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.
 
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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!


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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."

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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...