Some notes on Chicano music as a
pathway to community identity
Joseph G. Nalven
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
Many are the routes to personal self-image. The process of
self-making, however, is
also enmeshed in the broader process of community identity
maintenance and development. For Chicanos, as with other "minorities" in the
United States, the community dilemma is whether to pursue greater articulation with the mainstream
culture, which historically has been repressive to select ethnic groups, or to retreat into
an isolationist and nationalist (of some other nation, fictive or real) position. One way out of
this dilemma is to compartmentalize self-image: one face for Anglo society, another for Chicano
society (or Black, Puertoriqueiio, Pilipino, American Indian, and other ethnic groups in the
United States).
The Anglo face seeks to maximize the political-economic benefits
of the American system, while the Chicano face seeks to maximize the ethnic identity,
composed oflanguage, customs, arts, history, and so forth. To be sure, it is not easy to seal
off these "faces" into different identity boxes. Some elements become double-edged, serving as
political weapons on the one hand, and as identity-integration themes on the other. The
corrido, derivative of a Spanish song form, developed this double-edged quality: it is evident in
the early history of the American Southwest, I in the equally oppressive context in
pre-Revolutionary Mexico, and continues to the present in modern America. At the same time, other
elements face inward and serve only as identity-integration themes.
It would be interesting and informative to explore the
community identity process
in light of the bi-cultural dilemma mentioned above,
especially as it is expressed through,
song, poetry, architecture, dance and other art forms. In
this paper, I will focus on Chicano
musical lyrics as expressing different aspects of the
bi-cultural dilemma: as political, community history, and cultural myth. First, though, I would like to
present a synopsis of the
Chicano, community identity process in several other art
forms.
COMMUNITY IDENTITY
SOLUTIONS IN ART FORMS
The "community" is, in one sense, a fiction since
it is but an aggregate of individuals,
and, with specific individuals, leaders or elites if you
will, generating their personal
solutions to their personal life problems. However, as
others in similar life circumstances find
that these solutions are satisfying to themselves, we can
discern a widespread resonance to
these solutions. It is in this sense that
"community" supercedes the person, and, the individual who put forth his/ her idiosyncratic solution finds many
imitators and the original
solution finds itself in a variety of expressions.
In architecture, Elpidio Rocha sets forth the importance of
educating persons to
their ethnic backgrounds so they can in-put into those
"whose profession it is to help people
build what they are and how they live."
[t]his project was a turning point in my search for a way
to include those minority groups, of
which I am a member, in the physical shaping of their
environment. They have much to be proud of. They have strong ethnic traditions and an imagery which
would be included in our environments. If it is true that the United States is a melting pot, then
it should include all groups. It is also true, however, that in this melting pot that one should
not lose his identity for it is in our differences not our likenesses that we find strength. It is
unfortunate that what I have been speaking of, a humanized architecture, is impossible until the
minority groups are educated in our public schools, particularly at the primary levels, to their rich
cultural backgrounds. They must become proud of who they are. They must discover their identity. It
is then and o'nly then we will have a truly humanized architecture in which all can participate.2
Rocha faces Anglo society and addresses the time when there
would be no dilemma,
for differences of identity would be accepted and not force
the minority person to choose
between one or the other, rather than being allowed to
embrace both. Rocha also underlines the importance of education in the process of discovering
identity: it is only with such awareness that a position of image strength can be obtained
and which is necessary to negotiating within a humanized, melting-pot context.
Others address the bi-cultural dilemma, but without Rocha's
optimistic foresight.
The focus is "The Role of the Folkloric Dance in the
Chicano Heritage."
As Mexico before the Revolution of 1910 found its values in
European culture, so today many Chicanos have obtained their values from the gabacho culture
and its "educational" system in which Chicanos have been immersed. Mexico before the
Revolution denied indianismo, the culture of its own people, while it glorified that of the European.
The Chicano, Mejicano, Hispano, or whatever he wishes to call himself, has also denied his true
roots. There are Chicanos who, in their eager attempt to melt into the cultural morass of the United
States, have denied all that is their past, substituting the Anglo values and culture. There are also
Chicanos who~ having lived and known only the Anglo (gabacho) culture, are totally ignorant of
their own. They are, instead, assaulted by cariacatures of their culture. They are confronted by
aspects of their culture as viewed not through their eyes, but through the eyes of the Anglo. It is
distorted and changed so that he begins to feel that
he has no roots to be proud of. He is presented with a
narrow, simplistic view of his heritage.
