alviso, ric - what is a corrido. musical analysis and narrative function

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Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, Vol. 29, 2011© 2011 by the University of Texas Press, PO Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713–7819

What Is a Corrido? Musical Analysis and Narrative Function

Ric AlvisoCalifornia State University—Northridge

Abstract

Much has been written about the corrido over the past sixty- fi ve years. Most of this work, however, is based on analyses of texts. Scholars have all but ig-nored the music of the corrido with the implicit suggestion that the music is too simple to be studied and thus unworthy of scholarly attention. Thus the question, “What is a corrido?” remains partly unanswered. With this in mind, this study will attempt to supply some of the missing pieces of information on the music of corridos from its origins to the present. My thesis for this study is that every element of music found in the corrido tradition has developed to support and refl ect various aspects of its narrative function. My objec-tives are (1) to identify, through musical analysis of commercial and archival recordings, a summary of the most common musical aspects of the corrido; and (2) to determine, through musical analysis, the work that is done by the music of the corrido in order to express the goals and values of its creators and listeners.

“El corrido”

Como la corriente Like the currentDe un rio crecido Of a grown riverQue baja en torrente That lowers in an instantImpetuoso y bravillo Impetuous and brave

Voz de nuestra gente Voice of our peopleUn grito reprimido A repressed screamUn canto valiente A valiant songEso es el corrido That is the corrido

—Los Tigres del Norte (1989)

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Ric Alviso 59

Introduction

The corrido is an important song genre found in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. Despite a considerable body of work on the corrido, few au-thors have provided insight into the musical qualities that make the corrido work. Most authors, while providing an excellent array of social perspectives on the corrido, focus on the text as the object from which their analyses ema-nate.1 The entry for “corrido” in the Harvard Dictionary of Music as edited by Apel even states, “Corrido . . . music is secondary to the text” (207). While this may be true to a large extent (by design), this attitude has led to the virtual neglect of the musical aspects of corrido music. In a personal conversation, Guillermo Hernandez, a noted expert on the corrido, pointed out that Mendoza’s El romance Español y el corrido Mexicano (1939) is the only major work to analyze the music of the corrido (Hernandez, personal interview). In other words, much of the work in the study of the corrido remains to be addressed, particularly the question of the work performed by the music in making the corrido work.

With this in mind, this article will attempt to supply some of the missing pieces of information on the music of corridos from its origins to the present. My thesis for this study is that every element of music found in the corrido tradition has developed to support and refl ect various aspects of its narrative function. My objectives are (1) to determine, through musical analysis via commercial and archival recordings, and review of literature, musical aspects of the corrido; and (2) to determine, through musical analysis, the work that is done by the music of the corrido in order to express the goals and values of its creators and listeners.

Background

The corrido is a song genre that can be found throughout Latin America. The index of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, edited by Olsen and Sheehy, includes entries on the corrido in Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (1041–75). In Mexico, Mendoza has defi ned the corrido as an “epic- lyric- narrative genre . . . based on musical phrases organized in four parts that tells of events that powerfully move the sensibilities of the masses” (El romance Español ix). Most scholars trace the roots of the corrido to the Medieval Andalusian verses and ballads brought by the Spanish. The similarities include choice of subjects, verse structure, character treatment, and dramatic portrayal.

Mexican corridos have a history dating back to at least the early 1800s. Vicente Mendoza, Mexico’s leading ballad authority, placed the corrido into three distinct time periods: a period of ascent from 1875 to 1910; the


60 Studies in Latin American Popular Culture

highly productive period of corridos written between the years 1910 and 1930 during and after the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917); and a period of decline beginning in 1930 (El corrido xv–xvi). Sonnichsen and others point out that the decline of the corrido after 1930 may apply to central Mexico, but the corrido has sustained a high degree of popularity along the border to the present (24).

Corridos in Mexico achieved a high degree of prominence during and after the Revolution of 1910–1917. The most famous of these corridos were written about folk heroes such as Pancho Villa. Songs like these reinforced one of the most common subjects found in corridos—intercultural border confl ict. Like English ballads, corridos are narrative songs, normally sung in the third person. Some suggest that they have traditionally functioned very much as a newspaper for poor, uneducated, often illiterate, rural Mexi-cans. Others, such as John McDowell disagree. He writes, “the purpose of the corrido is not, as some scholars have supposed, to convey news. . . . The corrido depends on a prior transmission of news; its purpose is to in-terpret, celebrate, and ultimately dignify events already thoroughly familiar to the corrido audience” (McDowell, Poetry and Violence 47). In a per-sonal communication, I heard Guillermo Hernandez echo McDowell’s view (Hernandez, personal interview).

According to McDowell, corrido texts typically follow a standard for-mula that includes (1) the singer’s announcement that he will be singing a corrido; (2) the date, place, and name of the main character(s); (3) a formula introducing the action of the corrido; (4) farewell of principal; (5) the des-pedida, where the person singing the corrido bids farewell (“The Mexican Corrido” 218). The subjects are often real life events, including stories about the Revolution, bandits, horses, bullfi ghting, disasters, love affairs and de-ceptions, political corruption, oppression and mistreatment of farmworkers by rich ranchers, murders, and the general injustice faced by Mexicans at the hands of Americans or their own government. As these songs unfold, the listener develops sympathy for the protagonist(s), often one who is in-nocent or involved in a crime where there are extenuating circumstances. At the end of the song, the singer bids farewell to the listeners, lauds the courage of the protagonist(s) and may leave the audience with an editorial or moral, offering his/her point of view on the situation and often calling for a particular form of action on the part of the listener, for example, to join the farmworkers’ union. These songs, however, have underlying messages that go much deeper than the story. The subjects of the corridos refer to larger issues and concerns faced by poor Mexicans on an ongoing basis—personal struggles, discrimination, oppression, and exploitation. The protagonists of these songs embody values that are admired in the face of this unfair world, particularly courage, pride, defi ance, and honor.

