.box.com/s/1mlb0patuooa47b8fnk7

Las Hermanas Padilla, Las Jilguerillas
https://berkeley.box.com/s/d5r734k7ejl44c563dtphttps://berkeley.box.com/s/d5r734k7ejl44c563dtp

READING: Best approach this week is to use online sources (wiki or wiki in Spanish) to look into biographies of the musicians. Follow your own lead.

YOUTUBE: The following songs are all a treasure--todas un tesoro--but a lot for the short time remaining in the semester. So I pass them on to you as future starting points, and because I've myself enjoyed them greatly during the years. For the next two weeks,  let me suggest this approach: listen to the first song or two for each set (each artist, each duo), then go back, listen to more from the set(s) you like in particular--and use this as a way to concentrate for your project. Start with the downloads above, then make your way through the YouTube selections, many with film clips!

Cantantes de Época Anterior: Elvira Ríos (download), Toña la Negra, Hermanas Águila (singing in the early 1930s) and Lucha Reyes.

Cantantes de Tiempos más Recién: Las Hermanas Padilla, Las Jilguerillas  (download), and the you tube selections below (from Las Hermanas Huerta to contemporary Lila Downs)

There's a lineage here, which you should know about: the early singers like Toña la Negra and Elvira Ríos (wonderful) and Las Hermanas Águila (often with songs by Agustin Lara). The cross-over figure to the "bravía" ranchera tradition is Lucha Reyes, late 1930s. I've included film clip from La Tequilera, 1941--same period,  although note that the actress is someone other than Lucha Reyes. Then come the ranchera singers en sí--Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa, Amalia Mendoza (la Tariácuri) and later, Yolanda del Río. Chavela Vargas sienda la reina...
Y por supuesto, las hermanas--sister duos like Las Hermanas Padilla and Las Jilguerillas (download), Las Hermanas Huerta (wonderful) and others. Be sure to listen to las Hermanas Huertas'  version of the song, Atotonilco.

And then more recent (and contemporary) artists like Lila Downs and Linda Ronstadt. Each with fascinating stories--Lila Downs comes in part from raíces zapotecas oaxaqueñas. And Linda Ronstadt, her Anglo surname notwithstanding, grew up in a Mexican family de este lado. Her landmark album, Canciones de mi padre (1987) was a huge success--and put the kinds of songs we're doing into the American listening mainstream. (A story worth looking into!) So, take up what you find most compelling, follow your own lead... Todas buenas...

Some of the film/video clips show faces of the audience--these moments are telling. ¡Qué se den cuenta!

Note on YouTube: occasionally songs are removed for copyright reasons. Someone invariably posts them again--so simply make a new search, with artist + song title. Often the icon image will tell you whether you have the same version. As for ads--well, mute them out--or download the songs onto your own music hard drive (audio or video) to eliminate.

Época anterior:

Toña la Negra (1912-1982):
TOÑA, LA NEGRA = SANTA (AGUSTÍN LARA) - YouTube
TOÑA, LA NEGRA - NOCHE CRIOLLA - YouTube  (tango)
SACA LA MANO-MAMBO- TOÑA LA NEGRA y ROSA CARMIÑA - YouTube  (FILM clip)

Elvira Ríos (1917-1987):
YouTube - Elvira Rios En mi soledad  FILM
YouTube - ELVIRA RIOS-REGALO DE VIAJE-TV MÉXICO  FILM
ELVIRA RIOS - VERDAD AMARGA - YouTube

Hermanas Aguila (1930s):
LAS HERMANAS AGUILA - "FAROLITO" DE: AGUSTIN LARA - YouTube
HERMANAS ÁGUILA, AMARGURA - YouTube

Lucha Reyes (1906-1944):
Lucha Reyes - La Tequilera - YouTube  FILM. La cantante no es Lucha Reyes, pero viene del mismo período.
LUCHA REYES, LA TEQUILERA (1941) - YouTube Aquí Lucha Reyes misma canta (site de Solitariodark)

Tiempos más recién:

Las Hermanas Huerta:
Hermanas Huerta - Atotonilco - YouTube  FILM
LAS HERMANAS HUERTA Y DONNEÑOS-Tres Balas - YouTube

Las Jilguerillas:
LAGRIMAS LLORO, LAS JILGUERILLAS.wmv - YouTube
dueto las jilguerillas y dueto las palomas mix - YouTube
Cuatro Milpas-Las Jilguerillas - YouTube
las jilguerillas "enganosa y cobarde" - YouTube

Lola Beltran:
LOLA BELTRAN, PALOMA NEGRA - YouTube
Lola Beltran en Bellas Artes -SUFRIENDO A SOLAS-, 1990..VOB - YouTube  FILM
Cucurrucucú Paloma - Lola Beltrán & Pedro Vargas, Lucha ... - YouTube
Lola Beltrán -CUCURRUCUCU PALOMA- , 1975. - YouTube
Lola Beltrán -LA BORRACHITA- , 1981. - YouTube   FILM

Lucha Villa:
LUCHA VILLA, LAS DOS CARAS DEL DESTINO (1960) - YouTube

Amalia Mendoza (La Tariácuri)
AMALIA MENDOZA "LA TARIACURI", ECHAME A MI LA CULPA (1958) - YouTube
AMALIA MENDOZA "LA TARIACURI" AMARGA NAVIDAD - YouTube  (FILM)

Yolanda del Río:
Yolanda del Río - Se me olvido otra vez - YouTube

Chavela Vargas
No soy de aqui - Chavela Vargas y la Negra Chagra - YouTube  (les va a interesar, esta versión de chavela!)
Chavela Vargas - Volver, volver - YouTube

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Lila Downs:
YouTube - Lila Downs canta Paloma negra
Lila Downs - La Cama de Piedra - YouTube +
Lila Downs -EL VENADITO-Oct-1999-..mpg - YouTube

Linda Ronstadt:  la versión de video ya no esta publicada

linda ronstadt - la barca de guaymas lp - YouTube (la versión de video ya no esta publicada)

PEDRO INFANTE - LA BARCA DE GUAYMAS - YouTube  (a comparar)
Pedro infante - amorcito corazon - YouTube (a comparar)
Linda Ronstadt - Canciones de mi padre -El adios del soldado - YouTube

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There are also many  CORRIDOS in which las mujeres tienen papel central: La Adelita (corrido revolucionario), Rosita Alvirez (corrido de antes). We won't have time this term to do the corrdidos justice--they could be a whole course--but you may explore as you like. Kory sang Rosita Alvirez to me as one of her favorites...

