Music of Mexico

The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably indigenous peoples of Mexico and European.

Many traditional Mexican songs are well-known worldwide, including María Grever's first international hit "Júrame" ("Promise me"), and her song "Te quiero dijiste" (English version "Magic Is the Moonlight"), written for the 1944 Esther Williams film. "La Noche de los Mayas," Huapango de Moncayo, "Sinfonía India (Second Symphony)," "Sobre las Olas," "La Sandunga," "Cielito Lindo" ("Beautiful Sweetheart"), "Granada," "Bésame Mucho" ("Kiss Me a Lot"), "Solamente una vez" (English version "You Belong to My Heart"), "Esta Tarde Vi Llover" (English version "Yesterday I Heard the Rain"), "Somos Novios" (English version "It's Impossible"), "¡Ay, Jalisco, no te rajes!", and "Jesusita en Chihuahua,"

Other famous songs include "México Lindo y Querido" ("Beautiful, Beloved Mexico"), "Jarabe Tapatío' (known internationally as the "The Mexican Hat Dance"), "El Rey" ("The King"), "El Triste" ("The sad one"), "Pelea de gallos", "Enamorada" ("Enamoured"), "Échame a mi la culpa" ("Blame me"), "La ley del monte" ("The law of the land"), "La Bikina" ("The Bikina"), "Por Debajo de la Mesa," "La Media Vuelta," "La Bamba," ("The Bamba"), "Lilongo," and "Jarabe Pateño". "La Cucaracha" ("The Cockroach"), although popularized during the Mexican Revolution, is a Mexican corrido.

Mexican

Mexican may refer to:

See also

La Llorona

La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") is a legendary ghost prominent in the folklore of Hispanic America. According to the tradition, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who lost her children and cries while looking for them by the river, often causing misfortune to those who hear her.

Legend

Although several variations exist, the most basic story tells of a beautiful woman by the name of Maria who drowns her children in the Mexican river as a means of revenge because her husband left her for a younger woman. She soon realizes that her children are dead, so she drowns herself in a river in Mexico City.

Challenged at the gates of Heaven as to the whereabouts of her children, she is not permitted to enter the afterlife until she has found them. Maria is forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring, with her constant weeping giving her the name "La Llorona". She is trapped in between the living world and the spirit world.

Parents often use this story to prevent their children from wandering out at night. In some versions of this tale and legend, La Llorona will kidnap wandering children who resemble her missing children, asking her children for forgiveness and drowning these other children to take their place, but they never forgive her and she keeps trying. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late evenings from rivers or lakes in Mexico. Some believe that those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death but if you were to get out in time you will not be marked for death, similar to the Gaelic banshee legend. She is said to cry, ¡Ay, mis hijos! ("Oh, my children!")

Vargas de Tecalitlán

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Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlán is a Mexican folk ensemble of mariachi music created in 1897 by Gaspar Vargas. From 1950 it has been under the artistic guidance of Rubén Fuentes. The group's musical direction had been the responsibility of Don Jose "Pepe" Martínez from 1975 to around 2013-14. Now the ensemble is under the direction of Carlos Martínez (ex-director of Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlan).

Members

A minimum mariachi group has 2 violins, 2 trumpets, 1 guitarrón, 1 guitar, and 1 vihuela. Complete mariachi groups have a minimum of 12 members with the standard 6 violins, 3 trumpets, 1 guitarrón, 1 guitar and 1 vihuela. A 13th member is often a harp, an extra violin, or an extra guitar. The Vargas de Tecalitlán currently has thirteen members, distributed as follows.

Folk music

Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century but is often applied to music that is older than that. Some types of folk music are also called world music.

Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, or as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.

Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is sometimes called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms. Smaller similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times, but the term folk music has typically not been applied to the new music created during those revivals. This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, in English it shares the same name, and it often shares the same performers and venues as traditional folk music. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two.