Sometime during my first month in Guanajuato, the idea floated into my head of writing an article about the sonic landscape of the city. This of course includes a great deal of music, since it resounds in every corner. But surrounding the music is a larger sonic landscape, comprising a range of sounds, some magical, […]
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Guanajuato is, and has been for a long time, a centre of culture and education. In one way or another, it has always been prosperous, either through the richness of its farmland or its mines. There was the money to support cultural activities and the desire on the part of the rich mining families and hacendados, I […]
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The city of Guanajuato is nestled in a sort of steep basin in the Sierra Madre Mountains and spreads up around the center of the basin. Imagine a huge, terraced rice paddy such as we’ve seen in photos of Indochina. Then, imagine a city built on those terraces, a city in which there are practically […]
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Nothing better exemplifies the lively spirit of Mexico than a fiery shot of tequila, dashing charro horsemen and the stirring strains of a mariachi band. Jalisco is the heartland of these emblematic figures of the nation. Guadalajara, the state capital, puts them all into the limelight each September during the annual Encuentro Internacional del Mariachi y […]
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Estas son las mañanitas que cantaba el rey David; a las muchachas bonitas se las cantamos aquí. Si el sereno de la esquina me quisiera hacer favor de apagar su linternita mientras que pasa mi amor. Ahora, sí, señor sereno, le agradezco su favor: prenda usted su linternita, que ya ha pasado mi amor. Despierta, […]
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I was born in a land that has her womb full of sunlight; that smells of tobacco, and the air intoxicates you because it tastes of rum. The sea caresses all of her body: it dresses her with garments made from coral and salt. Marisela Verena Each year here in Guadalajara, we host an international […]
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Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan celebrates its 100th anniversary in 1998. “[Mariachi] Vargas was one of the first organized groups to go to Mexico City and become popular. But that was just one style of music. During the thirties and forties, the record industry sort of standardized mariachi music. In a way that was good, and […]
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The small town of Nacozari occupies a valley nestled in the foothills of the Western Sierra Madre (Sierra Madre Occidental) in the state of Sonora. A hundred years ago this month, a young locomotive driver had to make a desperate decision: save his own life or try to save the lives of hundreds in his […]
Continue ReadingLa Cucaracha (The Cockroach), one of Mexico’s best known corridos, is a comic, satirical song, with infinite possibilities for creative verses. The typical chorus is: La cucaracha, la cucaracha Ya no puede caminar Porque no tiene, porque le falta Marihuana que fumar. Which translates into English as The cockroach, the cockroach Can not walk anymore Because […]
Continue ReadingA riotous image of a storm of people bolting down a wide Mexico City avenue, in the midst of a live Maldita Vecindad rock performance from the back of a moving truck, comprises one of many memorable video images from that band’s new, self-produced history of itself. The scene describing the pandemonium on the day […]
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