Week 12: Cuatro Milpas / El Desterrado

Diego Rivera, El Maíz (Civilización huasteca), Palacio Nacional, DF

READING: Octavio Paz, El laberinto de la soledad, "De la Independencia a la Revolución, pps. 128-162. We left don Ocavio a few weeks back (with the Cuco Sánchez project). Read the chapter here and you'll have another central portion of his thinking about Me´xico... I'll make comments on this in class.

CANCIONES:  Cuatro Milpas is  song from the 1920's, reflecting all the changes of those years just after the Revolucíon, with the shift from "campo a ciudad." While that's not the direct reference, the feelings for the country way of living are made beautifully clear. Ya la tienen en el cancionero.
Autor: Belisario de Jesús García de la Garza.

▶ "Cuatro Milpas" - YouTube
 
A parallel song (also in the cancionero) would be "El desterrado," which fits thematically with the beginnings of the ranchera (here, "por el amor de esa mujer" is definitely situated in the countryside--but in a place that's been left behind. The reasons why? We could invent many--they depend on the listener--and the song (by extension) applies to more recent times as well.

Here's the version by David Zaízar:  "El Desterrado" Hnos. Zaizar - YouTube

DOWNLOAD (SUPPLEMENT): Aquí tienen un cd entero de los Hnos. Zaízar. This is a supplemental selection to give you a wider sense of their repertory:

https://berkeley.box.com/s/z1xoi1a8ts9ue5reehs2


PROJECT: The key word for the week is MILPA--the corn field--which figures throughout the  history of México, both before and after the conquest. (Vean también: Las tres hermanas: el maíz, el frijol y la calabaza.) Milpa suggests images from the past--along with images from today, as well as a way of understanding how the land and the culture of México inter-relate.

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And in that regard, let me share with you--as a supplement to the notion of MILPA--something that Valdemar Díaz put together for last years class. The videos (and the people portrayed) offer a beautiful contrast to the recordings above:

About maíz and milpa

I would like to share with my fellows in Mexican songs and places this documentary (see below). It is divided in four parts, I do not why. The fragmentation does not affect its continuity. Although it is a significative lost the lack of credits. Naturally, I share the position and intentionality of the producers and I learn from the voices of the women and men interviewed. They remind me my childhood and my immersion in socioenvironmetal issues when I became older, not so far from the region where the documentary was shot, the Mixteca (yap, the same region of the song "Tierra del sol", the place where I have seen the most beautiful sky, beside the sunsets in Cuernavaca and the Bay Area).

Yonder the personal detour, there are few things that I would like to comment. First, the documentary is in Spanish, with some subtitles in the same language when the voices speak mixteco. As you will hear, the Spanish is their second language. I admire the bilingual skill that they have to transmit emotions, critical thought and world-view. In this sense they are poets, real poets.

Second, I think the documentary is a corn cob (mazorca) itself, a colorful one, showing the integrated and different faces of the maíz (note the name in mixteco and hear it in the opening song, maíz is a Spaniard-Taino word, as cannibal, caribe, cacique and others, as maguey and tuna capsuladelengua.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/ecos-tainos/).

Next, note that they say "maíz criollo" (indigenous maize), this is a fundamental point to remember at the end of the documentary. Maíces criollos are the result of hundreds or even thoundsans of years of human selection of seeds, for this reason indigenous and peasant communities have varieties that adequate to a large range of environmental conditions, maíces of rapid growth, maíces for the valleys or mountain insides, etcetera. The point is that maíz criollo is the result of seeds and not a Frankenstein between a seed and a bacteria as transgenic corn is.

Finally, I think that they do not say milpa, although it is clear that think in its terms, as an agroecological food system that combines grasses with plants that help to fix nitrogen in the soil (Some of you with bio-ecology interests maybe would like this chapter http://www.culturaspopulareseindigenas.gob.mx/pdf/cap2_maiz.pdf) and provides a balanced diet to the household.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=921GWU7KTNs&sns=em
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4vSy-LWhQ&sns=em
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4vSy-LWhQ&sns=em
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEUyLmmfXhU&sns=em

Week 11: Trío Los Panchos / Sin Tí

Trío Los Panchos (conjunto original, 1940s)

Trío Los Panchos  / Sin Tí


DOWNLOAD: No  separate Trío Los Panchos download. Listen to the YouTube versions instead, links below.

READING: "La vida es un sueño," by Ry Cooder (from his book, Los Angeles Stories), available as pdf in box. Be sure to read early in the week so that the story can percolate in your imagination!

The setting is Los Angeles, the year 1950. A beautiful rendition of "place" at a specific moment in  time--vis a vis a song... Ry Cooder is best known as a musician, but here he's made himself into a (very good!) short story writer, in the the LA noir tradition. I'll be curious what you think...!  As you'll see, the main character is a "trío man"--and the song that weaves through is--of course--Sin tí...

Read carefully (there's lots of good detail) and make the leap (in your project) from Ry Cooder's story to the world of Trío Los Panchos...

MÚSICA:
Trío Los Panchos ON FILM:  (cantan Sin tí y  Perdida). These two filmed versions will tell you a lot about Trío Los panchos, and their music:
TRIO LOS PANCHOS Sin ti - YouTube
TRIO LOS PANCHOS Perdida - YouTube

Los Panchos / otras selecciones (some on film as well):
Trio los Panchos - Solamente un vez - YouTube
TRIO LOS PANCHOS rayito de luna - YouTube
los panchos..ADIOS MARIQUITA LINDA - YouTube
Trio Los Panchos - Sabor a Mi - YouTube
PIEL CANELA Eydie Gorme Y Trio Los Panchos - 'Piel Canela' - YouTube
TRÍO LOS PANCHOS - CIELITO LINDO - YouTube  (!!!)

And to close, the song from which Ry Cooder took his title. First, the original (and priceless) version by Aresenio Rodriguéz (de Cuba), and  a beautiful versión de México... Lupe y Raul.

▶ Arsenio Rodriguez-La vida es un sueño - YouTube
LUPE Y RAUL - LA VIDA ES UN SUEÑO - YouTube

-Fernando Fernandez-Los Panchitos-Trio Martino- -La Vida es un Sueño- - YouTube


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Not part of this week's project, but good to know about: For Ry Cooder's music, follow up with his own recordings, and of course his production of Buena Vista Social Club (in Havana).  There's also his more recent album centered on the story of LA's Chavez Ravine--portrayed in music. Many more of his songs/versions are on YouTube... Here are just a few:
Ry Cooder - Goodnight Irene - YouTube
Ry Cooder with John Lee Hooker - YouTube
Ry Cooder and David Lindley - Jesus On The Mainline - YouTube
Ry Cooder Cancion Mixteca - YouTube, a version I quite recommend!

