We end our week in Mexico with a sing-along that takes us back a thousand years. “Mayan Peace Song,” is a melody from the Mayan Empire, which dominated the land we now know as Mexico a millennium ago, seeding a civilization that inspires (and intrigues) us for its powerful rule and its mysterious fall.
Tag Archives | Mexico
We laugh, we cry, we sing Mexican Rancheras
Chavela Vargas will make you weep. (I think that’s good.)
This week in All Around This World, as we focus on Mexico, we meet music that’s fantastically fun. In some of our classes though, we pause the frivolity to listen to a recording “La llorona” performed by Chavela Vargas, iconic singer of rancheras, Mexican rural folk songs, who has surely seen difficult days. Rancheras won’t all tear your heart out like the one in this video, but jeez…. Learn more about Vargas at Chavela Vargas Official.
MAS
We start our Meixcan adventure with rock star band called “Kinky.”
You would think we would start our dive into the music of Mexico with the nation’s so many extraordinary musical traditions — son jarocho! mariachis! — but no…let’s rock. The Mexican rock band, Kinky, rose to international fame with the song we hear in this video — Mas! (More more more more!). We at All Around This World love traditional songs that tell the tale of a nation’s soulful past, but definitely appreciate that the counties we visit are living, breathing and, like Mexico, clearly ROCKING.
This week in class: MEXICO
This week in our online class we travel north to Mexico where we’ll strive to place the nation’s extraordinary cultural heritage within the context its profound ancient history. But don’t worry…we also croon like mariachis, dance like parrots, meet a stubborn bull and sing a Mayan song of peace.
Conjunto: Bringing Mexico and Texas Together
This week in our online class we’re going to focus on American music from a part of the Unites States that is historically, politically, linguistically, culturally and, most important for our purposes, musically a hybrid of two things. Conjunto music of the Mexican-American communities of Southern Texas is a not just form of entertainment and a conjunto gathering not just a lighthearted excuse to dance. The term conjunto, which in Spanish means “set” or “group,” refers both to the coming-together of a diversity of musical influences from Mexico and Southern Texas to form a culturally unique Mexican-American music genre, but also to the group of musicians that band together to create that music. Conjuntos are community events that allow Texan Mexicans the ability to celebrate their history and culture. Conjuntos are also bands that play all the good old dances–Mexican, German, and more–to playfully, yet powerfully, channel the past.
Over the course of the next week we’re going to look at some of the forms of music that formed the building blocks of conjunto. ¡Vamonos!
