Week 11: Sin Ti

Trío Los Panchos, 1940s

This week's project starts with a song--Sin Ti--and a story built around that song. Sin Ti, Made famous by Trío los Panchos (la música romántica de México en los1940s). However, the story was written by a remarkable contemporary American musician, Ry Cooder--from his book, Los Angeles Stories (City Lights, 2011). The story is beautiful and intricate--it will require some careful reading attention on your part--which will be amply rewarded in how much you'll discover not just about a very specific time and place--Mexican-American Los Angeles noir of the late 1940s--but how a song itself--Sin Ti--both the letra and the music--fit so perfectly into that world. I can't think of anyone who's more attuned to these kinds of correspondences than Ry Cooder. (He gave us Buena Vista Social Club--the son music of old Habana--an album and film which brought Cuban son into the broader American consciousness--and at the same time found new audience (and a new musical life) for the older Cuban musicians who'd been playing son all along. Songs and Places at its best!)

Note that the story is written from the point of view of Arturo Manzano (the central character)--a trío requinto player from LA in the 1940s. Arturo's life is in his music (you'll see how and why) and some of his observations may surprise you (what he says about the mariachi, for example). Remember that what you're reading is from Arturo's point of view--in turn, shaped by the world he comes from. And by how he understands the song... or is it now how Ry Cooder understands the song? That's the whole point of the story! Be ready to talk about this next week in class. (And remember that I gave you something else by Ry Cooder earlier in the term--his version of Canción Mixteca from the Wim Wenders film, Paris Texas, 1984).

Read the story twice. First, this weekend. Let it simmer. Then reread as you start your project. Again, with attention!

Here's the LINK: "La vida es un sueño," by Ry Cooder , from his book, Los Angeles Stories.
https://berkeley.box.com/s/rt2q3nvyr47cmq88fvzkte1vqitak7ip 

Million Dollar Theater, 30 years later--1980's

Canciones:
Sin ti  (Trío los Panchos)   (available on your Cancionero download, or in a short version,  here on YouTube.)
La vida es un sueño (Arsenio Rodríguez). This Cuban bolero is not a Los Panchos song, but figures in the story we read. Hay que darse cuenta del significado de la letra! Pay close attention to the way the lyrics work in relation to Ry Cooder's story...(Here's a link to the Arsenio Rodríguez version.)

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

https://berkeley.box.com/s/rt2q3nvyr47cmq88fvzkte1vqitak7ip 

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 ti... But the story is named for another song--La Vida es un Sueño--which comes in right at the end.
Read carefully (there's lots of good detail--along with an array of cultural figures from la edad de oro of Mexican music and film) --and then make the leap (in your project) from Ry Cooder's story to the world of Trío Los Panchos...

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I want you to concentrate on the Ry Cooder story, and on the two songs, Sin Ti y  La Vida es un Sueño. They're the basis for your project. You have sin Tí in your original course download. Additional recorded versions are in the suplementos below.  I'm including some additional material to get los Panchos and Arsenio Rodríguez on your radar.

Supplemental material: Música y film. 

For the music of Trío los Panchos, look for one of their Epoca de Oro albums on YouTube.
 
Trío Los Panchos ON FILM:  (cantan Sin ti y  Perdida). These two filmed versions will tell you a lot about Trío Los panchos, and their music:

Oops. The classic film footage from their original 1949 performance of Sin Tí is no longer available online (Trío Los Panchos en su primera época integrado por Alfredo Gil, Chucho Navarro y Hernando Avilés). But here's an alternate film version with Los Panchos in the background, from the same year: LOS PANCHOS (Hernando Avilés) ~ SIN TI ~ 1949 - YouTube. And a later film version (from 1958)  TRIO LOS PANCHOS: SIN TI / AMORCITO CORAZON - YouTube.  

Here's the classic film version of Perdida, with Ninón Sevilla, from 1950, as mentioned in the Ry Cooder story: LOS PANCHOS (Hernando Avilés) - PERDIDA - 1949 - YouTube

Los Panchos / otras selecciones (some on film as well):
Trio los Panchos - Solamente un vez - YouTube   (Here's Agustín Lara's original version: here.)
TRIO LOS PANCHOS rayito de luna - YouTube 
ADIOS MARIQUITA LINDA - TRIO LOS PANCHOS.mpg - 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  (!!!)
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Arsenio Rodríguez

 La vida es un sueño. And finally, the song from which Ry Cooder took his title. As far as I know, Los Panchos never recorded it. So, instead, the original (and priceless) version by Aresenio Rodríguez, de Cuba, (Arsenio Rodríguez  wrote the song) and then a beautiful versión de México... por Lupe y Raul. Plus Fernando Fernández y los Panchitos:

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