Week X: Agustín Lara / Farolito

Agustín Lara

 FAROLITO / CALLE / PUERTA

Agustin Lara is a phenomenon--certainly one of Mexico's greatest song writers and performers--and the stories about him are legion. Some of them are even true! Lara (originally from Vera Cruz, according to one version), led a mysterious and adventurous life--in all senses--reflected year-by-year in his songs. Farolito might be the best known, but listen as well to Mujer, and María Bonita (written for María Félix) and Imposible (his very first)... They're all good--and all completely different from the ranchera tradition we've been following. This is another side--otra cara--de México! I'll give you a good selection (from a double cd) which you can edit down into your favorites as a playlist. Contrast with José Alfredo. And what would Don Octavio have to say?

PROJECT: Look into Agustin Lara's life--all the stories--and build your project around them--and la canción romántica in your own life...  Let FAROLITO be your guide...

DOWNLOAD: https://berkeley.box.com/s/xvj6rftnvsydgkvmy0gq

READING: For those who can handle the Spanish, I'll include Yolanda Moreno Rivas' chapter (attached as pdf). READ CAREFULLY. It has good photos, too. Please come to class ready to share the stories with your non-Spanish reading classmates. For our English readers--you can find a lot on line.

VIDEOS: The first two are audio--his original versions. The second two are from films:
AGUSTIN LARA - FAROLITO (PRIMERA VERSION) - YouTube
AGUSTIN LARA - IMPOSIBLE - YouTube
AGUSTÍN LARA - María Bonita - YouTube  FILM. Agustin Lara at the piano--filmed live. There are a few other videos like this, on YouTube if you search carefully.

FILM Bandoneon Tango y el Bolero "Pecadora" Libertad Lamarque - YouTube  Watch Agustin Lara presenting Libertad Lamarque here in the first minute of the video; he then accompanies her as she sings. (Libertad Lamarque was originally from Argentina, but she became very popular in Mexico (where she lived in exile) especially in film. 1930s and '40s. Look for Pedro Infante and Libertad Lamarque together in the film, Ansiedad-- it has a wonderful version of Farolito.)

Week IX: Trova Yucateca - Trovador / Cenote / Fuente

Guty Cárdenas

Hola a todos--here's new material for over spring break--I hope you enjoy the Guty Cárdenas download--sus canciones quedan muy lindas... Be sure to download them now so you can take them with you if you travel!


VS 185X S&P México: Week 9: TROVADOR / FUENTE / CENOTE

Bueno, llegó la mitád del semestre--y pasamos ahora a algo totalmente distinto. So far, most of the songs we've done have related to central México--Chavela, José Alfredo, las ranchéras y las canciones del Bajío (La borrachita, Adíos mi chaparrita). Now we go to a very different tradition, la canción romántica. Our first stop will be in Yucatán--la Trova Yucateca--the Toubadour songs of Yucatán. No surprise (the word trova)--since the medieval troubadours of southern France (Provencal) were already distinguished for their lyric poems on themes of love, a tradition they basically invented. "Courtly love," at the time--the patrons of these poems were the court nobility, with their distinct social ethos. Nevertheless, a popular dimension also emerged in the image of "el trovador y su juglar" --the troubadour and his minstrel--which remains to this day a longstanding and mysterious delight (see contemporary re-enactments on YouTube).

In México, the re-flowering of this image, quite fittingly, found a place in Yucatan. Why? In part climate, in part ethos, and also proximity to Cuba and hence to Spain (Cuban musical tradition combines both Spanish and the African sources). La Trova Yucateca's golden age centered in Mérida, and among the best known of the tovadores was Guty Cárdenas. A beautiful, engaging, and ultimately sad story- Guty Cárdenas had a tragic end at barely 26--just as the golden age of la trova yucateca itself lasted only through the 1920s. You can read about this in a chapter from Yolanda Moreno Rivas (pdf, in Spanish, attached). It's from her masterful book, La historia de la música popular mexicana.

For those whose Spanish is good, read this chapter carefully--it's a very good example of the strengths of this kind of writing at its best. (For those who don't, make do as you can with online sources in English--the tradition is worth  exploring.) (By the way, the book itself is also on reserve for you in the CED Library.)

Names & términos:
trova / trovador
la serenata
Ricardo Palmerín, Guty Cárdenas, Pepe Domingiuez y otros músicos en Mérida
Felipe Carrillo Puerto: "La única y más pequeña utopía en el mundo real y imaginario..." (Felipe Carrillo Puerto, gobernador de Yucatan, hasta 1924)
Alma Reed (American journalist who lived there, and who was courted by Don Felipe)
Peregrina  (canción de Ricardo Palemerín), letra de un poema de Luís Rosada Vega on the theme of their romance. (see YMR)
Poetas / trovadores / y músicos juntos-- Poets and the musicians working together... lo essencial de la Trova yucateca
Ritmos: Bambuco (colombiano), Bolero (cubano), y Clave. Yolanda Morena Rivas writes clearly about all this. You can follow her guide with your own YouTube searches. See what you can find, using her book (published in 1979) as a start.

CANCIONES (las dos en el cancionario--we'll sing them!)

Ojos Tristes (Guty Cárdenas)  Guty Cárdenas es un verdadero tesoro.
Nunca (Guty Cárdenas)

READING:
From Yolanda Moreno Rivas, La historia de la música popular mexicana,  "La inmortal trova yucateca"  (pps. 76-90). En español.   https://berkeley.box.com/s/8wyr5432n3937449lkuw

Take a break from Don Octavio and read this chapter.

Trovador / Serenata, Yucatán, 1930s (deYMR)

DOWNLOADS:
Guty Cárdenas:   https://berkeley.box.com/s/8b2fdlbykgxg9bo52m4r

Trova Yucateca:   https://berkeley.box.com/s/98sr6pj41rwd250dapr3
The trova cd will give you wider background of the music from that period, so I include it. But concentrate on the first download, above--Guty Cárdenas

YouTube (just two this week):

Trova Yucateca - Peregrina (un amor para la historia) Alma Reed.- Los Juglares - YouTube  (This one evokes the atmosphere of Mérida and the trova quite beautifully), although the following is my favorite recording (Los Montejo, de Mérida, 1958?):  ▶ TRIO LOS MONTEJO--Peregrina - YouTube. It was originally posted on YouTube with the following image of Mérida. Listen to the recording while looking at this image--

 















Nunca Guty Cárdenas, Letra de Ricardo López Méndez - YouTube  (a live contemporary performance by El Dueto Peninsular)

PROJECT: Let the words Trovador / Cenote / Fuente be your starting points. Trovador (troubador) whence all the medieval Provencal poetry connections. Fuente (fountain) as source, and Cenote as repository--a water-collecting pool very typical of the geography in parts of the Yucatan peninsula. As if the Spanish contribution (music and poetry) found its own very Mexican place of repose...

