Introduction to Mexican Popular Music

Catalog description

This course will analyze popular forms of music traditionally associated with Mexico and the U.S. Southwest from the 1820s to the present. We will focus on the musical genres of son, yucateco, son jarocho, mariachi, corrido, norteño, and banda music in Mexico. In the U.S Southwest we will examine the roots of tejano conjunto and its relationship to traditional Mexican music. The examination of these forms of popular music will allow us to further understand their unique cultural formations, as well as the historical contexts in which they emerged. By tracing the roots of popular music in these two cultural and geographical regions students will be guided to capture the cultural expressions and the symbolic capital that, in some cases, have been appropriated through processes of regional and even national identity formation.Selected readings will be distributed by the instructor via Blackboard. Students may write their assignments in English or Spanish. This course will be taught in English.