Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas

Rating:
Summary: I put aside all lesser pursuits for two nights to read it.
Review: "Narcorridos" contains a wealth of previously unavailable information about the living culture of the corrido, a massively popular Mexican ballad form that seems to descend from the Castilian romance of the Middle Ages, typically telling stories of the bravery of men branded justly or unjustly as outlaws, or narrating sensational events in the local or international news.

In keeping with its traditions, the corrido in recent years evolved a new sub-genre which mythologizes the drug trafficker -- most vividly, through the figure of the singer Chalino Sánchez, whose violent career and death is central to the story.

Despite the book's name, it's about the world of music, not drugs. Though the narcocorrido phenomenon is thoroughly explored, the book is more than that. Wald is an experienced journalist who knows how to write a readable story. His comprehension of the culture is solid, and his narrative is entertaining and well-structured. He did a lot of his research hitchhiking around Mexico, and his personal narrative as investigator / questioner / outsider is deftly interwoven into the history and geography of the corrido.

If there were a prize for books of popular musicology this would be a strong contender. It has to be one of the best books on music published in the U.S. in 2001.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent portrait of the Corrido music.
Review: Elijah Wald goes to Mexico in search of the roots of the corrido, and does a superb job as he finds and talks to the main composers and singers of the true and authentic mexican music. the book it's direct and extremely enjoyable. I read it in one afternoon and was unable to put it down until I finished it all.
The book it's about the corrido, it is not a political document or passes judgements on anyone lifestyle, only when it pertains to the corrido itself then he goes and gives you a little taste of the political, social and economic factors that relate to the music and living conditions of the people involved. It is a great research job very well done and estremely informative, specially for the novice in this kind of music. A winner!

Rating:
Summary: What this book is(among many other things)...
Review: I'd like to issue several warnings about this book:

1. It isn't an ethnomusicological manifesto. There will be no kinship studies(although there's plenty of kinship amongst the author and his subjects), no chapters dealing with forms, scales, microtones, etc., and there will be no schenkerian(sp?) analysis to the rear of the book. Heck, I don't think he even mentions the workings of the keying system of a diatonic accordeon! So, if you want to play this music, this book will not tell you how.

2. This isn't a feminist disection of the Narcocorrido, of the Mexican male/female dynamic, or the moral differences between "Chicanas" & "true" Mexicanas. I don't even think there's one chapter about whether El As or Valerio Longoria was more culturally sensitive to women's issues in their music. Best look to other books for these things, folks(or write it! I'd love to read it! Better yet, find some Mexican women and ask them! ;:^)

3. This isn't a socially moralist work. Mr.Wald doesn't go into the reasons why the Tigres or Tuchanes aren't fluent in English, don't wave the American flag, and why they play this "backward", provincial, "ethnic" music that doesn't try to "cross borders" or have "modern" rhythms, like their more socially conscious neighbors, N'sync, who don't sing about drugs, and serenade their chosen markets in a target-appropriate tongue(come on, El As, write me a corrido in English!) ;:^)

Anyway, with those things said, I'd like to say what Mr. Wald has done(in my view, of course). He's written a very personal, anecdotal book, one that can take you on an exciting adventure of discovery in first person. I've been to Sinaloa many times(and bought & smoked alot of la hierbia buena, in my younger days), and the atmosphere is perfect. Many of my friends in Sinaloa would consider themselves Valientes, and a number of them lived la vida. This book will safely take you through a compelling music and an equally captivating culture, without bogging you down with judgements. Make those yourself. If you want to know more about this music than the liner notes to an Arhoolie release will tell you, and about what Mexican people are actually listening to, this is the book for you.

If you don't own it, it's my opinion that your book collection is the lesser for it! ;:^)