Corridos were originally sung as duets to the accompaniment of the gui-tar. The typical rhythm found in traditional corridos is a medium triple meter. The conjunto of accordion, bajo sexto, and string bass found in norteño


Ric Alviso 61

music has been the most common ensemble over the past fi fty years, but cor-ridos can be sung to any ensemble and style, including mariachi and banda.

Today the corrido continues to refl ect the border struggles between Mexicans and Americans as vividly as it did in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. As in yesteryear, corridos are written and sung that describe crimes and injustices. Nowadays the crimes are often related to drug smuggling and the injustices include issues dealing with immigration, politi-cal discrimination, and economic exploitation in the United States. The cor-ridos that concern the drug trade have grown into their own subgenre, called narcocorridos, currently one of the most popular types of Mexican music on either side of the border and well documented by Elijah Wald.

Musical Characteristics of the Corrido

Many of the corridos examined in this study are from the Mexican- American border. The primary reason for this is practical. The border corridos are the most- often recorded and best- documented commercial examples of corri-dos. It was a common practice for corridistas to travel north from Mexico and ultimately get recorded in Texas or other border states where recording equipment was more readily available.

These recordings certainly only represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of the total number of corridos ever recorded. Many corrido recordings were never commercially released. Many others were released in formats such as 78 or 45 rpm records, which are now mostly collector’s items. Obviously, it is important for many more examples to be analyzed to be able to make further conclusions about the history, origin, and regional differences to be found in the tradition.

For this study I focused on recordings of corridos that fall roughly into two groups. The older corridos, which were recorded roughly between 1904 and the 1930s, are often referred to as traditional corridos, even though some were composed within this time period. An excellent starting point of older corridos is provided from two compilations available through the Arhoolie catalog, Corridos y tragedias de la frontera and The Mexican Revolution (see Discography). These compilations include over eighty corridos recorded be-tween 1904 and 1974 in Mexico, Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and elsewhere. A majority of these corridos were recorded between the years 1929 and 1931. The second group of corridos is more recent, or modern, examples recorded from the 1940s to the present. The 1970s in particular saw a resurgence of corrido recordings that continues to this day. Despite the variety of stories, locales, contexts, and time periods found in these corridos, there is considerable consistency found in the musical style of the examples. I will break musical style into its various elements—dynamics, form, instru-mentation, vocal timbre, rhythm, melody, and harmony—and discuss each in detail to arrive at a better understanding of the work the music does to carry the various messages and sentiments found in this tradition.



Constant Elements: An Overview

All music is made of constant and contrasting elements. Some elements of a style are relatively static while others carry much of the interest, variety, tension, and release. Within the corrido tradition, there are fi ve elements—form, meter, instrumentation, dynamics, and vocal timbre—that do not vary considerably. These constant elements provide the ground over which the contrasting elements—melody and, to a lesser extent, harmony—con-tribute the various shades and nuances that musically distinguish one song from another. To a large extent, a particular melody will imply an accom-panying harmony.2

The form of corridos is most typically strophic (also written as AAA . . .) or binary (AAB . . .). When a corrido is in strophic form, the basic melodic and harmonic structure of each verse is the same with different words sung for each stanza of the corrido. In corridos that are in binary form, a different musical section occurs after every few verses—usually every two—creating the form AABAAB, and so on. This form is present in older corridos and even more common in newer corridos. The straightforward form found in the music of the corrido mirrors its typical poetic form of four to six octo-syllabic lines per stanza, a defi ning feature of corridos. The form and poetic structure described above, commonly found in most corridos, create a kind of musical framework that draws comparisons with the blues. Many blues have a twelve- bar harmonic progression and AAB poetic structure, which provides an underlying structure and point of departure for variation and improvisation. This framework, in a sense, frees the singer/composer to focus on other aspects of the style besides form. In the case of the blues, the focus is on vocal and instrumental improvisation. In the case of the cor-ridor, the focus is on the story. The use of an underlying structure allows the singer to focus on remembering the substantial number of verses found in traditional corridos. It also begs the listener to focus on the details, nu-ances, and sentiments expressed in the text without being overtly distracted by musical features.

The basic meter of most corridos, like form, comes in two varieties—duple and triple. Most corridos are in triple meter with an accent on the fi rst beat. This is usually accomplished by having the guitar strike a bass note, or, if drums are present, the striking of a bass drum and/or cym-bals. The second and third beats of a triple meter corrido are reserved for chords. The resulting accompaniment heard is a bass- chord- chord- bass- chord- chord . . . pattern. Duple meter is less commonly found. The result-ing guitar accompaniment can be either bass- chord- bass- chord, and so on, or less commonly, bass- chord- chord- chord- bass- chord- chord- chord, and so on. Today duple meter is more common than it was in the past. This is likely the result of corridos being used for dancing, whereas in older cor-ridos this was not one of its main roles. Occasionally, corridos are found


Ric Alviso 63

that have a meter of six, but this can be seen as a fast variant of triple me-ter. Examples of songs with meters of six include “Joaquín Murrieta” and “Capitan Charles Stevens.”