Examples of this are the "Frito Bandito," advertisements of
fiestas depicting a charro dancing with a woman wearing a Spanish costume, and so on, ad infinitum.
For those who have lost touch with their culture in this cultural wasteland, danze offers a
link with the past and a key to the future.
Folkloric dance is one visible means of establishing
cultural identity.3 The future
implied in this quote is a persistence of the bi-cultural
dilemma. Furthermore, the lack of control of media imagery and its filtering through Anglo
"eyes," is but one more symptom of the long standing oppression of the Chicano community. The
author suggests a solution which would use the dance as an educational medium about Chicano
culture and as an affective base for Chicano identity:
Danza tells a Chicano that "La Raspa" is not the
only dance Chicanos know. It tells him that there are many regions in Mexico, and that each has its own
distinctive dances and costumes. Danza offers an emotional link which cannot be denied with words.
No matter how much a Chicano has assimilated into this "melting pot," he still
feels something when he participates in or sees a dance and community identity done with respect, understanding, and feeling. He feels
proud of and respects his culture, and most important, himself.'
Despite Rocha's and the dance commentator's disagreement on
the future of the bicultural
dilemma for the Chicano, both underline the importance of
feeling proud. Oppression,
however mild, takes away self-autonomy and diminishes the
ability to feel proud from
the standpoint of the oppressed, ethnic base. The individual
can opt (sell) out, at times, and
identify with the aggressor and feel proud of the
oppressor's culture as if it were his/her own.
But if Chicanos are to feel proud of their culture, what are
the elements that compose it? Is it
simply bi-cultural: Mexican and American? What of the
American Indian substrate which
formed a distinct matrix for Spanish-American culture? What
of the infusion of African
culture, such as in the popular Afro-Latin rhythm of the
cumbia?
One author, in a literary-political piece, characterizes
both the Spanish and the
British as the oppressors of la raza cosmica, the
"brown Spanish-speaking race."
Those traitors have tried to prevent our attaining political
power because they know with this
power the race united could have cultural independence and
economic benefits. El enemigo ha dirigido su atenci6n de atraer la parte nuestra parte es
AJricana y Europea y al mismo tiempo desminuir la otra parte que es AMERICANA . .. The enemy has
directed his attention to attract our afro european side and at the same time destroy the other,
which is Indian.
Note that the ethnic equation reads: European (Spanish/
British) + African over
against Americana (Indian) .
La relaci6n entre el primero y poder blanco pueda ser
denominada el indice inestabilidad que resulta en un eJecto de empujar y tirar .. . The
relationship between the former and white power could be denominated the index of instability that results
in a push-pull effect .... It is my thesis, for the emergence of our latinamerican people as a mature
socio-cultural entity, a constant stabilizing factor must be pursued. This stability index comes from our
relationship to "red" power ... Este indice de estabilidad proviene de nuestra relaci6n a poder
indigena.5
Here we are presented with a third possible future out of
the bi-cultural dilemma.
This view is neither integrationist, nor isolationist within
the system, but a separatist position.
While the author achieves his literary effect using English
and Spanish in alternating
sequence, the political effect points to " 'red'
power." The author focuses on El Plan
Espiritual de Aztlan and suggests (1) an educational
reconstruction and a rehabilitation of
the concept of Aztlan (a semi-legendary homeland of the
Aztecs which is felt to be coextensive with the American Southwest) (2) governmental autonomy (3)
and political separation if autonomy is not granted. While the means and political
solution is more radical than the first two-at least explicitly so-the goal of
self-autonomy and pride, and, the importance of the role of education is very similar to Rocha's and the
goals of the dance commentator. For a people long oppressed, the sense of psychological autonomy
might be considered spurious unless political autonomy is attached to it; the issue,
then, would be "how much political autonomy?"
So far we have explored three possible futures for a way out
of the bi-cultural
dilemma. Central to each future was the attainment of a
feeling of pride: this was the result of self discovery, ethnic performances, actual political
autonomy and/ or a re-creation of the
past. The concept of Aztlan is one such re-creation of the
past: the present-future image of a Chicano homeland, the "United States of Aztlan" as
it were, is transformed into a heritage of the past, which, in turn, legitimizes it as a future (goal).
The process of revitalization
Chicano music reshapes the past for the purposes of the
present seeking a better future. This running together of different temporal images sometimes results in
science-fiction vision-scapes. Chicano muralists in San Diego have already painted dazzling
re-creations on the foundations of the Coronado Bridge, which rises out of a community
identified primarily as Chicano.
