Genres of Mexican Music and their Significance

Son Jarocho, Zapateado Fandanguero, and Afro-Chicano Elements

Part 1: Genre: Son Jarocho/Zapateado Fandanguero Afro-Chicano, 12 bar blues, Mexican Corridos and Spanish Romances

Discuss the popularity of son jarocho, zapateado fandanguero, and Afro-Chicano elements within the music and dance.

Discuss the popular jarocho group Quetzal and their recent recordings and music history.

How does González describe her combination of movements and overall musical experience and familiarity with African genres to compose zapateado.

What instruments comprise a typical jarocho ensemble and where are its origins?

Discuss the poetic, musical, and performative elements in son jarocho.

Discuss Los Lobos interpretation of Jarocho music.

Explain Loza’s model used in his analysis of tradition and innovation.

Part 2 Lo Mexicano: Cancíon Ranchera Cancíon Romantica Boleros Popular Composers Singer Actors Trovadores

Discuss the lyrical content of the compositions and describe the musical career of José Alfredo Jiménez.

What was the appeal of the Mexican idol Pedro Infante?

What contributes to Pedro Infante’s legendary success as a former celebrity, singer, and actor and why does he remain as such a major sex symbol in Mexican popular culture?

How are Mexican women portrayed in the ancion ranchera?

Describe the musical origins of the songs.

Discuss the neutral pronouns in the lyrical compositions of Juan Gabriel.

Does gender ambivalence indicate a reliable marker of sexual preference or orientation?

Does Juan Gabriel’s sexuality matter to his audience?

How are his music recordings, concerts, and collaborations regarded in Mexico and the United States?

What nationality was Rocio Durcal and why was she so popular in Mexico?

Describe her musical collaborations with Juan Gabriel.

How does the Mexican bolero express the Post-revolutionary Mexico urban experience?

How did El Salon Mexico reflect class division in Mexican society?

List at least 3 classic boleros composed by Agustin Lara and critique Luis Miguel’s interpretation of the genre in his 3 recent “Romances” recordings.

Part 3: Mariachi and Tex-Mex/Tejano Conjunto/Norteño and Orquesta

Why is mariachi music a national symbol of Mexican culture and how has it changed in the United States?

Discuss Linda Ronstadt as an American “pop” singer and Mexican mariachi cantante.

Describe the use of baile folklorico in the production of Canciones de Mi Padre.

How does the traje de charro evoke a powerful, idealized symbol of masculinity?

Define machismo and in which songs from the repertoire do we most find it expressed lyrically?

Tejano music is a broad genre consisting of several styles including conjunto, orquesta, R & B, Country Western and Mariachi. Be able to identify the most important musical instruments, musicians, and singers for each expression.

Why is regional identity so pronounced in Texas?

What do musical styles reveal about particular social classes among Mexican people in Texas?

Describe how Tex-Mex is transforming from an organic regional symbol of identity to a commercial commodity with mass pan-Latino appeal?

Discussion Forum: 

Response to this discussion must be in 2 complete paragraph that means 5 to 6 complete sentences.

According to your text there are close to 90,000 governments in the United States. In a federal system each level of government has the right to make authoritative decisions about some things. The McCulloch v. Maryland decision in 1819 and later in the 19th century the outcome of the Civil War essentially decided that the national government would be supreme when its laws are in conflict with lower levels of government, such as state governments.

Recently, anarchists and members of Antifa took control by force of arms of six city blocks of the City of Seattle. They called their "territory the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. They were in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Washington. If the Mayor of Seattle and or the Governor of Washington had not finally ended this siege and returned the area to proper order under authority of the City of Seattle, should President Trump have sent in federal agents to wrest control from the anarchists?

Your response should wrestle with the Supremacy Clause and Federalism. This is not a discussion about our current President, but rather a discussion about state vs federal authority.