Foto by tgw, "Shot Thru a Dirty Window," New York City 2011
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From Irish Turkey to the Mexican Barrio
I did eat turkey. At my fav Irish pub, just down the street from me. Hansy the chef loaded my plate with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy; a pile of sweet potatoes to boot; a big heapin' of cranberry sauce; big slabs of turkey white meat piled over a sausage/sage stuffing covered in turkey gravy--I gobbled it down, washed it down with a trio of Redbridges!
I returned home as stuffed as the deadest Holy Day turkey and was rewarded by a two-hour-long Paquita la del Barrio (Franny from the Neighborhood) concert on Mexican television. I'm highly attracted to this woman's music. She sings rancheros--but she sings them with a dominant feminist attitude. In her songs she compares men to rats, to scumbags, and she liberally salts her performances with many salty put downs of men, though she admits in those same lyrics that women can't do without them--the thing being, women need men but they must learn to "capture" their men, "cage" them--a feminist-ruled zooful of would-be male lovers! Especially "whipping" men into shape so that they bring their women flowers and plenty of bling. What amazes me about her performances are her musical arrangements of the many tunes she sings during a performance. Rancheros (and Nortena and Bando, too) tunes are stuck to a simple structure based on the single-line rhythm of an electric bass and the broader but tightly strict modulations of an electric guitar, kept in bailando time by drums accented by bongo intrusions, all under a constantly Mexicanic squeeze-box accordion played with a swirling of quickly played keys and buttons via dazzling arpeggio runs--quixotic little responses to Paquita la del Barrio's perfectly executed verses--each line sent forcefully home by her precise pronunciation of the words. I mean, what's not to like about this true performer, this pure musical talent who has taken rancheros to controversial but definitely progressive heights in terms of making her style and performances so uniquely special.
Paquita del la Barrio ( Francisca Viveros Barradas from Veracruz)
And after two hours of Franny from the Neighborhood (her name is Francisca)--I admit that a part of my growing up in West Texas was influenced by the Mexican culture that surrounded me--and Texas was always part Mexican to me--and certainly La Musica influenced me--I grew up hearing it on the radio every day and every night--and though after I became a member of the jazz life I put it down, it is still with me in my memories and in my own musical make up. One of my own most famous (and that fame is fading daily) compositions is entitled "Rockin' on the Border," about a time I was in Nuevo Laredo during Labor Day--I was actually on a honeymoon with my Choctaw-Mexican-Welsh wife who looked so Mexican when we lived in Mexico City, men used to hit on her in Spanish--like, "Hey, senorita, ditch the gringo and come with me." And for a while in my life I was fascinated by Mexican women--my first crush on one coming in high school and her name was Trina and when I looked upon her the delight shone in my eyes.
thegrowlingwolf
for The "Saturday Evening" Daily Growler
Give a listen and watch to Paquita del la Barrio singing "Tres veces te engane" with a full mariachi orchestra:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru8Q60JXn54
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