Not all Chicanos are familiar with Aztlan, and of those who
are, not all adhere to it
as a viable goal. But the concept has been a dynamic
centerpiece to several painters, dancers, poets, musicians, urban planners and the like. While I will
not focus specifically on Aztlan in the musical pieces selected, I will draw on a shared
feature, namely, the manipulation of temporal planes in order to suggest a revitalization of the past.
This process is exemplified, of course, in using education to discover (or reshape) oneself
in the past iI]. order to better orient oneself to the future. Anglo culture has been infamous,
alongside all other cultural groups, for this re-shaping process: witness the re-interpretation of
the United States Constitution to meet the needs of the present, or of the legend of George
Washington's honesty, or further, the hoopla attendent with the impending Bicentennial. I
mention this only to point out that the re-interpretation of the past to meet current needs is
not restricted to Chicanos or other minority groups, but is common to all societies: the
critical difference for groups who have been oppressed is that they lack the ability to apply those
re-interpretations in the present and so must reserve them as future goals-unless they are
willing to play the fool/genius and treat the present as if it were the future, as with many
groups who have sensed the end of the earth or the second coming and have given up the chores
required in everyday existence.
CHICANO MUSIC AND ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY IDENTITY
The songs I have selected include a corrido, a ma7ianitas
and a cumbia. Each of
these has roots in mainstream Mexican culture. However,
these traditional Mexican (which
once politically covered the United States Southwest) forms
are infused with Chicano themes and images, the difference being in the Chicano's
bi-cultural heritagq of Mexico and the United States. At issue in these songs is the transformation
of the Chicano community's self image.There are many other songs that are not explicitly involved
in this image making
process, and there are many composer/ performers that place
themselves outside thi~ transformational process as well. Music heard in the barrio ranges from the
Latin, hard-rock sound of Santana and Malo to ranchera music coming out of north
Mexico. Thus, the musical pieces included here represent only a segment of Chicano
music and of the Chicano self image; the focus of the songs to be discussed is on the projection
of a transformed or transforming community identity.
THE CORRIDO: POLITICS OF THE
OPPRESSED
The most provocative of the three examples to be presented
is Valentin de la Causa,
a corrido. It is a modernization of the Mexican,
revolutionary corrido, Valentin de la Sierra.
As with many corridos, though not all, Valentin de la Causa
is a historical ballad centered on
a political struggle and the fate of the heroic figure
within it.'The traditional Valentin was in
the Mexican Revolution of 191 O-a rebel who had been caught
by the Federal troops and
refused to cooperate. The modern Valentin has been
transposed to a barrio in southeast San Diego-a Brown Beret who had been shot by the police. We
might expect to find the issue of social justice counterbalanced with inspiration and group
unity in statements about the corrido.
Rumel Fuentes, writing in El Grito, expresses this dual
function of the conido:
I see the corrido as a means of exposing evils and
injustices and relating the truth about things as they actually happen .... but the real meaning lies beyond
words and discussion. The meaning will be in a corrido singer who trembles as he sings and the
acknowledgement of understanding by a big smile and a loud grito (shout) by the listener. It is here
that the deep secret of the corrido is sung, and only true Chicanos will understand it fully and
completely and get the true meaning not found in books written about corridos and corrido singers.6
It is fairly easy to express what the injustices are that
generate the political
struggle, even if it is only to say it is a struggle between
the haves and have-nots. However,
the "secret" of the corrido lies in the difficulty
of being able to verbally express how the corrido generates community solidarity. Being a "true
Chicano" refers to a lived experience, an experience which remains opaque to verbal explications. We
must ask, though, how accurate Fuentes' claim is: is there no way to see through this glass
darkly, this secret of the corrido?
Let me turn to an interview with Reuben Ruiz, the author of
Valentin de la Causa,
- 'who offered several avenues to understanding Chicano
musicians, their music and the
a udience. Reuben places the corrido within the framework of
the ranchera, which he sees as the archetypal song of Mexico. Corrido scholars would not
use this popular framework and would trace the corrido independently of the ranchera.
However, Reuben orders Mexican music within the concept ranchera and from this perspective,
he puts forward alegda as the affective element which links the audience and performer.
Alegda, for Reuben, is a central attribute of the ranchera.
We usually like rancheras because they seem to express more
alegria. Alegria means more or less like something very happy and gay, and also, at the same
time, something very sad, which is sort of contradictory. But a very sad thing can sometimes make you sort
of happy or vice-versa.'
