Degree Discipline

Mariachismo: Music, Machismo, and Mexicanidad (open access)

Mariachismo: Music, Machismo, and Mexicanidad

One of the most recognized icons of Mexico is the mariachi moderno tradition, which in the global popular imaginary, is associated with nostalgic, humorous, and emotional songs of love, heartache, death, drinking, and place. Inseparably fused to tequila and the historic charro figure, mariachi moderno completes a symbolic trinity of hetero-nationalist culture, conveyed within a popular imaginary of authentic mexicanidad (Mexican-ness). For mariachis and aficionados in Mexico, performative hypermasculine machismo acts as a perceptual baseline, structuring modes of feeling that signify an experience of authentic nationalist musicality This process is musically constructed in an incorporation of bodily movement, instruments, sound timbres, and symbolic clothing, simultaneously gestured with a heavy male-accent fusing an experience that feels genuinely Mexican. This reflexive signification is a consequence of the lived experience, shared dispositions, and competencies learned in the habitus, constituting real and imagined notions of hetero-nationalist culture. I refer to this musical semiosis as mariachismo, a neologism describing an intersubjective experience of machismo-infused mariachi subjectivity, ritualized through repeated gestures of sound, lyric, and corporeality. The semiotic power of mariachismo is most potent for subjects enculturated to Mexico's hetero-nationalist culture, shaped by popular imaginaries operationalizing gender and mexicanidad, connecting the two, making them feel unquestioned, …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Torres, José R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Latin American Music: A Compendium of Bibliographical Aids for Teachers (open access)

Latin American Music: A Compendium of Bibliographical Aids for Teachers

In this bibliography an attempt has been made to furnish references to teachers that may assist them to develop in the students: (1) an attitude of friendly interest which will help to link the Americas in mutual respect and to promote a better understanding of problems to be met; (2) to gain an understanding and appreciation of the background of South American culture of today; (3) to become familiar with the folk music as well as the concert, both vocal and instrumental.
Date: May 1944
Creator: Kee, Lillian Sullivan, 1893-
System: The UNT Digital Library