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: 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: fascinating paean
Review: heard an interview with the author on marketplace radio, and then ran out and bought the book....great ride--and Wald deserves some credit for braving the wilds to chronicle these bizarre stories, and even better riff on the intricacies of popular narco Mexican tunes today...great untold story; Wald's writing is that of a real expert and lover of roots music.

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! ;:^)

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! ;:^)

Rating:
Summary: Ground Breaking Journey
Review: In Narcocorridos, Elijah Wald successfuly portrays the past present and future of the corrido as we know it. The absolute beauty of this book is the narrative and brilliant context that traces this style of music from its roots to what is now the booming of el Narcocorrido. This is the first piece of literature to my knowledge, that has taken such an indepth, surgical type research that includes every aspect of the composition of a corrido, from the talented people who right it as well as the great artists who make it, and the behind the scenes footage on all of their lives that make up the dominant public of this genre of music. I highly recommend Narcocorridos, for anyone who has ever been interested in Mexican music, is doing research on the subject, or just wants to read a tremendous read.

Rating:
Summary: El Corrido de Elias Wald.
Review: On the 6th of November/year of 2001/Elijah Wald released a book/Its cover had a picture of a gun. He met a girl named Carmen/Said she was kinda "chunky"/Met a fat singer named Jenni/Said she looked really funky. Jenni's last name isn't Craig/But he didn't say how she really looks/Could it be that unlike Carmen/She might be reading his book? Said Jenni's dad is "anti-racist"/Though he prohibits English at home/Can you be a xenophobic anti-racist/Or does Wald just have rocks in his dome? Journalists who confront narco culture/Have been assassinated for what they tell us/But the author sees it differently/He's thinks they're just jealous. All those "ink-stained wretches"/Wald is dismissively taunting/They wish they could be Los Tucanes/Money and monobrow flaunting.

There are so many big things wrong with this book that I'm not going to even bother with its minor factual errors. First of all, one of the most obvious aspects of corridos is their extremely similar melodies and ways of ending. (Play the last 5 seconds of every song on a Tucanes corrido album to hear what I mean.) If you think you're going to get answers about where the melodies or chords came from, or why nearly all corrido practitioners conform to this musical norm, this book will disappoint.

If you want to know what women think of the glorification of violence and crime, or wonder why the only marginally famous female corridista is a Chicana, you will also be disappointed. Wald unquestioningly goes along with the relegation of Mexican women to ornamental roles, noticeable for their age and looks but not valued for their opinions.

Wald is simply not enough of an investigative reporter to challenge his sources. In his introduction, he actually says of his interview subjects: "I hope they are happy with the way I have described...them." They should be; he largely echoes their world view. Someone unfamiliar with the U.S. would get the idea from this book that we are uniformly blond-haired, blue-eyed intolerant quasi-fascists. While many corrido composers' commentaries on "gringos" are tainted by the fact that they know none, Wald could have provided a reality check. But the only non-Latino Americans he gives props to are Bill Clinton and himself.

His eagerness to play press agent for the corridistas results in an unfair attack on the Latin Grammys, which Wald criticizes for not airing enough regional Mexican acts on its CBS telecast. One of the chief crybabies of that episode was Los Tigres del Norte's polka king Jorge Hernandez, who after 33 years of living in this country, speaks only broken English and has never shown an iota of interest in selling to the English-speaking market. And this guy is entitled to appear on prime time instead of artists who crack the Hot 100, record modern rhythms, sing in more than one language and work to market themselves internationally? I wonder if Wald is aware that N'Sync with its "Yo Te Voy a Amar" is far more likely to appear on Latin American TV than Brooks & Dunn with their "Steers and Stripes." Wald disses Emilio Estefan and Sony as a "mafia," as if Los Tigres' label FonoVisa had never been a monopoly or wasn't backed by Mexico's huge media conglomerate Televisa. Going easy on the company that's putting out your book's companion CD might seem savvy, but it's really a disservice to the readers.

He also engages in the most callous revisionism of the 1992 L.A. riots I've ever read, claiming it was the "rich folks' city" that burned, and labeling the largely minority- and ironically immigrant-owned shops that got trashed as "wealthy businesses." Not even Michael Moore was that naïve, imploring the looters: "But this time, for the love of God, don't burn your own neighborhoods!" Oh, and Wald fails to mention that people--a lot of people--got killed.

Still, this book deserves two stars because Wald did interesting legwork, hitchhiking all over Mexico and seeking out leads. Also priceless is the way everyone in Culiacan has a different theory on why Chalino Sanchez was slain. However if you like real reporting and lucid analysis, you'd do better to check out Sam Quiñones' "True Tales From Another Mexico."

Rating:
Summary: Great read for Corrido fans.
Review: Once i opened this book up i couldnt put it down. Its that good! Mr. Wald goes hitch-hiking through all of Mexico in search of famous composers and interviews. My favorite part is when he kicks back with 'Luis Y Julian' and gets loaded Mexican Style! Pick this book up. I highly recommend it.