Tápiz, Escuela de Trovadores (medieval)

Week VIII: Cuco Sánchez / Cama de Piedra

Reading. Continue with don Octavio: His chapter "Conquista y Colonia" applies for this week--in unexpected ways--and we'll discuss it in weeks to come as well. A central theme.

Project:  Along with José Alfredo, the songs of Cuco Sánchez remain classic. Here's a good selection to download:

https://berkeley.box.com/s/ue4249g9smoakbsd54dy

Let's start with La Cama de Piedra--canción del tiempo de la Revolución--one that came to be associated with Cuco Sánchez (whose arrangement--and interpretation--has proved definitive.)
But many of his own songs have become classic as well  (for example, Fallaste Corazón and Arrieros Somos, both in our cancionero...  and Anillo de compramiso). As with José Alfredo, many have become central to the ranchera tradition. Here's his original version:

Cuco Sanchez "La Cama de Piedra" - YouTube 

Cuco Sánchez presents a different point of view than José Alfredo--his lyrics tend to be reflexive--his self-image becoming the locus for his "oyentes." Philosophical, in his own way--as if there were sometimes a mirror rather than a window. And very different from José Alfredo, whose voice (though often reflexive) always seems to reach out to the listener... Chavela sings both their songs quite beautifully, as you know from listening to her Sentimiento de México albums.

There are many other good interpretations--this one from Lola Beltrán, from 1956--and a more recent version by Lila Downs, whose Cama de Piedra has a touch of Johnny Cash in the accompaniment--but these are the times we live in):   Lila Downs - La Cama de Piedra - YouTube 

Here's another,  based on the original Cuco Sánchez version, with good period photos:   YouTube - La Cama de Piedra * Revolución Mexicana, 1910.   And finally, Cuco Sánchez in a live performance, later in his career, after the song had become one of his icons:

CUCO SÁNCHEZ - LA CAMA DE PIEDRA - YouTube

SO, work with Cama de Piedra--or choose another of the Cuco Sánchez songs in our Cancionero (Arrieros Somos, Fallaste Corazón)...and we'll see where everyone takes it!
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Suplemento: Aquí está la biografía de Cuco Sánchez de la SACM: 
SACM - Biografía de Cuco Sánchez.
También dice cosas intersantes de él Yolanda Moreno Rivas. Vean el "search." Por ejemplo:

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Note: this week's project will carry us up to Spring Break--after which we'll broaden the focus and consider some of the other regions--and regional traditions--del cancionero mexicano... Guty Cardenas, Agustín Lara, la Canción Romantica (Trío los Panchos) and some of the regional folk styles as well...


 

Week VII: José Alfredo / El Hijo del Pueblo

 

José Alfredo Jiménez

Reading: Para esta semana, leemos dos ensayos, uno de Carlos Monsiváis, crítico mexicano bien conocido, y el otro por Manuel Arroyo Stephens, de España: 

https://berkeley.box.com/s/o7psl78re0jgk1c9gaiq

Insightful (and powerful) both--I have them from a book of the collected lyrics--la letra de José Alfredo. Read carefully--ya verán que al mismo tiempo tienen que ver  con Chavela (a quien lo dedica su prólogo Monsiváis).

Música. A download with songs by José Alfredo, several of which you'll recognize from Chavela's recordings. Here they're sung by José Alfredo mismo. All posted on Box. When you download, include the xml file for all title date. Note: these songs (and many many more) are available on YouTube, of course--but the sound quality in the download should be better--and this is a consistently chosen set:

https://berkeley.box.com/s/ellpzyhvr6wykenyak6e

Project.  Quiero que van pensando, dando consideración a la relación entre Chavela Vargas y José Alfredo Jiménez. ¿Que representaba José Alfredo para Chavela--y porque. Pues bien, entonces eligir una canción particular--hacétela foco de tu proyecto.

Discusión: Hablamos (en clase) en particular de la letra de Tu recuerdo y yo. Las relaciones entre los papeles (presente y no presente), puntos de vista--y como se cambian--y de porque se llama a José Alfredo, El Hijo del Pueblo... Y la diferencia entre los interpretes de José Alfredo--porque las mujeres tienen tanto éxito con sus canciones (Lola Beltran, Amalia Mendoza, Lucha Reyes, y por supuesto, Chavela Vargas)

________

Tu recuerdo y yo
Jose Alfredo Jimenez 

Estoy en el rincon de una cantina,
oyendo una cancion que yo pedi,
me estan sirviendo ahorita mi tequila,
ya va mi pensamiento rumbo a ti.

Yo se que tu recuerdo es mi desgracia,
y vengo aqui nomas a recordar,
que amargas son las cosas que nos pasan,
cuando hay una mujer que paga mal.

Quien no sabe en esta vida,
la traicion tan conocida,
que nos deja un mal amor,
quien no llega a la cantina,
exigiendo su tequila,
y exigiendo su cancion.

Me estan sirviendo ya la del estribo,
ahorita ya no se si tengo fe,
ahorita solamente ya les pido,
que toque otra vez "La que se fue".

 

Grabaciones varias de Tu recuerdo y yo:

JOSÉ ALFREDO JIMENEZ - TU RECUERDO Y YO (CD 1) - YouTube

Jose Alfredo Jimenez Tu recuerdo y yo - YouTube
Chavela Vargas "Tu recuerdo y yo" - YouTube

( LA QUE SE FUE) TU RECUERDO Y YO - YouTube  (grabación privada)

DANIEL SANTOS - TU RECUERDO Y YO - YouTube  (a styled version, certainly, although I am sure that Daniel Santos will have his defenders--Monsiváis mentions him in the essay above.)

Week VI: La Malinche / Cruz de Olvido

José Clemente Orozco

Reading: Don Octavio, Laberinto, Los hijos de la Malinche

Song: Our main song for the week, Cruz de olvido. In your cancionero. The Chavela Vargas version is a masterpiece--her interpretation is unique. However, it's important to know that the song was written by Juan Zaízar--whose recording is entirely different in feel.  Consider this in your projects for the week, both in relation to (or by way of contrast) to all that Octavio Paz says about "los hijos de la Malinche."

