Week 6: Canción Mixteca

Frida Kahlo, La Frontera, 1932, oleo sobre metal, 12 1/2" x 13 3/4"

We'll start this week with Canción Mixteca,  together with a parallel song,  Díos Nunca Muere. Both on the theme of separation from home--and thereby Songs and Places. You'll see the connection immediately. Two valses mexicanas...

Remember our discussion of the word ANHELO -- longing...

Cancion Mixteca.  by José López Alavez, composed between1912-15. There are many beautiful versions, including a very simple one one by Guty Cárdenas from the 1920s. Lila Downs (whose mother was of Mixteca origin) has recorded the song a number of times.  The version by Cuco Sánchez ((accompanied by Antonio Bribiesca) is also a classic. Canción Mixteca figures prominently in Wim Wender's 1984 road movie, Paris, Texas--sung by Harry Dean Stanton (the guitar part is by Ry Cooder, who did the slide-guitar part for the film as a whole. Haunting--and involved in the same story of displacement and separation--but from a "north of the border" perspective. Del otro lado...

* GUTY CÁRDENAS, CANCIÓN MIXTECA - YouTube  A SolitarioDark selection 
This recording has been REMOVED from YouTube, but I have another link posted below.
However, note that the Guty Cárdenas version is also in your Suplementos DOWNLOAD (in the DOWNLOAD folder for the course--as are recordings of all the other songs.)

Here's the  alternate version of same:
*  Canción mixteca Guty Cárdenas - YouTube

and two other versions:
*  Cancion Mixteca - YouTube Cuco Sánchez y Antonio Bribiesca   Sound quality iffy
*  LILA DOWNS (CANCION MIXTECA) - YouTube

* Harry Dean Stanton - "Cancion Mixteca" - Access All Areas - YouTube  Paris, Texas version
   Listen to Harry Dean Stanton's spoken translation at the beginning... 

Díos Nunca Muere. The author here is Macedonio Alcalá. Look into how he learned music--and the story behind how he wrote the song. Díos Nunca Muere is the (unofficial) anthem for the state of  Oaxaca. You can look into this as well...    (Note that Alcalá wrote the music in 1868; the lyrics are by Cipriano Jos´é Cruz, from the same year)  The Javier Solís version (below) comes with a good video collage...

*  Dios Nunca Muere - Javier Solis - YouTube
*  Pedro Infante - Dios Nunca Muere - YouTube

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Usually when we do these older songs I start you songs like La Paloma (Sebastien Iradier), or with Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) and his important contribution to the arrangements (and standardization) of many of the early popular songs (A la orilla de un palmar, La Valentina, and well-known version of Cielito Lindo). We can talk about this in class--pro and con. The standardization of tradition is a loaded question.

You should also know the name of Tata Nacho, and two of his songs, Adíos mi chaparritra, y la Borrachita--both on your playlist for the class, and in the Cancionero... Also from the 1920s and the time of the consolidation of México... And how songs played a part in this (again, a mixed blessing...)

Tata Nacho resurfaced late ibn life through his Quiero Ver (Otra Vez) and the part it played in the  popular Mexican TV show, El Chavo del Ocho... As sung by Don Ramón...

Here's a charming version by Vicente Fernández together with Pedro Vargas...

Vicente Fernandez y Pedro Vargas Quiero Ver - YouTube

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Reading: Continue with Octavio Paz. Reread Chapter 1, to address some of what we discussed in class on Thursday--and then read chapter 2, Máscaras mexicanas. Write down your questions for next class--key words, ideas that interest you. Each of you needs to be a part of this. Let me suggest that you  post questions and reactions on your notebook as well...


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"Poor México--so far from God, and so close to the United States..." (a saying attributed to Porfirio Díaz)

And a note on the painting: Frida Kahlo made La Frontera in 1932, while she accompanied Diego Rivera in Detroit, where he was working on a mural commission. You can see how she's torn between the experience of being in the factory heart of the US, and of the México she's (temporarily) left behind. The painting is oil on metal--that is, in the style of a retablo. Frida and Diego Rivera took great interest in these Mexican folk paintings--they had a large collection, and retablo themes and treatments recurred in their work...