Let's Go: Mexico!
[This is a post I made on my now defunct webzine, Mister Lucky in 1996]
When it came to Latin American music, we'd always pooh-poohed mighty Mexico. Latin pop musicians and singers from all over the Americas have always strived to break into the massive Mexican market and more often than not they've produced a mediocre, not unpleasant, international sort of pop music. On a more folkloric level, we've always loved the mariachi bands but we've always found it a bit frustrating because the stomping rhythms make us want to dance but to what step? We appreciate the Norteño and Tex-Mex bands but they really don't make our heart flutter the same way a wild mambo does. We appreciated Mexico's art, masks made from coconuts, novenas (candles with different saints on them), beaches, cuisine (almost obsessively) and language but to our shame we just skimmed over the music.
Comparing Mexico's music to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brasil, Peru , Colombia or even Argentina isn't really fair. The history, content and attitude are totally different. Much of the music is about having a good time and yelping and hooting are encouraged. It's without a trace of cynicism and that can be off-putting to your average callous sophisticate.
Our romance started when talented musicologist and musician Bro. Cleve came back from a tour of among other things, the danzon halls of Mexico. The danzon is a fairly popular Cuban ballroom dance that led to the mambo but in Mexico it remains a dancehall favorite. Bro. Cleve was kind enough to send us a tape of some of the best music and on the flip side were recordings by the weird and wonderful Astrid Hadad. Hadad sings traditional rancheras with a traditional band and has a voice that knocks our socks off. If Linda Ronstadt (who has a fine voice) weren't so conscious of every note that came out of her mouth and came equipped with a sense of humour, she just might come close to the magic of Astrid Hadad.
The really great news is that the best of Hadad is now available domestically on ¡Ay! (Rounder Records CD 5065). Much as Fellini and Rota created a fantasy that became our idealized version of Italy, Astrid Hadad creates the carefree, drunken, painful version of Mexico we search for but don't quite seem to find.
The opening number, Los Tarzanes, never fails to receive an hysterical reaction when we play it for our guests. It has it all: humour, big soaring notes, a rowdy backup band encouraging Hadad on and a great beat. Much of the rest of the album follows this lead and we have to say it's one of the few discs we've purchased in the last few years that we've played incessantly, almost to the point of being sick of it. Most of the songs are new to our ignorant ears but the proprietor of our favorite Mexican restaurant in San Francisco merrily sang along to most all of the numbers when we gave her a copy. The one tune we were familiar with is Por un Amor, thanks to La Ronstadt, but there's no contesting who does the better version.
Enthusiastic about the possibilities of Mexican music, we thought we'd try to find some decent mariachi music on disc. This proved to be a bit more difficult. Many of the recordings are from third and fourth generation masters and the sound quality is abysmal. The Mariachi Vargas is the most renowned of mariachi bands but we couldn't find any superior contemporary albums. We did find some pretty rotten things by bands that made use of the electric bass or even drums and we started to get frustrated with our search.
Just because the album art looked nice, we gambled on Mariachi Cobre's Este Es Mi Mariachi(Kukuck/Celestial Harmonies 11105-2) and we were rewarded with a great hour of everything that makes mariachi great. The opener, La Madrugada, isn't anything special but the title that follows, Las Tres Huastecas, is a real flag-waver of a number. It has a strong melody and an intricate string arrangement that builds to a mighty breathtaking crescendo. Most of the numbers are at least strong and many are memorable. All of the vocalists have those soaring caballero voices that make the weak melt. In fact, aside from the top-notch musicianship, the highlight of these recordings is the male voice. For such a macho culture, it's fascinating that they hit those sissy falsetto yodels whenever they can. In lesser hands this could be a disaster, but vocal discipline is a key aspect of Mariachi Cobre. A quasi-operatic version of the classic Estrellita (Esquivel fans take note) is what makes us melt.
Feeling lucky, we tried Mariachi Cobre's most recent release, XXV Aniversario (Black Sun 15022-2). It's fine but the blood never boils the way it does on Este Es Mi Mariachi. Not to be discouraged, we got a hold of Mariachi Cobre (Kuckuck/Celestial Harmonies 11095-2) from 1992. Pay dirt! The intricate strings were back with El Balajú, the passion was in an instrumental version of Guadalajara and the singing on El Pastor with the falsetto climbing higher and higher makes us weak in the knees.
All three albums have the occasional klunker where folk music meets Mexi-pop but it's really too rare to worry about.
Completely humbled by the music and our previous attitude towards Mexican music we persisted and dug into the archives to find traditional favorites. As you can tell, we tend to get a bit obsessive when we discover something we like. RCA has released a series of ranchera greats on their budget line and you'd be safe to buy most any of them. Particularly important is Lucha Reyes' 12 Exitos Rancheros (RCA 743213114026). Astrid Hadad cites Reyes as an influence and her dramatic over-the-top readings are great. She strikes us as the Edith Piaf of Mexico. Also good is the Jorge Negrete collection, also titled 12 Exitos Rancheros (RCA 743213113821). Many of Negrete's songs are classics, like Hijo del Pueblo and Adiós Pampa Mia, but this collection doesn't include our favorite, Los Altos de Jalisco.
One huge mistake is to buy titles on the Orfeon label. It's tempting because they are moderately priced and feature great names but almost all of the ones we purchased are vintage recordings of vocals with new orchestrations, not particularly well done. The original recordings are iffy at best and seem at odds with the rest of the orchestra.
Summer 96