Instrumentation in traditional corridos typically involves one guitar, two guitars, or a guitar and one or two other instruments. Most of the corridos recorded in the productive years around 1930 consist of two singers, harmonizing in thirds accompanied by one or two guitars playing chords. During singing, the guitar typically plays a straightforward bass- chord- chord pattern. A second guitar, or requinto, may also be used to provide melodic introductions, endings, and for variety, interludes between verses. In some recordings, harp may be substituted for guitar, but this is less common. Thus, the sparse instrumentation in corridos is designed to allow the songs to be performed anywhere a guitar and two singers are present and to be transported easily over long distances by traveling musi-cians. This points to the role of the corrido as a populist art form, one that casts a wide net and requires minimal equipment and expense from its par-ticipants in order to be able to contribute to the tradition. Any two people with confi dent voices, a cheap guitar, and a story to tell can sing corridos. As Herrera- Sobek writes, “ . . . the corrido is a form of musical expression written for the people and by the people and containing themes relevant to the people.” (75)

In both traditional and modern corridos, dynamics are also not a con-trasting factor. The dynamics are uniform within each corrido, usually me-dium loud or loud. This goes along with another element, vocal timbre. The vocal timbre favored by corrido singers tends to be slightly nasal. Singers project strongly and deliver their stories in a declamatory fashion. It is no-table that corridos are most often sung as duets rather than solo. In addition to the aesthetic interest created when singers harmonize, I had originally theorized that perhaps the two singers served to provide some legitimacy to the story being told. After all, a corrido must be true if more than one person corroborates the details of the song being sung. But upon analyzing older recordings, it is clear that the rise and standardization of duet singing closely coincided with the recording of corridos in the United States. I will come back to this issue later in this article. Notwithstanding, the dynamics and vocal timbre serve the purposes of allowing the songs to be heard a wide distance, possibly over the din of a crowd, and to be imbued with a sense of importance and immediate relevancy.

Contrasting Elements: An Overview

The contrasting elements found in corridos are melody and harmony. These are the elements that largely distinguish one corrido from another. Accord-ing to Stevenson, the melodies of each stanza of most corridos have an



arch- shaped contour, that is, a variant of a stepwise ascending and descend-ing melodic idea (551). This arch shape mirrors the drama found in each stanza of text, which includes the introduction of the setting and characters, rising to a climax as an event unfolds and then resolving in the fourth line back to a resting point. The perfect match of words and music is also known as prosody. In corridos it is largely this prosody that allows corridos to be re-membered and sung again for audiences and generations beyond their origin.

The harmony of corridos, like the melody, refl ects a building of tension to a resolution within each stanza. Corridos invariably begin on the tonic (main chord and key center). From there the harmony moves to the domi-nant (the next most important chord) by the end of the second line only to resolve back to the tonic at the end of the fourth line of each stanza. The dominant chord found in the third and fourth lines has a special relationship to the tonic. It is the chord with the highest degree of momentum to move and resolve to the tonic. Thus each stanza begins harmonically in a resting place (the tonic). From there the dominant chord in the third line builds the tension, and at the end of the fourth line the movement of the harmony back to the tonic resolves this tension. The elegant treatment of the har-mony often only involves these two chords, again making this art form very accessible to anyone in the general population with minimal skills on the guitar. Examples of corridos built around only the I and V chords include “Contrabandistas tequileros” and “Benjamín Argumedo.”

Recent corridos have seen new treatment of musical elements to refl ect changes in society. The corridos of the last fi fty years have expanded in in-strumentation to include norteño (e.g., “Ignacio Parra”), mariachi (e.g., “El Potro Lobo Gateado”), and banda (e.g., “Lucan León”) ensembles. Along with the changes in instrumentation has come the adoption of rhythms as-sociated with these ensembles, especially the duple- metered polka found in norteño and banda musical styles. The form and harmony of corridos have expanded to better suit the commercial tastes of younger audiences less will-ing to pay attention to thirty stanzas of the exact same melody played over two chords. Today’s corridos typically have six stanzas and use an AABAAB form for variety with an expanded harmonic palate that encompasses three to as many as six or more chords.

The vocal timbres favored by today’s corrido singers have also broad-ened. In addition to the strong, clear nasal voice that was favored in the past, today’s singers often sing in an unrefi ned and somewhat harsh tone. It is also common for singers today to play around with the pitch of a melody, often singing considerably fl at in the process. Since many of today’s corridos have to do with drug smuggling, this tone refl ects the roughness and violence of its world. Chalino Sanchez, better than anyone, epitomized the rough vo-cal sound that has come to refl ect the state of Sinaloa, home to many drug smugglers and narcocorridos. I will discuss vocal timbre in more detail later in a subsequent section.


Ric Alviso 65

Rhythm and Meter

The tempo or speed of most corridos is in the medium to fast range. There is not a signifi cant variation in this area. Once the tempo and meter are estab-lished (usually within a few seconds of the beginning of a song) they remain constant for the remainder of the corrido. Originally corridos were not meant to be dance music. Later on, in the 1950s and 1960s, when more corridos were done in a norteño- style polka, dancing became another role for corri-dos. The function of the tempo and meter are to provide a rhythmic basis for the story, to engage the listener/dancer, and help the singer recall the text.

