The Traditional lyrical mexican Refers to a set of popular expressions such as songs, sayings and couplets. These are compositions that have been preserved over time thanks to the oral tradition.
They are characterized by their irreverent content and social criticism. For this reason, they have also become a cultural resource that accounts for different historical moments with their respective political realities.
Literary Skulls are unique expressions of Mexican Traditional Lyric.
Mexican popular music is characterized by the cultural miscegenation that gave birth to it. This mix was caused by the Spanish colony, a social process in which European music, indigenous music and black music were found.
Because of its popular and multicultural origin, in most cases the authors are unknown. Even in many cases, it is difficult to establish whether their true origin is Mexican or have previous provenances in other cultures.
Characteristics of traditional Mexican lyric
The traditional Mexican lyric has very diverse expressions in terms of forms and themes. However, there are common characteristics among all of them:
- I use resources such as inconsistencies, lies and exaggerations with the aim of capturing ridiculous realities. Among these resources are the Couplets on animals Which can communicate with humans.
- They use a colloquial and popular language, representative of the customs and traditions of the different regions of Mexico. They do not take into account the norms established by the academies of the language, but thanks to this characteristic they achieve the objective to reach the populations less literate.
- Their language often goes beyond the rules of courtesy. It is usually irreverent, dirty and eschatological. This resource is sometimes used in order to reveal social realities or simply to demonstrate opposition to the established rules.
- They have rhymes, make use of rhetorical figures such as metaphors and personifications. In addition, they present a humorous style, full of puns.
Genders
Each genre has its own themes. All topics are related to daily life, such as parties, social and political events, love entanglements or mischief of young people.
Among these genres are literary calaveritas, nursery rhymes and nannies, coplas, popular songs such as corridos, tongue twisters, sayings and albures.
Here are some of these genres:
The literary calaveritas
They are brief poetic Mexican compositions in the form of epitaph that appear on the Day of the Dead. They are characterized by their satirical style and their main themes are death and criticism towards the attachment of people to material goods.
However, the earliest Calaveras date back to the time of La Colonia. They are attributed to Mother Matiana de Tepozotlan and are considered a mixture between Spanish and Mesoamerican cultures.
Later, during the Mexican Revolution Would appear the first calaveritas printed in The Socialist, a newspaper of the left.
Its content was intended to mock the customs of Mexican society and its claims to resemble European society.
A little of the humorous critic present in this genre, can be seen in this example:
"If you want to have a great time of fun,
Accompanies the skulls to the pantheon,
You must have beer and some tequila,
For you to enjoy life surrounded by tombs and melancholy"
The corridos
It is a Mexican popular musical genre that narrates events of different times of the history of the country. It has its origin in Romance Spanish, a traditional genre that tells the stories and the adventures of the knights.
The Mexican corrido had its greatest boom during the Mexican Revolution. During this time it was a source of information for the multitudes on the news and exploits of the revolutionaries.
" The taking of Torreón "Is a good example of the corridos that narrated the events of the Mexican Revolution:
"It was my sobbing cannon
My cradle the railway
I lulled the bullets of the 30-30 and rifle
That's where the troop took me
The course of Mapimí"
Throughout history corridos have become the vehicle of other narratives. They have also spread tales of lovers or tragic events, which are always testimony to Mexican culture and customs.
In the last decades, corridos have incorporated new themes related to the current problems of the population. For example, the most frequent issues of contemporary corridos are immigration and drug trafficking.
The albures
They are puns of sexual content, malicious and double meaning. Like most popular expressions, it is difficult to pinpoint their origin. However, they are associated with a sign of disobedience to the imposed courtesy standards.
There are albure duels where mental agility and improvisation ability are put to the test. It is considered that the best"alburero"is the one who can respond quickly and embarrass his interlocutor.
The albures have been criticized for their macho connotation:"albureros"are always men, while women are the object of these sentences with a double sexual sense.
These are some examples:
"Do not grab the little boy because he starts screaming."
"They do not shake so much the chile, that the seed is watered."
"Do not shake the cradle, you wake the child."
The sayings
The Sayings Are sharp sentences that communicate a council or a moral. Usually authority is conferred, since its wisdom is considered to come from antiquity.
The sayings often reflect the customs of the population. This can be seen in the words they use, but also in metaphors that refer to domestic animals or country customs.
For example, in the saying" Arriero that sells mule, the strip coz or recula ", Malice is represented in business. This phrase invites to distrust of businesses that do not seem innocent.
Another example is the saying" Cacaraquear is easy, difficult to put ". In it is represented the doubt against the promises that precede the actions, but they do not seem safe.
The couplets
The verses are short musical compositions and written in verse. Although mostly of popular origin, this genre has also been worked by poets such as Cervantes and Machado.
The popular expressions of this genre approach very diverse subjects, from daily happenings to philosophical problems. However, they always do it with a simple language and close to the customs of the people.
The use of popular language can be seen in this example:
"From your window to mine
You dumped me a lemon
The sweet was in the air
Bitter in my heart."
References
- Access. (S.F.). What is the Mexican corrido? Retrieved from: access.ku.edu.
- Page 1 Mexican sayings. Retrieved from: abcblogs.abc.es.
- From Calaveras. (S.F.). Literary skulls. Recovered from: decalaveras.com.
- Study and learn. (S.F.). Traditional Mexican Lyric. Recovered from: estudiaprender.com.
- Sources, A. (2012). Mexican Coplas. Recovered from: vanguardia.com.mx.
- Alternate minds. (S.F.). Albures Mexicanos, What are they? Examples and Meaning. Recovered from: mentesalternas.com.