The Cultural Influence of Linda Ronstadt

[the Scribe]

The Cultural Influence of Linda Ronstadt



BIOGRAPHY

Linda Ronstadt [1946- ]

Linda Ronstadt, once hailed as the “First Lady of Rock,” is a versatile singer who traversed multiple genres en route to massive national success in pop music in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ronstadt was nurtured by her Mexican American family whose musical roots run deep in the Mexican border region of Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt holds dear the memory of childhood serenades by “The Father of Chicano Rock,” Lalo Guerrero, a close family friend. Ronstadt’s great-aunt Luisa Espinel gained international popularity interpreting Spanish and Mexican song and dance in the 1930’s.

Among the most popular female pop singers, Ronstadt is one of the most influential Chicana musicians ever, as evident in her extensive discography and four-decades long career. Ronstadt moved to L.A. in the late ‘60s with the folk trio The Stone Poneys, earning a Top 20 hit with the song, “Different Drum.” Turning to country-rock, Ronstadt began an illustrious solo career, recording three albums from 1969 to 1971. In 1974, Heart Like a Wheel propelled Ronstadt to national stardom. With signature versions of country-rock and folk-rock songs, the album went double-platinum, reaching number one on the charts. Prisoner in Disguise (1975) and Hasten Down the Wind (1976) both went platinum. In 1977 she released, Simple Dreams, which held the number one spot for five weeks. Soon after came another number one album, the more experimental Living in the U.S.A. The cover story of People Magazine’s October 24, 1977 issue hailed Ronstadt as “interpreter and voice of womanhood amid the din of the male indulgence that is rock 'n' roll. No other songstress in history has had five straight platinum LPs..." During this run Linda Ronstadt became known as the Queen of Rock.

As the Queen of Rock, Ronstadt’s influenced the vocal texture of rock music in the U.S. Her musical repertoire shared an eclectic sensibility that is the driving force of the Chicano rock approach. Ronstadt incorporated rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel singing and opera and infused it with her unique and powerful Mexican-influenced vocal style, blending the broad range of music she heard on the radio as a child growing up on a dusty dessert ranch. Ronstadt herself asserted that the sound of her rock singing was shaped by the legendary Mexican canción ranchera singer and estilo bravío interpreter Lola Bertrán, thus revealing the ways that Mexican musical tradition permeates American music.

In 1987, Ronstadt teamed up with country artists Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris for Trio and released her own traditional Mexican album, Canciones de Mi Padre, championing her Mexican heritage and further proving her cross-genre versatility. While previous generations of Mexican American artists felt compelled to disguise their ethnic roots, Linda Ronstadt had the commercial clout to feature her Latino roots. Canciones de Mi Padre became a smash hit, backed by Mariachi Vargas, one of Mexico’s finest mariachi ensembles. Ronstadt’s Spanish-language records, Más Canciones in 1991 and Frenesí in 1992 broadened the audience for Mexican-inspired music.

The great success of Canciones de Mi Padre was built upon a slim volume by the same title containing Ronstadt's Mexican grandfather’s favorite songs, brought with him to the United States from Sonora, Mexico. Published in 1946 by the University of Arizona and transcribed by Ronstadt's great aunt Luisa, the songs preserve Sonora’s 19th century musical history.

Linda Ronstadt continued to record and perform throughout the ‘90s and into the new millennium and served as the artistic director of the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. Ronstadt is occasionally touring with her one woman speaking show and supporting struggles for human rights in Arizona. As one of the most popular female singers in U.S. pop music history, she is an incredible inspiration to Mexican Americans and living proof of the shaping influence Latinos have had in popular American music.

some basic RONSTADT history:



Federico José María Ronstadt, better known in his later years as Fred Ronstadt, was born in 1868 on the Hacienda Las Delicias near Cananea, Sonora. He spent his childhood in Sonora, moving to Tucson at the age of fourteen to learn the wagon-making trade. In addition to an intelligent, curious, retentive mind and a capacity for hard work, he brought with him a love of all sorts of music. Music seems to have been a feature of the Ronstadt household from the beginning. His daughter Luisa (of whom more later) remembered her father sitting under the grape arbor in the yard on summer evenings, playing his guitar and singing old songs from Sonora. Those songs are part of the family heritage to this day.

Fred Ronstadt's musicianship was not limited to a family context. Around 1899 he and a group of his friends formed the Club Filarmónico de Tucson [photo], one of the city's earliest orchestral groups. Many of the original musical arrangements for the group were written by Fred Ronstadt. Even when the press of business forced him to resign from the orchestra, he found time to play with different groups of friends, and he remained an active and enthusiastic musician to the end of his life.