The triple meter typical to most corridos imposes a strict rhythmic struc-ture that is dealt with in an amazing variety of ways. Since triple meter cre-ates three beats per measure and corridos are often composed of octosyllabic lines, many songs simply fi t their lines into three measures, or nine beats, allowing the singers very little opportunity catch their breath. An example of this treatment can be found in “Gregorio Cortez” (see Figure 1).

More often the lyrics are lengthened in places and delivered with long, irregular pauses between lines. Not only does this practice have the dramatic effect of leaving the listener hanging on the next words, but it also allows the singers more time for breathing and remembering the next line or verse. Los Rieleros del Norte employ many examples of these irregular pauses in “Simón Blanco” (see Figure 2).

Of the 711 recordings analyzed for this paper, 452 were in triple meter, 244 were in duple meter, 5 were in sextuple meter, and 10 switched back and forth between duple and triple.3 Thus, a full 65 percent of corridos analyzed were in triple meter, leaving approximately 35 percent in duple meter. There

Figure 1: Transcription of “Gregorio Cortez.”



does not appear to be any particular regional preference for duple or triple meter—examples of both were evenly distributed within each region. Today, the largest occurrence of duple meter is within the norteño style, especially in bands such as Los Tigres del Norte, who perform a vast majority of their songs in duple meter. On the other hand, triple meter still reigns supreme in the banda style favored by artists such as Chalino Sanchez, for whom a duple meter song is relatively rare. This variance suggests a rural versus urban dichotomy is at work. In other styles—Cajun and zydeco music comes to mind—triple meter is associated with traditionalism, grandparents, country living, and ranch culture, whereas duple meter is associated with young peo-ple, urbanization, and modernism (Richardson). This is true as well with the Mexican artists mentioned above. Los Tigres have lived in American cities for over 30 years while Chalino is the epitome of the Sinaloense ranch aesthetic. This is an area that will require substantially more research and interviews to make a more defi nitive conclusion.

Instrumentation, Vocalization, and Melody

My analysis of corridos yielded a discrete number of instrumental practices for corridos. The instrumentation of older corridos included a guitar or harp as the main harmonic instrument. The presence of another instru-ment—guitar, violin, fl ute, or requinto, for example—was primarily for in-strumental introductions and interludes. Small orchestras or orquestas can be found dating back to the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1940s and 1950s, the norteño conjunto of accordion, bajo sexto, and bass became more common

Figure 2: Transcription of “Simón Blanco.”


Ric Alviso 67

on recordings and the corrido became one of the most frequently performed song forms in this style. Examples of corridos played by mariachis date back at least to the 1940s. Banda originated in Sinaloa incorporating the instru-mental and rhythmic infl uences from German bands that settled in northern Mexico in the 1800s. Corridos in banda style have come into prominence particularly in the 1990s, culminating with the rise and death of Chalino Sanchez. Examples of other regional styles found in Mexico can be seen in Figure 3 with a short description of their respective instrumentation.

From the sample analyzed, conjunto instrumentation is found in approx-imately half of the examples, guitar with or without accompanying instru-ments approximately 20 percent of the time, banda approximately 20 percent of the time, and the remainder a mixture of mariachi and orquesta. What can be drawn from these numbers is the strong presence of northern Mexican aesthetics on the tradition. This infl uence is largely the result of the region’s proximity to the huge American- based recording industry, which has actively pursued corrido practitioners since the 1920s. Of the instrumental ensembles found in corridos the conjunto has had the widest infl uence and can be found throughout northern and western Mexico, American cities along the border, and other major US cities with signifi cant Mexican populations. The infl u-ence of the conjunto and corridos can also be strongly felt in Central and South America, particularly in countries that have experienced recent social and political turmoil, such as Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guate-mala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The instrumentation of corridos serves to provide a harmonic basis for the music and provide instrumental introductions and interludes. During singing, the instruments rarely perform more than simply the function of playing chords and occasionally doubling the melody. In some bands, an in-strument such as the saxophone harmonizes the melody at the interval of a third, a melodic/harmonic role most often performed by a second singer. This only occurs when a second singer is not present. In some bands, such as Los Rieleros del Norte, the saxophone in duet with the vocal melody is a mainstay of their sound. In other bands, such as Los Tigres del Norte, this technique is used more to provide variety in the arrangement.

Figure 3: Examples of instrumental ensembles found in Mexico (Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, 2000).



As far as the number of singers found in corridos, duets are the most common. Duets were found in 54 percent of the corridos analyzed. Ap-proximately 37 percent of the time, only one singer was present in the song. The other 9 percent of the time performers alternated between solo and duet singing, typically beginning with a soloist and adding the second voice in the last line of the verses (A section) and throughout the contrasting B section, if present. Duets were by far more common in the older recordings in the productive recording years of the late 1920s and early 1930s. What I found particularly interesting was that the earliest corrido examples recorded in Mexico between 1904 and 1916 used only one singer. The convention of duet singing in corridos appeared in Texas in the 1920s. It is clear that the American recording production values were a hegemonic force in the stan-dardization of duet singing for corridos. American producers requested duet singing and more interesting instrumental interludes on those 1920s–1930s recordings to provide a fuller sound than that produced by a solo singer/guitarist. It wasn’t until the 1970s that solo singing substantially reemerged as a stylistic and aesthetic alternative.

