Week 9: Mujeres Divinas

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Mujeres Divinas is a song that speaks to pretty much everyone--and yet when we get involved in the intricacy of the meaning of the story it presents, we're entering  world that's as legendary as that of the soldaderas from the time of the Mexican Revolución. Or the girl at the balcony in the photo by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, above. Consider the then and the now... and what the song means to you. I'm giving you a Vicente Fernández version (study the video!) and some other selections to help you put it into context. There are other cover versions on line. As you listen to the song, and look at the videos--see if you can relate this to Octavio Paz... 

Vicente Fernández (Chente) is such an interesting presence in Mexican popular music--a  bridge between the José Alfredo - Cuco Sánchez generation and the sensibility of Juan Gabriel. As we discussed in class, Chente always seems to be a little in front of the song--that is, his presence itself stands for the song. A little larger than  life... You can see this in the Vimeo video:

Vicente Fernández - Mujeres Divinas on Vimeo

Here are two older Vicente Fernandez videos:

* VICENTE FERNANDEZ tu camino y el mio RADIOMAGAZO - YouTube
Poor film quality, but very instructive.

Compare setting with Pedro Infante doing No Volveré...
NO VOLVERE (1955 Completa) - PEDRO INFANTE - YouTube

Think about the two videos above (film cliups, that is). They convey the same event--the garage workers gathering around a disconsolate compañero--but much has changed in the 20 years in between. How would you characterize the changes--as seen in the way the two shots are filmed?
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Also, here's an early classic by Vicente Fernández. The song from José Alfredo, of course. Consider the way Chavela sings it--and José Alfredo himself. How are their versions different from Chente's?
* vicente fernandez que te vaya bonito - YouTube
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Finally, as an aside-- I don't know the post source, but the video here (along with Mujeres Divinas - estilo huapango) is well worth watching:

Mujeres Divinas - Version Huapango - YouTube
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The following one--well, it speaks for itself... If we can have Elvis impersonators, of copurse we can have Chente impersonators. Or is that what's going on? Note all the surrounding characters--that's where the real story is:

Reunion Apr 17 2015 Video1 Mujeres Divinas - Chente Hernandez - YouTube
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Chente

 


Note on the photo at top of page. Originally I had the post with the image of Vicente Fernández (just above), but then I thought of the  Manuel Álvarez Bravo. From a very different time and a very different world of experience. Think about this. The choice has a lot to do with how each of us wants to attribute age to the characters in the song. Some of this is spelled out in the letra, of course--which is why Mujeres Divinas fits so well with the Vicente Fernández persona. However, what if we look at the song from a woman's perspective? How does age fit here? For each of you?

We'll look at more of Bravo's work in  class--and that of Gabriela Iturbide...he was her mentor, but she took her work in strikingly original directions...