It is not surprising that this talent and enthusiasm continued as a family tradition. Fred Ronstadt's daughter, Luisa, became an internationally known interpreter of Spanish song and dance in the 1930s, under the name of Luisa Espinel [photo]. His sons William, Alfred, Gilbert and Edward made singing a part of their family activities, and in their turn raised another generation of singing Ronstadts [photo]. The most famous of these is Linda, Gilbert's daughter, but her siblings and cousins in Tucson have performed in private and public for years, putting polished harmonies to a wonderful mixture of folk and popular songs, Mexican and American, old and new. Their children - Fred's great-grandchildren - are now continuing the tradition. In 1994 the Ronstadt family was awarded a Copper Letter from the City of Tucson for keeping the air of our town beautiful with song for well over a hundred years. It isn't often that a city government gets its values that straight.

Canciones de mi Padre
In January, 1946, the University of Arizona published its General Bulletin No. 10, a slim volume by Luisa Espinel entitled Canciones de mi Padre - "My Father's Songs." Ms. Espinel's father was Fred Ronstadt, and the songs she had learned, transcribed and published were some of the ones he had brought with him from Sonora. This little book, long out of print, is our baseline for information concerning what people were singing in Sonora in the mid-19th Century. It is our window into a long-vanished world, a way in which we can reach out and touch a past that is relatively close, yet gone forever. Many of the songs still live in the repertoire of Fred Ronstadt's descendants, and I count it a rare privilege and joy to have joined with his son Edward in singing La Ciriaca. It is no wonder that when Fred's grand-daughter Linda Ronstadt put out a record [album cover] of some of the favorites she had learned from her father Gilbert, she called her collection by the same name as this booklet.

Here, then, is a unique family and regional heritage of songs that were sung in the Sonoran desert well over a hundred years ago. Thanks to the Ronstadts for preserving them and for sharing them with us all.

More information and access to a facsimile of the original Canciones de mi Padre book

The author, Jim Griffith, is director of the Southwest Folklore Center at The University of Arizona Library and a practicing musician active on Tucson's Southwest side.

Return to the Ronstadt Family home page www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/ronstadt/ronstadt.html



Published on Jan 18, 2017

Linda Ronstadt - Canciones de mi Padre DVD

Paying tribute to the traditional Mexican music her father taught her as a child, gifted singer Linda Ronstadt teams up with the band Mariachi Vargas to perform memorable ranchera tunes such as "La Rielera," "Por Un Amor" and "El Gusto." Accompanied by talented dancers in sparkling costumes, Ronstadt also treats the audience to renditions of "La Cigarra," "La Barca de Guaymas," "Amorcito Corazon" and "El Caballito."

Act I

1. Opening
2. Los Laureles
3. Por Un Amor
4. La Cigarra
5. La Bamba
6. Hay Unos Ojos
7. Dos Arbolitos
8. La Barca De Guaymas
9. Amorcito Corazon

Act II

10. El Cascabel
11. La Rielera
12. El Adios Del Soldado
13. Yo Soy El Corrido
14. El Gusto
15. El Caballito
16. El Sol Que Tu Eres

Act III

17. El Jarabe Tapatio
18. Y Andale
19. El Crucifijo De Piedra
20. La Charreada
21. Cancion Mixteca
22. Volver, Volver
Music
"El Crucifijo De Piedra (2016 Remastered)" by Linda Ronstadt
Listen ad-free with YouTube Red

“She started as a country-folk singer but eventually mastered many other genres of music and became the best-selling female artist of the 1970s. She brought the music of Buddy Holly to a generation that had either forgotten or never heard of him. She helped popularize country-rock in the 1970s along with H.O.F. members The Eagles, who met while backing Ronstadt on her self-titled third album. She has too many Grammy awards for me to list here, and has more true rock and roll hit records than many of the artists already in the hall. Her recordings also influenced many of the current hard-rocking country artists you hear today. As a vocalist, she has few equals and her voice is instantly recognizable no matter what she is singing. She helped popularize many songwriters such as Warren Zevon and Wendy Waldman and brought attention to overlooked genres of music.”

LINDA RONSTADT -- LATIN MUSIC USA

Lola Beltran at one concert stops the concert and says "I would like to know if Mr Ronstadt (Linda's dad) is here?" She had this beautiful rebozo,silk shawl that she had (been wearing). She took it off and she said "Mr. Ronstadt, on behalf of all the Mexicanos please give this to your daughter. It is because of her that mariachi music is alive."

Linda Ronstadt on the Tucson Mariachi Conference and her mariachi records

Published on Mar 16, 2015

The Tucson International Mariachi Conference becomes the site where singer Linda Ronstadt fulfills a childhood dream, and in turn inspires a generation of young mariachi students. Linda Ronstadt shares her story, along with commentary from Becky Montano and Richard Carranza.