Vocal timbre is a musical element that is the most likely to be regionally and stylistically marked. A strong, declamatory, slightly closed, and tense vocal timbre was the most common timbre found from the fi rst corrido re-cordings through the 1970s. But while this was certainly the case along the border, examples from central Mexico became infl uenced by a more open, powerful, emotional singing style that coincides with the rise of the ma-riachi after the 1930s. In the 1970s, with the rise of narcocorridos, two vocal techniques emerged that refl ect a particular Sinaloense aesthetic. The fi rst of these is the rise of a raspy, unclear vocal tone. Chalino Sanchez best epitomizes this sound. In Simonett’s dissertation, a fan of Chalino’s music says, “His voice sounds Sinaloense. He exaggerates [the twang] in the narco- songs. His voice gives you that mental click—it connects to dope dealing, it adds realism to the song” (Simonett 270). Chalino was mysteriously mur-dered in 1994 in a case that has not yet been solved. The legacy of his voice and image of the Sinaloense can be seen in the 150 corridos composed to Chalino since his death (Simonette 276). Chalino’s voice was not considered a good singing voice. He was quoted as saying, “I know that I can’t sing, but the people like it and one has to give them what they ask for.” His widow adds, “Chalino had a kind of voice like turbid water, like something that is not very clear: that was his timbre . . . Chalino has the classic style of Sinaloa. Those from Sinaloa are like that, very rash by nature—very crude. In Sinaloa the ambiance is different. Those who are brought up on a ranch are very boorish” (Simonett 282–83).

Vocal pitch is another singing technique that refl ects Sinaloa and the rough, dangerous world of drugs. Some of the most popular singers from Sinaloa, for example, Chalino Sanchez, sing noticeably out of tune. For some singers this could be attributed to a lack of musical skill. But for others this


Ric Alviso 69

bending of pitch represents the slippery roller coaster world of drug smug-gling. One, if not the fi rst example, of this singing style was the Los Tigres del Norte hit, “Contrabando y traición,” which started the whole narcocorrido trend and was later made into a movie. Los Tigres are known as fi ne singers—a fact that has been borne out in their wide popularity over the past thirty years. Yet on “Contrabando y traición,” Tigres front man Jorge Hernández sings considerably fl at for much of the song, and this technique succeeds in mirroring the precarious nature of the subject matter—drug smuggling, betrayal, revenge, and murder. In “Contrabando y traición” everything and everyone stretches—the protagonists cross the border, breaking the law and codes of human decency, while the vocal pitch is a virtual roller coaster ride along the limits of what is normally considered “in tune” and “out of tune.” Vocal pitch and its connection to a Sinaloense ranch or drug- dealing aesthetic is a fascinating topic that will require further study.

The vocal timbre found in corridos serves the purposes of catching the attention of an audience, allowing the songs to be heard a wide distance, per-haps over the din of a crowd, and to be imbued with a sense of importance and immediate relevancy. Furthermore, some aspects of vocal technique (out-of-tune- ness, raspy timbre, and clipping of fi nal syllables) are associated with singers who originated from the state of Sinaloa, the epicenter of cor-rido activity over the past thirty years.

Harmony, Form, and Verse Structure

The harmony of a corrido is closely tied to its form and verse structure. Form is the organization of musical ideas in a piece of music. These musical ideas are large and can be compared to the paragraphs of a story, rather than its letters, words, or sentences.

There are two types of forms typically found in recorded corridos: strophic and binary. Strophic form means that the same melody is used for different verses throughout the entire song. Binary implies the alternation of an “A” melody and harmony with a contrasting “B” melody and harmony. In corridos, typically the B section follows after two A sections creating the form AABAAB. However, it is also common to fi nd an AAABAAAB structure. It is rarer to fi nd the form that results from the straight alternation of two sec-tions (ABABAB . . .).

Here I must emphasize two things about the corrido that differentiate it from other song forms. First, in nearly all of the corridos, there are only two different musical sections used at most, and secondly, there is no pres-ence of a refrain of any kind. Furthermore, usually the B section verses main-tain the same number of lines and same syllabic and rhyme structure as the A section verses. The lack of repetition of text contrasts with other major song forms found in Mexico, for example, the ranchera. These forms typically



have a refrain or chorus, that is, a recurring lyric that sums up a romantic or sentimental situation, often employing the use of symbolism or metaphor. (Rancheras are also usually sung in a highly soloistic, melodramatic manner.) Besides a limited number of well- known formulaic lines (e.g., “vuela, vuela palomita”) used to signal the end of the song, corridos texts are notable in their relative lack of overt metaphors. The focus of the corrido is to tell a story. Once the storyteller employs repetition of text, he/she is engaged in an entirely different process, one that aims at the search for universal senti-ments with his/her audience. For most corridos, the function of the song is the celebration of heroism. We look up to the characters in corridos because their actions raise them above the relatively common lives of its listeners. This sets it apart from rancheras, which derive their power from the ability to touch and resonate with the previous life experiences of its listeners. Thus, to express approval of a fi ne ranchera, one may say, “Yes. I’ve been there too!” These are songs designed to represent the common situations we all fi nd ourselves in. On the other hand, a good corrido would more likely elicit the response “Can you believe that? That man had such courage (or gall)!” Corridos derive their power from placing common people in extraordinary circumstances and marveling at how they handle it. Most of us would never want to be put in such a situation, although, if we were, we may hope to handle it with as much decisiveness as most corrido protagonists do.