Cruz de Olvido - https://berkeley.box.com/s/6a5w35hte7qomlo3grd9
Cruz de Olvido - Chavela Vargas en vivo. - YouTube
Cruz de Olvido - David Zaizar - YouTube

There's a second song that applies as well: A corrido-- Los dos hermanos. Again, Chavela's version is quite personal--her telling, that is. I'll also give you an earlier recording, from Trío Tariácuri, in the 940s. (Trío Tariácuri interpreta a Juan Mendoza, "El Tariácuri" quien la escribió--en los años '40.) La mala mujer...

Los Dos Hermanos:
▶ Los Dos Hermanos Chavela Vargas - YouTube
▶ TRIO TARIACURI, LOS DOS HERMANOS (40s) - YouTube

If you want to follow up on this, from a critical perspective, see María Herrera-Sobek's book, The Mexican Corrido: A Femenist Anlyisis, which has an elaborate (and interesting) interpretation of Los Dos Hermanos. Of course, the view presented in our own course is that interpretation comes first through giving your full attention to the music itself. That said, Los Dos Hermanos is "un nuevo corrido" --meaning it was written for a popular audience, in the style of older corridos (more a folk form)...so the use of stereotypes (la mala mujer) is doubly loaded...

Question: would this thought also apply to Cruz de Olvido...? How much does Chavela's interpretation make the song...?

La Malinche y Cortés, Tlaxcala

Cruz de olvido
Juan Zaízar

Con el atardecer
me iré de ti
me iré sin ti
me alejaré de tí
con un dolor
dentro de mi
te juro corazón
que no es falta de amor
pero es mejor así
un día comprenderás
que lo hice por tu bien
que todo fue por tí...

La barca en que me iré
lleva una cruz de olvido
lleva una cruz de amor
y en esa cruz sin ti
me moriré de hastío

La barca en que me iré
lleva una cruz de olvido
lleva una cruz de amor
y en esa cruz sin ti
me moriré de hastío...

Culpable no he de ser
de que por mi
puedas llorar
mejor será partir
prefiero así
que hacerte mal
yo sé que sufriré
mi nave cruzará
un mar de soledad..

Adiós, adiós amor
recuerda que te amé
que siempre te amaré..

La nave en que me iré
lleva una cruz de olvido
lleva una cruz de amor
y en esa cruz sin ti
me moriré de hastío...

Week V.2: La borrachita / Adiós mi chaparrita

Hola everyone--let me tuck in a note at the beginning, to clarify this week's project. First, I want you to listen to each of the songs (Week V: Canciones Viejas). Several times. They represent an ongoing source. This new post is a supplement--I've chosen two of the songs again again, with lyrics from the cancionero, plus links. Both from Tata Nacho. Consider their melodies, and also their lyrics--especially in comparison (contrast with?) the Alfonso Reyes poem in previous post. You'll need to think about this...

Volveremos a don Octavio en la próxima, Semana VI. Por ahora--las canciones viejas... música y letra...

Bueno, aquí tienen otra vez dos canciones de Tata Nacho. Hay que pensar bien en lo que dice la letra, especialment en relación al tiempo en que se escribieron (ca. 1916) y en relación al poema Sierva enemiga de Alfonso Reyes. Hablamos de esto en clase...También las cantamos...

La borrachita (Fernández Esperón--Tata Nacho, 1916)

La Borrachita, Pedro Infante (CINE) 

La Borrachita (Antonio Bribiesca)

La borrachita:

Borrachita, me voy, para olvidarle,
le “quero” mucho,
y él también me “quere”.
Borrachita me voy,
hasta la capital...
¡ay!, pa’ servir al patrón
que me mandó llamar anteayer.

Yo le quise traer,
dijo que no,
que si había de llorar,
pa’ que volver.

Borrachita, me voy,
hasta la capital...
¡ay!, pa’ servir al patrón
que me mandó llamar anteayer.
 
______

Adios mi chaparrita   Ignacio Fernández Esperón--Tata Nacho

Adiós mi Chaparrita  (canta Guty Cárdenas)

Adios mi chaparrita:

Adiós mi chaparrita,
no llores por tu Pancho
que si se va del rancho
muy pronto volverá.

Verás que del Bajío
te traigo cosas buenas
y un beso que tus penas
muy pronto borrarán

Los moñitos pa' tus trenzas
y pa' tu mamacita
rebozo de bolita y naguas de percal.
¡ Uy ¡ que...caray...

No llores, chula mía,
si no me voy tristeando
y quiero irme cantando,
que el llanto me hace mal.

Alegres siempre fuimos,
y cuando vuelva quiero
que jalles tu ranchero
tan güeno y retozón.

Y digas que al marcharse
por lejos que se juera
llevaba a su ranchera
prendida al corazón.
¡Ay ¡...!qué...caray!


____


Del sitio SACM, sobre Tata Nacho, una anécdota:

"Tata Nacho comenzó a frecuentar el estudio del pintor Nacho Rosas para poder inspirarse más. En ese estudio se reunían Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, José Juan Tablada, El Chamaco Urbina, Adolfo Best Maugard, Francisco Orozco Muñoz y otros artistas. Tata Nacho componía ya canciones populares, que apenas comenzaba a dar a conocer. Un día, una joven modelo de Nacho Rosas, en quien se inspiraba el poeta Francisco Orozco Muñoz, dejó el estudio para volver a su pueblo dejando desconsolado al poeta. Tata Nacho se acercó al piano y tocó una de sus más recientes composiciones titulada Adiós mi chaparrita, cuya letra cambió en ese momento para hablar de la pena que sufría el poeta en esos momentos. A todos los artistas ahí presentes les gustó mucho la canción, y Tata Nacho tocó entonces otra de sus canciones titulada La Borrachita, que alegró al poeta Francisco Orozco Muñoz, y lo hizo olvidar su pena."

_____

And, let me mention that for Adiós mi chaparrita, you can also find a YouTube version by Pérez Prado... By the way, we'll meet Tata Nacho again when we listen to Trova Yucateca--it was Tata Nacho who "discovered" Guty Cárdenas and gave him early encouragement...

Week V: Canciones Viejas: Dos Fuentes

Mariachi "anónimo" (1908-09)

Manuel Ponce

Pensando en lo que podemos saber del pasado, aquí las tienen dos fotos del mismo tiempo--una del músico y compositor bien conocido--Manuel Ponce. Y la otra--un músico "anónimo" del Cuarteto Coculense (quienes hicen las primeras grabaciones de música mariachi). Ponce nos dío versiones formales de las canciones viejas (y muchas veces del pueblo), como "Cielito lindo," "La pajarera" "La orilla de un palmar,"  "El desterrado," "La paloma," "Marchita el alma," "La valentina, " y " La cucaracha." Todas hoy bien conocidas como si fueran las versiones originales--pero de veras son versiones de Ponce mismo. El era la fuente. Interestingly, we think of them as the originals--where in fact, they've been standardized through Ponce's arrangements. Note that his musical studies included a period in the conservatory in Berlin, and that Ponce was the author of an extensive classical (European-based) repertory. There's also the great irony that his best known composition-- "Estrellita" is a song that's recognized the world over--but rarely associated with an individual composer. As if it were"anonymous."