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt at Los Cenzontles



2011 GIA CONFERENCE: Los Cenzontles



Los Lobos and Linda Ronstadt, Benefit For Los Cenzontles

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT RONSTADT’S IMPACT

What is Linda Ronstadt’s legacy to the world of mariachi music?

I asked a variety of musicians and cultural experts this question. Here are some of their replies.

“About Linda, it’s fair to say that she was very influential in popularizing mariachi in the U.S. through her ‘Canciones’ albums. It’s no coincidence that Linda sang at some of the first mariachi conferences in Tucson, obviously helping to gain attention and acclaim for the conference, that the Tucson conference in many ways led the U.S. in the mariachi education movement (mariachi in schools), which has exploded since the mid-1980s, and that her mariachi recordings popularized mariachi across the U.S. at precisely the same time. I still meet people who learn that I play and teach mariachi and say, ‘I loved those Linda Ronstadt mariachi albums’: this was mainstream America’s first (and possibly only) encounter with what I call ‘virtuoso mariachi.’ ”

“Taking it one step further, many friends of mine in Mexico (including members of Mariachi Vargas and others) acknowledge that the mariachi movement in the U.S., especially mariachi education, is having a strong effect on mariachi in Mexico, so it is also fair to say that Linda’s recordings are now positively influencing mariachi at its roots — albeit indirectly.”

- Jeff Nevin, mariachi director and chair of performing arts at Southwestern College, leader of Mariachi Champaña Nevin

“I think a lot of Mexican-Americans that didn’t really embrace their culture – the Mexican side – came out of the closet with that record. I was her vocal coach through the first record and she was worried a bit because she was recording a lot of classics that were recorded by Lola Beltran and Amalia Mendoza and Miguel Aceves Mejia. I would tell her, ‘As long as you get the words down right and pronounce the words good, your voice is your voice. You have the gift. And you have the best musicians surrounding you. I think it will be something special.’

“It was all traditional arrangements. It was like a complete U-turn in a way from what most mariachis in the mainstream were doing. Everybody was sort of updating arrangements and stuff and her thing was to make people feel like they were around a campfire listening to the mariachi music. She had it completely right. She took the mariachi medium into a mainstream audience. She got a Grammy for the record. For us it was an honor to be one of the mariachis backing her up on that first record.”

- Jose Hernandez, director, Mariachi Sol de Mexico

“Linda’s legacy to mariachi music? I would have to distinguish between the music itself, which is Mexican, not strictly ‘mariachi,’ and the mariachi ensemble itself.

I would say that Linda’s respect for and recognition of the musicianship of the mariachis in her recordings and concerts (coupled with her support of the Tucson Conference) gave them a much-needed sense of validation. She treated the mariachi ensemble, not as a mere background group for her, but as an orchestra worthy of performing on its own.

“With regard to the music itself, well, it stands on its own: sones de mariachi (‘La Mariquita‘), sones jarochos (‘El Toro Relajo‘), sones huastecos (‘El Gustito‘), canciones tradicionales (‘Hay Unos Ojos‘), huapangos (‘Dos Arbolitos‘), canciones rancheras (‘Pobre de Mi‘), corridos (‘La Carcel de Cananea‘), etc. These are selections that she selected and recorded . . . not strictly ‘mariachi’ music . . . simply played by a mariachi group. My opinion has been that she should have used actual regional ensembles.”

- Prof. Fermín Herrera, Department of Chicana/o Studies, California State University, Northridge

“Much like Jorge Negrete, who put mariachi music on the international community map through his movies, I think that Linda put mariachi music on the map in the Anglo community. Invariably at our ‘gigs’ someone asks us to play something by Linda Ronstadt. Linda hit a home run when she recorded ‘Canciones de Mi Padre.’ ”

- Alberto Ranjel, director El Mariachi Tapatio, Tucson

“As a young (at the time) musician, she opened our genre to an audience that had either ignored the music or held it in disdain. I believe that it also had a similar impact that LA Nueva Dimension had on the mariachi genre. This recording brought on the evolution of the mariachi. Linda’s ‘Canciones de Mi Padre’ brought international recognition and acceptance of an artform that had for years taken a back seat to other musical styles. Mariachis have since enjoyed playing in some of the finest concert halls in the world. Some of the great mariachi musicians are classically trained and have raised the bar for all mariachis to emulate.

“As a young musician, we were now playing gigs in homes of various ethnicities. It became cool to be a mariachi musician, and profitable.”

- John Nieto, director, Mariachi Aguila, Brackenridge High School, San Antonio, Texas

“Personally I love her! And I always have since I was really little. I cried when she came to the Tucson conference for the first time and my mom wouldn’t take me. To me she opened up mariachi music to my ears. For others I think she opened it up to the non-Hispanic world with her ‘Canciones de mi Padre’ album and tour.”