Binary form was present in 54 percent of the examples studied and strophic form in 45 percent. Only 1 percent contained refrains or three sepa-rate musical sections, that is, ABCABC. I question whether some of these songs are corridos. For instance, “El corrido” by Los Tigres del Norte is a beautiful homage to the corrido genre itself, but it doesn’t tell a story and has no real characters. It is clear that the presence of one or two musical sec-tions is equally acceptable, but the inclusion of a third section or repetition of previous sections takes something away from the narrative fl ow of the story. And when this happens, the song typically ceases to be a corrido.

An analysis of verse structure resulted in the identifi cation of two pri-mary forms. Approximately 48 percent of corridos analyzed had four lines per stanza. The most common syllabic structure was octosyllabic, although occasionally lines composed of ten, twelve, and even fi fteen syllables can be found. Another 48 percent of corridos consisted of six octosyllabic lines per stanza. The remaining corridos had irregular verse structures, for example, four lines of ten, eight, ten, and eight syllables, respectively, or four lines of nine, thirteen, nine, and fi fteen syllables, respectively. Four- line stanzas typi-cally have a rhyming scheme of ABCB, while in six- line stanzas a rhyming scheme of ABCBDB is most common.

There is a strong correlation between verse structure and form. Corridos with four octosyllabic lines are twice as likely to be in strophic form than bi-nary form. The reverse is true with corridos composed of six lines per stanza. In these corridos, binary form is twice as common as strophic form. Overall,


Ric Alviso 71

strophic form and four- line stanzas are more common in older, traditional corridos and six- line stanzas and binary form are more common in recent corridos. I had a hunch that American record producers and companies had an effect on the promotion and dissemination of the more musical interesting binary form over strophic form. To prove this thesis I had to show that binary form was rare or did not exist before 1920. Thus, I was surprised to fi nd the presence of binary form in some of the oldest recordings made of corridos in Mexico City between 1904 and 1920. One- fourth of these corridos were in binary form, an indicator of its already widespread presence before com-mercial considerations came into the picture. Thus, it does not appear that the recording industry initially had a substantial effect on form. But there were limitations to this new technology. The standard recording format in the 1920s and 1930s was 78 rpm records. Recording equipment at the time was only able to fi t approximately four minutes of music or a total of eight minutes for both sides of a record. Thus it became common to record these corridos in two parts to fi t the entire story on both sides of a record. Depend-ing on musical factors such as tempo, meter, and verse structure, this meant that an entire record had to be limited to approximately 20 to 30 verses. It is indeed likely that this limitation may have cramped the style of some of the early corridistas.4

As the century progressed and corridos became a standard song genre found in conjunto music, they became even shorter. In the 1950s and 1960s, as competition increased for record contracts and commercial radio im-posed its standards that songs should be no longer than three minutes to allow breaks for commercials (which provided the income for the stations), corridistas responded by compressing everything down to a three- minute capsule. The number of verses in corridos shrank from twenty to six. The re-petitive strophic form, which was most common in the past, gave way to the more musically interesting binary form. Triple meter became less common as the duple meter polka rhythm allowed the corrido the versatility of being a story song and a dance song. It is notable that the polka rhythm is one of the world’s most rhythmically simple and sparse dance rhythms. It consists of four beats with the bass accenting beats one and three and the guitar (or bajo sexto) accenting beats two and four. The feet move on beats one and three, with the body swaying from right to left. It is a dance that is truly danceable and accessible to the widest audience possible. Since the polka is rhythmically sparse and does not involve complex rhythms, the text in a corrido- polka can still assume a place of primary importance. This is not the case with more complex and dense Mexican dance rhythms such as the various sones, huapangos, or zapateados. The primacy of the text also separates the corrido- polka from pan– Latin American dance rhythms such as those found in salsa, cumbia, tango, merengue, and samba. Thus the marriage of the corrido song form and polka rhythm was a match made in heaven and one that perfectly suited the various demands of commercial radio.



The presence of strophic or binary form furthermore has signifi cant ef-fects on the harmonic progressions found in corridos. In the corridos stud-ied I was able to identify sixty- one distinct harmonic progressions.5 This may come as a surprise to those musicologists who assume that the har-mony of corridos is limited to only a few formulas and thus not worthy of study. Despite this large number of harmonic formulas there are a number of common elements that emerge upon further analysis. In all except eight of these progressions, the only chords used are the tonic (I), dominant (V), and subdominant (IV).6 According to Steve Loza, the prevalence on I- IV- V harmony in Mexican music represents “a Mexican aesthetic” (personal in-terview). The supertonic (II or ii) is used in only eight progressions and the submediant (VI) is used in four progressions. The supertonic always precedes the dominant, and the submediant always anticipates the supertonic and the dominant. One of the most interesting aspects of corrido harmony is the fact that there is no such thing as a corrido in a minor key. This is interesting in that minor tonality is often associated with serious and dark subject matter in some musical genres, for instance, nineteenth- century Western art music and much Western popular music. This association, however, is culturally bound and I am not aware of the presence of a connection between minor tonality and sad or serious subjects in Mexican traditional or folk music.