What does it mean to say that the mariachi pictured remains anonymous?  And consider the difference in focus between the two photographs--significant in itself.

Here's a set of the older songs you can listen to, each discussed by Yolando Moreno Rivas in her Historia. The versiones are generally from YouTube:
  
Marchita el alma (Zuñiga, 1876?):     
Pedro Infante
Alfredo Kraus (1959) 

La paloma (arr. Ponce)
Jaun Arvizu

La orilla de un palmar (arr. Ponce)  
Antonio Bribiesca (1962) - YouTube

La borrachita (Fernández Esperón (Tata Nacho), 1916) 
Antonio Bribiesca (ya la tienen en el S&P cancionero download) /  CANCIONERO
Pedro Infante 

Canción Mixteca (Alavez)
Cuco Sánchez 
(see also Ry Cooder's soundtrack with Harry Dean Stanton doing the song in Wim Wender's film,  Paris, Texas)

Adiós Mariquita linda (Marcos A. Jiménez)
Pedro Vargas
Los Panchos

Rayando el sol (arr. Ponce) 
Antonio Bribiesca (1961)

Adios mi chaparrita   Ignacio Fernández Esperón (Tata Nacho)
De Tata Nacho "Adiós mi Chaparrita" - YouTube   (canta Guty Cárdenas) /  CANCIONERO

Ignacio Fernández Esperón (Tata Nacho)

__________

Y de la otra tradición, más bien del pueblo.  I'll include this here (for example, the early recording below--Cuarteto Coculense) because it's so important to recognize that it's these two streams together--popular culture as it's formalized in the work of (dedicated!) artistas mexicanas like Ponce--and at the same time, the way it continues to be represented in popular tradition--often anónymous, and much farther removed from music as commercial presentation. (In today's world, of course, everything is potentially commercial--so the distinction is harder to maintain. That said, it's still important to recognize the way the two streams (as I'm calling them) inter-relate. When Octavio Paz writes that he speaks to a "particular" group of Mexicanos, he invokes the distinction. And when some of you (Melissa, Kateri, Victor and Anavictoria come to mind) refer to your families on ranchos or in pueblos pequeños--we get living hints of the second stream... I'd say that to understand México in all her (?) complexity, we need to follow both streams and see how they intertwine...

For this week, I want you to concentrate on the songs above--we'll devote more time to the tradición publerina más adelante en el semestre. Van a ver!

Cuarteto Coculense Las Abajeñas (1908-09)

Also--be aware of Pasajero, an excellent film made by Los Cenzontles, the Bay Area group who have focused on this older mariachi music (along with many other folk styles de México). Here's an excerpt:
Mariachi Roots

PROJECT. Take one or more of these older songs, above, look into it's history (via YMR or online sources) and use it as point of departure for this week's work. Consider both music and lyrics--and connections to "la historia cultural de México..."

READING. Continue with don Octavio, as discussed in class...



 

Carta de Alfonso Reyes a Octavio Paz

Carta de Alfonso Reyes a Octavio Paz

Alfonso Reyes

LA TONADA DE LA SIERVA ENEMIGA

Cancioncita sorda, triste,
desafinada canción;
canción trinada en sordina
y a hurtos de la labor,
a espaldas de la señora;
a paciencia del señor;
cancioncita sorda, triste,
canción de esclava, canción
canción de esclava niña que siente
que el recuerdo le es traidor;
canción de limar cadenas
debajo de su rumor;
canción de los desahogos
ahogados en temor;
canción de esclava que sabe
a fruto de prohibición:
-toda te me representas
en dos ojos y una voz.

Entre dientes, mal se oyen
palabras de rebelión:
"¡Guerra a la ventura ajena
guerra al ajeno dolor!
Bárreles la casa, viento,
que no he de barrerla yo.
Hílales el copo, araña,
que no he de hilarlo yo.
San Telmo encienda las velas,
San Pascual cuide el fogón.
Que hoy me ha pinchado la aguja
y el huso se me rompió;
y es tanta la tiranía
de esta disimulación,
que aunque de raros anhelos
se me hincha el corazón,
tengo miradas de reto
y voz de resignación".

Fieros tenía los ojos
y ronca y mansa la voz;
finas imaginaciones
y plebeyo corazón.
Su madre, como sencilla,
no la supo casar, no.
Testigo de ajenas vidas,
el ánimo le es traidor.
Cancioncita sorda, triste,
canción de esclava, canción:
-toda te me representas
en dos ojos y una voz.
                

                         -- Paris, 1913

(vean Octavio Paz, Laberinto, p. 47)

"No hay nadie, señor. Soy yo." (Laberinto)

Week IV: Paloma Negra

Francisco Zuniga

This week we'll concentrate one song--both lyrics and interpretation. Las versiones mejores (para mí) todavía son las clásicas. Van a ver. Y la de Chavela (otra vez, para mí) presenta el signifacado de la letra. That said, Tomás Méndez and Lola Beltrán worked closely--and she's considered a major interpreter of his songs. (Cucurrucucú became her signature piece.)

Paloma Negra can be a stylists Valhalla--en donde el modo de cantar reemplace lo que dice la canción. Quiero que piensen en esto. Come to terms with it in your own way. In your projects. And note that several themes from don Octavio can be found here--especialmente el tema de máscaras--y lo que dice de la traición... de "no rajarse,"  y de la Forma...


Paloma Negra


Ya me canso de llorar y no amanece
Ya no sé si maldecirte o por ti rezar
Tengo miedo de buscarte y de encontrarte
Donde me aseguran mis amigos que te vas
Hay momentos en que quisiera mejor rajarme
Arrancarme ya los clavos de mi penar
Pero mis ojos se mueren sin mirar tus ojos
Y mi cariño con la aurora te vuelve a esperar

Y agarraste por tu cuenta la parranda
Paloma negra, paloma negra ¿dónde, dónde andarás?
Ya no jueges con mi honra parrandera
Si tus caricias han de ser mías, de nadie más
Y aunque te amo con locura ya no vuelva
Paloma negra eres la reja de un penar
Quiero ser libre vivir mi vida con quien yo quiera
Díos dame fuerza que me estoy muriendo
por irlo a buscar

                                          --Tomás Méndez Sosa

________

Projecto: El tema es Paloma Negra. Aqúi tienen tres grabaciones clásicas. Tomás Méndez siendo autor de la canción, y Lola Beltrán una de sus primeras interpretes. (Tomás Méndez también nos dío Cucurrucú, paloma.) Y la de Chavela. La imagen de la paloma negra presenta niveles múltiples de metáfora--hay que explorar estos mismos en su proyecto.  Por supuesto, la letra lleva otras imágenes evocativas... a explorar además... (Pueden comparar, al mismo tiempo, la letra de Cucurrucú, paloma...)  Y acuerdense--el sitio (website) SACM es buen lugar buscar las bigrafías de los autores...

