Critical Review: “Mexican Ballads in the Modern Age”

According to Wald, the corrido has been the common newspaper of the border region since the mid 19th century, a “proletarian adjunct to the middle class press,” if you will. They have acted as a sort of musical literature for the working class community, much like ballads in medieval Europe, and have added commentary and demonstrated a shared political viewpoint not expressed by the official media.

The corrido can be seen as a cultural mixture, as it adopted European rhythms of waltz and polka, vocal styles of the region’s native population, and the shifting instrumental fashions and technologies of the day. Combine all that with lyrics portraying the attitudes of a culture plagued by ethnic conflict and war, and you get the corrido. Although corridos have been written about many subjects, the most prevailing have been violent romantic engagements, horses, outlaws, and heroes.

During the period of the Mexican revolution, corridos became the “folk history book,” but there was a fear that they would die out and be replaced by print, radio, television, and more romantic genres of Mexican music. The 1970s brought the corrido back to life in a new form: the narcocorrido, modern pieces that were more upbeat and danceable. New forms of corrido accompaniment such as norteno, conjunto, and banda also became popular. These narcocorridos had a sort of tabloid sensationalism in the lyrics that mixed truth with fiction. Still, much of the news and cultural information they offered was mostly true. Today’s corridos most discuss the world of the border drug trade in a sensationalist fashion. These drug lords are discussed much like the outlaws of the old days. The act of smuggling is seen as “morally neutral.” These people are simply poor Mexicans who follow the demands of the United States officials who power the trade. Drug lords are sometimes even depicted as heroes, using their riches to build schools or help their native villages. Other corridos include social commentary, crime stories, stories of immigrant experience, and discussion of political problems. This has caused many scholars to compare narcocorridos to “gangsta rap” because they speak about poor and disenfranchised population. There is also a fear that corridos, like rap, have the tendency to lead youth astray. Many of these newer hits also don’t fit the strict academic definition of the corrido because they do not relate a series of events. “The music itself” makes them corridos, however, as they are sung to the same rhythms as the corridos of old. Were it not for the drug related component of the lyrics, corridos would not be compared to rap in the same way. Though they celebrate outlaws, corridos can also be seen as an assertion of Mexican heritage. Even with the changes in lyrics, the music itself and idea surrounding the purpose of the corrido has truly stayed close to their original roots.

Discussion Question: Wald claims that “a great artist is more powerful than any politician.” As we have seen over the course of this class, music is often used to transmit a political message. How are the political statements made in corridos similar or dissimilar to those found in punk music (especially that of the Riot Grrl movement), rap, and metal?