Introducing Music You've Probably Never Heard of Wednesdays

It's my intent that I will have a few "set" days every week. Music You've Probably Never Heard of Wednesdays are the start of this idea.

Disclaimer: If you're a musicologist/ethnomusicologist you will probably have heard of at least some of music discussed because let's face it....you do this for a living.

How MYPNHOW works:

1. Hopefully I've paid enough attention to the weekly news that some form of music not widely known will come up.
2. I'll introduce the music/article and give some basic facts about the genre and history of the genre.
3. I'll link to a youtube clip (hopefully) featuring the music.
4. I'll provide some bibliographic information for you to find out anything further should you wish.

OK.

This week's MYPNHOW comes courtesy of Monday's Reuters:

MEXICO CITY, June 28 (Reuter) - Mexican singer Sergio Vega was murdered while on a national tour at the weekend, just hours after

denying reports of his death, local media reported.

Vega, also known as "El Shaka," was a Banda musician who happened to perform quite a few Narcocorridos. Banda is a regional musical style of Mexico with its origins in military bands and rural "folk" music from Northwestern Mexico (Sinaloa).

It features brass band instrumentation (sousaphones/tubas, "charchetas"/eb horns, trombones, trumpets, and clarinets/saxophones). Banda music is usually compared to Norteño music which is native to northern Mexico and Texas. Norteño is a blending of German/Czech polka and Mexican son music. As opposed to the brass band instrumentation of Banda groups, Norteño bands usually include accordian, bajo sexto, percussion, and electric bass. Bands in this genre play a lot of dance music, but they also accompany Corrido singers. Both Banda and Norteño groups feature corridos.

Corridos are basically ballads:

1. They're narrative (stories and myths)
2. They're strophic (same music different words)
3. They have a narrow melodic range (voice doesn't sing too high or too low)
4. Generally the 2nd and 4th lines of the verses rhyme (although this isn't always true)

Even more specific to Banda and Norteño music is the Narcocorrido. Think Mexican musical style, gangsta rap subject, Corrido form and you've basically got a Narcocorrido.

1. They're songs about drug trafficking and famous drug traffickers
2. They're often commissioned by wealthy drug traffickers
3. They're considered controversial for "glorifying" the drug trade

Which leads us to how this relates back to our original story. Narcocorrido performers are often subjects of violence because of what they perform. For example, the legendary singer Chalino Sanchez, was gunned down in his Chevy in 1992. This was after several incidents of violence, including one where he returned fire after being shot on stage during a performance.

The Narcocorrido above talks about Badiraguato, a city in Sinaloa famous for "cultivating narcotics." The song has Banda instrumentation, Corrido form, and a Narcocorrido text. There are quite a few of these out there, especially by Chalino Sanchez and the supergroup Los Tigres del Norte.

Socially the genre is representative of the wider influence of the drug trade on an economically devastated community. For a much more in depth look at the intertwining of these two, see the great documentary Al Otro Lado by Natalia Almada.

For further information:

• Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerillas by Elijah Wald
• Al Otro Lado by Natalia Almada and Altramura Films
• Chalino Sanchez Canciones con Banda by Chalino Sanchez
• Los Corridos Prohibidos by Lost Tigres Del Norte

Comments/info welcome!

A Blogger's Manifesto

"A man got to have a code."

I find people often start blogs and have no idea what they're going to actually talk about. Blogs often become a sort of public diary, something of which mine has also been guilty, and often do very little. It is my intent that this blog do something, even if only to add to the public discourse on music.

"This Machine Kills Fascists" will feature commentary on current events, politics, and history with a decided bias towards how these three relate to music.....any kind of music. The title of the blog and the website address come from Woody Guthrie, who famously wrote the phrase "this machine kills fascists" across the body of his guitar. Pete Seeger did something similar, writing on the face of his banjo, "this machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."

You might notice that while I will probably write about any and all musics, I have a particular interest in "folk" music. This is the music I grew up with, the music that speaks most to me, and the music I have the privilege of playing and performing.

Who am I?

I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Oregon in Musicology with a secondary area in Ethnomusicology. I'm an American music specialist, with particular interests in music and politics, music and community/identity, and musicological historiography/methodolgy. I'm also an Irish traditional musician, singer/songwriter, and classically trained flute player who spent most of her life as a bright blue dot in very red states (Texas and Alabama). I have a book buying problem (read obsessive bibliophile), and I'm fairly certain that I will eventually run out of room. I'm a Buddhist, an ACLU volunteer, a queer progressive--but most of all I am a 20-something seeking to find a way to reconcile my activist self with my musical, scholarly, and pedagogical selves. Hopefully this blog will document that search, be a daily writing exercise, and will contribute in some way to the world and music at large.

Easier said than done, but here we go.