This contradictory quality is clearly seen in the audience's
response to Reuben's
and other performers' corridos. The tragedy and sadness in
the storyline is not reacted to in
plaintive notes, but by "yelling" (Reuben Ruiz) or
"a big smile and a loud grito " (Rumel
Fuentes). The audience does not shout at random, but at
lines which provide the sense of
shared oppression and of continued resistance. In
particular, Reuben identifies several points in Valentin de la Causa which draws out the audience's
response:
And they really dug when they hear this verse about the
marrano, the pig, or the tio taco (Uncle Tom) thing, they dig it. Or about the 800 young militants in
the barrio, they really relate to this. That's when they all start yelling when we get to this
little part.8
While others I have interviewed understand what Reuben has
labeled the element
of contradiction in alegda, most do not use the term alegria
in this sense. Perhaps this terminological usage will remain idiosyncratic and not become cultural-in
the sense of being
widely shared. However, by pointing to the contradictory
quality between song statement
(injustice) and audience response (yeIling, shouting)- in
that there is no logical reason to expect that response, but rather an affective one-and which he
would say that "something sad makes you happy," Reuben gives us insight into the
"secret" of the corrido.
And, if we pursue Reuben's perception of himself in relation
to his audience and to
other performers, we may also be able to delineate where the
boundaries of "true Chicano"
lie.
The canci6n ranchera is something that revolves around my
everyday life. Every time I sing I relate what I'm doing everyday, it tells me who I am, what I've
been and what I want to be. I really express myself through the ranchera . ... A lot of time I , just on
purpose, will sing a ranchera. Let people know where I'm at. I'm never going to forget.9
The ranchera, evidently, is a key into Reuben's world-view.
It serves not only as a
vehicle of musical expression, but is also a source of
self-expression and self-satisfaction, and, as a badge by which he wants society to recognize him.
The ranchera has a special meaning especially for the
average person, 'the average Chicano tends to relate, the hard-working guy tends to relate his tragedies
or his happiness with the ranchera. 10
Reuben perceives the ranchera as the song of the Chicano
masses, a vehicle for expressing life's fortunes and misfortunes , both in a social and a
personal sense. Moreover, he uses it to demonstrate his link with the disadvantaged
Chicano.
There are some guys who started playing the guitar, started
with rancheras and they got into
progressive jazz, and they feel too embarrassed to playa
ranchera now, or sing one. They think it's too under their level. Now I feel real bad for people like
that, because they seem to have forgotten where they really come from. .. Like they felt, (the ranchera)
was simple because it relates to poor people and they consider themselves playing progressive jazz
or latin jazz and they don't want to degrade themselves or relate to the poor people because they
are already down with the game. II
Thus, we find a ~orrespondence between the kind of music a
performer plays or
will play and the social strata he identifies with. In
passing, we should note that what Reuben refers to as simplicity is not a technical simplicity of the
music, but a perceived quality of the audience. Also, Reuben posits self-fulfilment for himself in
the ranchera, while he attributes disdain for those who've passed onto progressive or
Latin jazz:
"Me ahuitan." Me ahuitan means "I don't dig
it," or "it's out of my class." Or, in other words,
" I'm too good for you." They won't say it out
like that, but that's more or less the interpretation I get."
Reuben Ruiz, we should note, sees the career of the
performer in terms of levels or
class. Whether he means social class in an economic sense or
a musibal elitist sense is not
clear. Rumel Fuentes, by contrast, sees his career of
musical enlightenment in terms of
culture, in addition to class, going from "nice, good
American music" back to " 'low class'
Mexican music." Fuentes' account of his self-discovery
through musical type complements
the picture presented by Reuben Ruiz. Instead of looking at
the progression within a strictly
Chicano framework, Fuentes brings in the bi-cultural element
and uses social class in a clearly economic sense:
As I entered school in Eagle Pass, Texas, and my
acculturation process (brainwashing) began, I began to forget the "low class" Mexican music and
was introduced to the "nice, good American music." Also, I learned to play the guitar and some
piano. I became a "rock and roller" singing songs that I now see as very simple compared to the corrido.
Then I "discovered" the corrido when I grew older and started to listen to Chicano music again. I
began paying more attention to the corridos my father sang and played with his guitar. 13
Further,
the corrido as music, in this area, is sometimes
considered more as a low-class people's
musIc. The reople that lIsten to. thiS . musIc are the
hardworking lower class people.
This musIc is considered taboo In middle or upper Mexican
Americans homes although
there are more exceptions as time goes by. 14
[Nb. The balance of this article will be posted by December 15, 2018.]
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