Versiones clásicas:
TOMÁS MÉNDEZ canta "PALOMA NEGRA" - YouTube
Chavela Vargas - Paloma Negra - YouTube     (Cantamos juntos esta versión)
LOLA BELTRAN, PALOMA NEGRA - YouTube  1957

(y versión "extrema" de la Tariácuri, Amalia Mendoza:  Amalia Mendoza - Paloma Negra- YouTube)

Y de hoy:
YouTube - Lila Downs canta Paloma negra (video, con harpa y guitarra)
Lila Downs & Carla Morrison "Paloma Negra" @ Greek Theatre L.A. 9-22-13 - YouTube
______

Leer: Octavio Paz, El laberinto, capítulo 3, Todos santos, día de muertos. Tres preguntas--a publicarlas en sus cuadernos, y introducirlas en la conversación en clase...

Si pueden relacionar las ideas (los temas) de don Ocavio con la letra de Paloma Negra? Tienen mucho entre si... Y de Cucurrucú?

_____________

La clase anoche--buena discusión. (Me acuerdo en particular lo que dijo Victor de su abuelo--y la respuesta de Anavictoria--de su abuelo.) Nos faltaba las canciones. Lastima--pero seguimos con ellas en la proxima.Y me impresiona que cada uno de ustedes va mostrandose (en casos particulares, revelandose) en los proyectos. Buena cosa--hace más interesante la noche entera...

Aquí tienen las dos versiones de Soldado de levita ("Mascaras mexicanas"):
"Corazón apasionado, disimula tu tristeza" 

"El Soldado De Levita" David Zaizar - YouTube 
Soldado De Levita - Revolución Mexicana - Trío Tariácuri - YouTube

Cucurrucucu, paloma (Letra y Enlaces)

Grabaciones varias:

Pedro Infante - Cucurrucucu paloma - YouTube CINE
Pedro Infante - Cucurrucucu Paloma - YouTube disco
Cucurrucucú Paloma - Lola Beltrán & Pedro Vargas, Lucha ... - YouTube (su versión original, 1964)

Lola Beltrán y Tomás Méndez--charlando de Cucurrucucú--television, 1978:
▶ Lola Beltrán, Tomás Méndez, Raúl Velasco -ANÉCDOTAS -CUCURRUCUCU PALOMA- - YouTube 

y de Caetano Veloso:
Caetano Veloso Cucurrucucu Paloma Hable Con Ella - YouTube 
Caetano Veloso Cucurrucucu Paloma (Hable Con Ella) - YouTube--Pedro Almodóvar CINE

 

Week III: Máscaras

Manuel Álvarez Bravo, 1932

Leer. Capítulo 2 de El laberinto de la soledad: Máscaras. (Also keep a hand in on your second book... You could (for example) relate Gregory Rodriguez chapter on the Conquest to this theme.) However, the main thing at this point is to really focus on don Octavio. You'll have to learn how to (begin to) understand him--and to find your own questions within his questions. (Write them down on your cuaderno!)

Projecto. The new theme is Máscaras--one of the words that Octavio Paz returns to repeatedly. Think about all the senses he intends--including his use of disfrazar and simular/disimular--and how you realate to these words--how you sense their mean in your own life--your own experiece. Make this the subject of your visual project.

Música. Continue with the cancionero--and with Chavela and Antonio Bribiesca--especially their versions of José Alfredo. (Remember: When downloading music folders, for full information on each track be sure to include the xml file for playlist and track data when you drag music files into iTunes or equivalent.)

Don Octavio begins with an telling epigraph: 

   Corazón apasionado, 
   disimula tu tristeza...'   
             Canción popular

Can you find the song? Escuchen a la versión muy linda por Davíd Zaízar... Why does don Octavio chose this line?  And why tristeza? Can you find examples within our own cancionero?

_______

Víctor, cuando era joven, cantando por medio de la pintura

Anoche. Tan lindo, DE VERAS--cantando Cucurrucucú, paloma juntos, así como la cantamos. Tiene que ver con el espíritu--un espíritu grande que podemos compartir...!

Aquí hay algo de lo que miramos/escuchamos:

La Santa Cecilia - En El Ultimo Trago - YouTube
DUETO CALETA.EL VENADITO.avi - YouTube 

JORGE NEGRETE -- MEXICO LINDO Y QUERIDO - YouTube
Jorge Negrete - Mexico Lindo y Querido (Remasterizado) - YouTube
"Singin' in the Rain" (Title Song) 1952 ~ Gene Kelly - YouTube
La mochila azul - YouTube
Pedro infante - amorcito corazon - YouTube
Dueto Los Compitas- Me Pinte El Bigote - YouTube
jorge negrete y antonio bribiesca - fui queriendo no mas - pelicula "el rapto" - YouTube

S&P México: Cuadernos electrónicos: LINKS

Cuarteto coculense, 1908-09

S&P Cuadernos electrónicos SP 2014: LINKS / ENLACES

Luís Fernando Camarillo    http://luisfernandocamarillo.blogspot.com
Ratidzo Venton   http://ratidzodianaventon.blogspot.com/
Luís Alberto Serrano   https://www.blogger.com/profile/04994509734551521740
Kateri Gutiérrez   katerigtrz.blogspot.com
Rafael Brown (Horacio)   http://nativewithoutahome.blogspot.com/
Melissa Arambulo   marambulo.blogspot.com
Story Wiggins   http://cacahuetesconajo.blogspot.com/
Spencer Bates (Espencer)   http://www.cantanteflaquito.blogspot.com/
Marisol Sánchez   http://marisanz.blogspot.com/
Víctor Muratalla   http://victormuratalla.blogspot.com/
Estefania Hernández   http://cantandosealegra.blogspot.com/
Kouros Alaghband   http://dripofthefoolsbrew.blogspot.com/
Martín Díaz (Fernando)   http://martindiazvs.blogspot.com/
Anavictoria Ávila   https://anavictoriaavila.blogspot.com  
Claire Caterina Costello      http://cancionesylugares-ccc.blogspot.com/ 

Week II: Notas

Tina Modotti, El Machete, 1920's

Don Octavio. I've been re-reading Octavio Paz--and each time I return to the book, it strikes me again just how important a work it is. I hope you're finding the same. Takes some work--to be read slowly, allowing don Octavio's questions to become your own questions. And I DO want you to write down notes on three of them--for in class discussion tomorrow ("el pachuco y otros extremos"--what he means by this--and why he says it--plus where it takes YOU today? do you agree? what has this history meant in your own experience? you run with it... También--como intienda LA misma?) These notes (questions) are also for your cuadernos--a publicarlas cada semana...