The most common harmonic progression found in corridos is I- V- I or I- V- I- V- I. In essence these progressions are closely related and their choice is really dictated by length of stanza and harmonic density. But really both progressions serve the same function discussed previously, providing a ground from which tension rises and resolves within each stanza. Both of these progressions are very common in strophic corridos. The I- V- I pro-gression is found in strophic corridos such as “Benjamín Argumedo” (see Figure 4), “Jesús Leal,” and “Heraclio Bernal,” and the I- V- I- V- I progres-sion in strophic corridos such as “Gregorio Cortez” (see Figure 1), “Simón Blanco,” and “La toma de Zacatecas.” This is not to say that these songs are harmonically identical. Each song has its own signature melodic and har-monic rhythm that makes it unique from the others. Thus, in one song one chord might be held longer than another, and vice versa.

In many of the corridos that have verses that focus exclusively on tonic- dominant- tonic (I- V- I) harmony, there is often the presence of an intro-duction/interlude based on the subdominant (IV). A brief movement to the subdominant in the interlude provides a suffi cient break from tonic- dominant- tonic harmony to provide variety and keep the listener engaged in the verses that remain. This type of interlude can be heard in “La crisis actual” (see Figure 5).

The next most common harmonic progression found in corridos of strophic form is I- IV- V- I- V- I, a progression that also takes advantage of the subdominant to provide variety in the harmony. This progression, and oth-ers like it that contain the subdominant, rarely occur in binary form because


Ric Alviso 73

the variety created by the presence of the IV chord allow the verse section to stand alone by itself. The main function of the subdominant chord is to provide interludes to I- V- I type verses, allow suffi cient variety by its presence in strophic verse to avoid the need for binary form, and lastly, and most im-portantly, to be the chord that is mainly associated with binary form itself.

In binary form, the typical harmonic arrangement is two or three I- V- I type verses followed by a section whose harmony is IV- V- I- V- I or IV- V- I- V- I- V- I. This form is repeated again and the song typically ends there. The presence of this type of harmonic formula in binary form is ubiquitous (e.g.,

Figure 4: Transcription of “Benjamín Argumedo.”



“Ignacio Parra” [see Figure 6], “Arnulfo Gonzalez,” “El borrego,” “El de-sesperado,” “La toma de Torreon,” “La toma de Zacatecas,” “Carga blanca,” “Contrabando del paso,” “El hijo desobediente,” “Juan Charrasqueado,” “La tragedia de Oklahoma,” “Las dos plebes,” etc.).

The above type of harmonic progression or a close variation occurs ap-proximately 90 percent of the time when the song is in binary form. The IV chord or subdominant provides a temporary break to the tonic- dominant harmony. The presence of the subdominant at the beginning of the B section is often brief as the harmony quickly goes back to tonic- dominant- tonic har-monic movement to end the B section. At this point, the song is either ready to begin again by going back to the introduction, or it abruptly ends having musically (and lyrically) resolved and having traversed a complete harmonic journey.

The brief appearance of the IV chord is interesting. Harmonically, the IV chord can move to either the I or V chord equally well. In other words, it represents a tonality that is comparatively impartial, suggesting neither tension nor resolution. Thus in the narrative world of the corrido the sub-dominant chord (IV) represents only a transitional point between tension

Figure 5: Transcription of “La crisis actual.”


Ric Alviso 75

and resolution, and it is suffi cient for the subdominant to only make a brief appearance.

There are several aspects of corrido harmony that are surprising. The occurrence of the dominant (V) chord as a starting tonality in any type of form only occurs rarely. Another thing that is interesting about corridos, har-monically and melodically, is the ability of its practitioners to create so much music from such limited musical resources. Corrido melodies are invariably archlike. Corrido harmonies center around two chords, with another thrown in for variation. Corridos are invariably composed of four to six octosyllabic lines. Corridos have at most two different musical sections. It is a tribute to the subtleties of Mexican spirit that so much varied music can be built from so few building blocks.

Conclusion

I have discussed the work that is done by the music of corridos. I have touched upon meter, rhythm, melody, harmony, instrumentation, form, dy-namics, and vocal timbre. This study adds another layer of perspective on the

Figure 6: Harmonic structure of “Ignacio Parra” (example of binary structure where B section moves to IV chord, C in this example).



question, “What is a corrido?” Hernandez has provided, to date, the most complete and effective analysis of this question based on thematic representa-tion and narrative discourse (“What Is a Corrido?”). We can now add musical factors to accompany these textual considerations. In the chart that follows, those aspects of musical style that are clearly part of the corrido tradition are presented. As with all music cultures, tradition provides a body of work and a structure that act as a starting point for a work of music. There is always going to be a gray area where innovation is occurring. For each of the items listed there will be exceptions to the rule.

Figure 7: Common musical aspects of the corrido.


Ric Alviso 77

Although there may be exceptions to the rule, I have carefully chosen textual and musical traits that are present in the vast majority of corridos. For instance, other than a few seconds at the beginning or ending of a corrido, the tempo remains fairly constant, as opposed to the sweeping changes in tempo found in many rancheras. The singing style in corridos can contain some affectations and a little vibrato, but this is typically kept to a minimum. It is indeed rare to fi nd a corrido that divides the pulse, and if it happens, it is during the introduction or interlude. Once the singing starts, the instru-ments get out of the way and follow the main pulse. The rhythms that are most commonly associated with this description are the waltz and polka. Corridos invariably follow strophic or binary form and it is very rare to fi nd one that uses more than two musical sections. Corridos do not repeat whole stanzas or sections of text. When this kind of refl ection happens, the nar-rative fl ow is broken and the song is engaging in a sentimentalism that is not part of the corrido tradition. Corridos are cast in major tonalities with tonic- dominant movement and the occasional presence of the subdominant. Any songs that involve chords other than I- IV- V for more than brief transi-tions are delving into harmonic areas with either symbolic or undefi ned as-sociations that plunge the song into ambiguous waters. Such symbolism and musical metaphor cease to have a narrative function and thus fall outside the corrido tradition.