Otra cosa importante--don Octavio habla a todos--siendo de raíces mexicanas o no...
_________

 Las Obras.   My experience first looking around the room last week was that the walls looked a bit thin. That is, not terribly adventurous. I know, it was our first session in 170 with your work pinned up--and that many of you have less experience in the visual arts (in part because our college no longer offers the basic courses that help you get your hands dirty!) All that's okay--I'm writing to encourage you to find your own level of ambition--but I DO expect you to be ambitious. This shows not in size or choice of materials--but in how we feel a sense of commitment in what you do each week...

It needs to be exciting each thursday evening to get that first glimpse of the walls...!

Vamos ayudando cada uno a cada otro en esto... We learn from each other--from the steps we take, from how the rest of us remember each of those steps--all becomes party of the conversation--that is, of "the class..." Which is why one project a week. If you put in the effort--the commitment--we all grow...

Van a ver...
___________

Reserve books now available.  octavio paz-- spanish and english

yolanda moreno rivas -- una  historia de la musica popular mexicana  (nota este es más comodo leer en forma de libro--pero así que falta un indice, la version pdf (bajada en tu laptop) sirve bien para colocar términos y nombres--van a ver de que hablo)...

the copies they have right now are from my own collection--additional copies from libraries on campus will be added. As listed on bibliography on class blog.

there's one more book you should know about-- frances toor's book on mexican folkways. a remarkable, synoptic work from the mid-1940s. ASK ME IN CLASS ABOUT THIS RESOURCE! Last year I had everyone buy it--you might consider, too. In any case, you should know about it--and maybe make use of it. Lots of material about mexican folk practices which the author collected over the course of decades...

Week II: Casa y Recuerdo

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Week II: Casa y Recuerdo

Reading: This week we'll start Octavio Paz-- His first chaper, El pachuco y otros extremos. You can read in Spanish or in English. Write down three good questions--and maybe the beginnings of an answer--based on the reading. Think about them for discussion in class next week. And post on you blog. (Label each week as I do so that we can follow and stay together---although what you post will be entirely your own.) I'll want you to come up with these questions from the reading each week--para la conversación que vamos a mantener...

Para ellos que sean músicos--que lean bien (toma dos semanas) Yolanda Moreno Rivas, capítulo primero (La música en tiempos de don Porfirio), especialmente "el mestizaje sonoro." Usen youtube para hacer investigaciones de las fuentes (muchas veces se puede colocar a las canciones que menciona).

For those with other interests, start the intro to a second book. Or at least have it on your radar. (I want you all to concentrate on Octavio Paz.) Gregory Rodriguez would be good. Or your choice (let's discuss in class...)

Project:  Casa y recuerdo.  If Tierra y corazon took us to a landscape, this week we enter inside...
Remember "La lluvia sobre el pueblo..." The focus in the video. That the way the "subject" was not what we were seeing...  Si te gusta mejor la palabra "Lluvia" pues que empiezes con esta...
Or the footage of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles (late 40's) with Don Tosti's Pachuco Boogie...

Música. Keep listening to Chavela, consider the lyrics (this is a gradual process!). And of course, el cancionero que vamos compartiendo... Listening to the cancionero download is important--that's how you need to absorb the songs...ensimismarse... La letra es cosa esencial. Hay que pensar en cada canción así--que nos dice? literalmente? y en términos metafóricos?

Cuadernos electrónicos. Post your work (image of your project) with short written piece each week. I suggested 100 words or less. I don't want to burden you with too much writing--and the point here is to find evocative ways of using words--written language--in parallel with the visal. Los dos andan juntos... Also see my comment above, under Reading--three questions from don Octavio--and the beginnings of an answer...

First post can be your self-description--an edited version of what you sent me to join the course...
_____

And from last night's  class--we watched these videos together with the songs.... Así que cada uno de nosotros que crea el narrativo...el significado...

Lluvia sobre el campo:

Lluvias en Michoacán - YouTube
Chavela Vargas "Vámonos" - YouTube


El Pachuco y otros extremos (versión dubovsky) :

A Drive Through Bunker Hill and Downtown Los Angeles, ca. 1940s - YouTube
Pachuco Boogie (Orquesta de Don Ramon) - YouTube

Week I: Tierra y Corazón

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Week I: Tierra y Corazón


Our first project. Something which expresses the meaning of these words to you--in your life, in memory, and in what you know of your family past. There will many points of view in the class--that's a good thing--and it will be a subject of our continued conversation when we look at the work next week (pinned up on the walls in 170).


I encourage you to emphasize the hand--that is, the feeling of making by hand--as a route to the personal.

Size, meda, approach--all open.

For those of you with less hands-on studio art experience--start with meaningful photos in juxtaposition (siize, posisition, relative lights and darks). As "information"--but also as something to be looked at.

For those with more drawing and painting experience--dive in.

_____

Practical notes:

Blog. Set up your "cuaderno eléctrico" using blogger.com--and send me an active link. I want you to do this before I give you a cec. We'll discuss posting in class...

Reading: For this week, make sure to purchase  Octavio Paz (El laberinto de la soledad)--at local bookstore or online. (I've posted the original Spanish version on BOX, pero queda más cómodo leerlo en forma de libro... See bibliography.)

Música. Concentrate on all the new songs in the downloads. 

Cancionero. Keep your song sheets in a folder, and bring them to each class. There will be supplements, so you'll need a folder. (I had a pile, but forgot to hand them out. Will have next week.)

Writing. Because we have a largish group (queda bien!) one thing I'll want you to do, as your working on your project for each week is to write something in parallel. maybe 100 words or less--not too long--which can be pinned up along with your work "de introducción..."--as a kind of written introduction. no, I don't know just what I have in mind--so, you'll show me--and show each other--what this means! We pin up the projects at the beginning of the evening--and these can be alongside (or below)... can be trimmed to smaller than 8-1/2 x 11 if you like... Later posted on your cuadenos as well.