It will be interesting to see what new directions corridistas pursue in the twenty- fi rst century. Its association with conjunto and banda is alive and well. To become associated with styles of music outside of conjunto, banda, and mariachi would require considerable stretching of the characteristics outlined above. Thus it remains to be seen whether marriage of the corrido with other musical styles is possible. In the meantime, as long as conjunto and banda styles continue to refl ect populist sensibilities and social unrest creates the medium for the celebration of extraordinary acts, new corridos will continue to be written along the same musical lines as the old ones.

Acknowledgments

This article could not have been possible without the encouragement and guidance of one of my mentors, Guillermo Hernandez (1940–2006), to whom this work is dedicated.

Notes

1. See Leal (1999), McDowell (1972), and Paredes (1958) in the Works Cited section for more background on the corrido tradition from the standpoint of textual analysis.



2. The transcriptions found in many collections and analyses of corridos omit the harmony. While most of the chords of a corrido can be implied by a particular melody, this omission leaves some of the song open to interpretation and thus does not provide as valuable an analytical tool or performance guide as those transcriptions where the chords are provided.

3. For a complete listing and tables of the 711 corridos analyzed, see Alviso (2002).

4. For an excellent history of commercial corrido recordings, see Strachwitz (1996).

5. For a complete listing of these sixty- one harmonic progressions, see Alviso (2002).

6. The Roman numerals I, IV, and V describe chords (three or more notes sounded at once). The I chord is built upon the fi rst, third and fi fth notes of the scale. For example, in C major the I chord would consist of the notes c, e, and g. Similarly the IV chord is built upon the fourth, sixth, and eighth notes of the scale, and so on.

Works Cited

Alviso, Jesus R. “Musical Aspects of the Corrido, the War on Drugs, and Their Con-vergence in a Federal Prison.” PhD Dissertation. U of California- Los Angeles, 2002.

Apel, Willi. The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1969.“El corrido.” Museum exhibit. Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares. Mexico City.

November 2000.Hernandez, Guillermo E. Personal interview. July 10, 2000.———. “What Is a Corrido? Thematic Representation and Narrative Discourse.”

Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 18 (1999): 69–89.Herrera- Sobek, Maria. The Bracero Experience: Elitelore versus Folklore. Los Angeles:

UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1979.Leal, Luis. The Life and Adventures of the Celebrated Bandit Joaquin Murrieta: His

Exploits in the State of California. Houston: Arte Publico, 1999.Loza, Steve. Personal Interview. March 1, 2002.McDowell, John H. “The Mexican Corrido: Formula and Theme in a Ballad Tradi-

tion.” Journal of American Folklore 85.337 (1972): 205–20.———. Poetry and Violence: The Ballad Tradition of Mexico’s Costa Chica. Urbana

and Chicago: Illinois UP, 2000.Mendoza, Vicente T. El corrido Mexicano. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Econom-

ica, 1954.———. El romance Español y el corrido Mexicano. Mexico City: Ediciones de la Uni-

versidad Nacional Autonoma, 1939.Olsen, Dale A., and Daniel E. Sheehy, eds. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music,

Vol. 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. New York and London: Garland, 1998.

Paredes, Americo. With His Pistol in His Hands: A Border Ballad and Its Hero. Austin: Texas UP, 1958.

Richardson, Lisa. Personal interview. February 14, 2002.


Ric Alviso 79

Simonett, Helena. “Loud and Proud: The Social History and Cultural Power of Mex-ican Banda Music.” PhD Dissertation. U of California- Los Angeles, 1997.

Sonnichsen, Phillip. “Corridos y tragedias de la frontera: The First Historic Record-ings of Mexican- American Ballad.” Booklet. Corridos y tragedias de la frontera: Mexican- American Border Music, Vols. 6 & 7. Arhoolie/Folklyric, 1974. CD.

Stevenson, Robert. “Mexico.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie 16:551. London: Macmillan, 2001.

Strachwitz, Chris. “A History of Commercial Recordings of Corridos.” In The Mexi-can Revolution: Corridos about the Heroes and Events 1910–1920 and Beyond. Booklet. pp. 11–17. El Cerrito: Arhoolie/Folklyric Records 7041–7044. 1996.

Los Tigres del Norte. “El corrido.” Corridos prohibidos. Fonovisa, 1989. CD.Wald, Elijah. Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerillas.

New York: Harper Collins, 2001.

Discography

Various Artists. Corridos & tragedias de la frontera. Arhoolie/Folklyric, 1994.Various Artists. The Mexican Revolution: Corridos about the Heroes and Events 1910–

1920 and Beyond. Arhoolie/Folklyric, 1996.


alviso, ric - what is a corrido. musical analysis and narrative function

Documents

la crisis actual

el corrido mexicano

past thirty years

instrumental ensembles found

common musical aspects

vocal timbre

recording equipment

harmonic structure