- Marisa Gallegos, Ballet Folklórico Tapatío, Tucson

“Linda helped bring the female voice into the mariachi mainstream. No matter who your audience is, when you sing her songs, people react and know them because of her recordings. She has become someone that many female mariachi singers can learn from as they try to develop their own style. I know I did. I am very proud of the fact that I used to play for her family parties when I was in Changuitos, and one time in particular, I was singing “Y Andale” for her father, and she came up and complimented me afterward. It was a good feeling. She will always be one of Tucson’s icons.”

- Olga Flores, former mariachi conference vocal instructor

“It is my belief that Linda Ronstadt’s success in regards to mariachi music has made a huge impact with the Hispanic/Latino culture and all across the world, making mariachi music much more known. She has made mariachi music more popular, being that she was already a popular singer of many genres and recognized here in the United States and all over the world. People have seemed to accept her singing mariachi music with open arms. Her beautiful sultry voice has impacted many and taken mariachi music to yet another level.”

- Marisa Orduno, director/owner, Mariachi Mujer 2000

Read more: ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/993/power-music#ixzz4nQAQgxOH

[the Scribe]

A Conversation With Dolores Huerta And Linda Ronstadt

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt - Canciones

Published on Jan 29, 2017

Linda Ronstadt became a cultural icon when she recorded a Spanish album called “Canciones de Mi Padre”, Songs of My Father. She followed that album with another called Mas Canciones. Until then, most of us had not been aware that she was Mexican-American. Listen as Mexican roots reclaim the soul of a rock n’ roll diva.

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt habla de Lola Beltran y Ruben Fuentes

Published on Mar 4, 2010
Linda habla sobre sus idolos Lola Beltrán y Ruben Fuentes durante la sesión fotográfica para su disco Canciones de Mi Padre- El disco más vendido en EEUU de todos los tiempos no cantado en ingles!!
Linda talks about her idols Lola Beltrán and Ruben Fuentes into the photographic session of her album Canciones de mi Padre. The best selling non english album in EEUU to date!

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt - ALMA Trailblazer Award 2008 honoree

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt awarded Nat'l Medal of Arts for 'one-of-a-kind voice'





abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/instant-index-run-life-24750807

[the Scribe]

INTERVIEW: The Eagles on Linda Ronstadt at The Connaught ...



The Eagles' Glenn Frey inducts Linda Ronstadt into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: His Complete Speech









Linda Ronstadt Narrates 2016 Eagles Tribute

[the Scribe]

Why Linda Ronstadt Still Matters to Tucson

A Tucson music historian reflects on the lasting influence of our city’s most famous musical export

By Daniel Buckley

Linda Ronstadt’s singing days are over but her hometown’s love affair with the storied singer is anything but.

And that love affair goes both ways. She still owns a home in Tucson, keeps in touch with her childhood friends and remains inquisitive about goings-on in her hometown.

Part of Tucson’s attachment to Ronstadt is that she is so much a Tucson girl.

Ronstadt grew up just off Prince Road in a small house next to a massive cottonwood tree, now torn down. It was in her childhood house that, on her second birthday, the father of Chicano music—Lalo Guerrero—awoke her with a birthday serenade. Guerrero was a close friend of her father, Gilbert Ronstadt, who ran the family hardware business downtown.

The Ronstadt family was a musical bunch that shared songs in sibling harmony every night as the dishes were washed and put away. Her dad was an eclectic and tasteful music lover whose well-worn record collection ran the gamut from Nelson Riddle American standards to mariachis and ranchera singers.

As a child, Linda grew up in the musical shadow of her older brother, Peter, who would later become Tucson’s chief of police. Pete was a gifted boy soprano soloist in the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus until one summer when his voice suddenly plunged into the bass-baritone register. But in his Boys Chorus days, Linda was his understudy, learning all of the repertoire he would sing, including the Pirates of Penzance, which she would later record.

She followed Pete into the coffeehouses of Tucson, singing harmony at first and growing stronger in finding her own voice. She attended the University of Arizona, as she says, “for about a minute,” before heading to California to work on being discovered.

Her musical career is one of integrity from beginning to end. She was disciplined and hard-working, with a gift for finding material that fit both her voice and spirit. She surrounded herself with the best talent she could find throughout her career—from the Stone Poneys days, through the times when the Eagles backed her up, and on to American standards with Nelson Riddle, country with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, and ranchera recordings with Mariachi Vargas, Los Camperos de Nati Cano and the best of that world. She made her voice a vehicle for many of the best songwriters of the day, from Warren Zevon to Jackson Browne, Lowell George, Jimmy Webb, Karla Bonoff and many more.

She brought recording business back to Tucson whenever she could, often laying down vocal tracks and doing mastering in local studios. Ronstadt even recorded one whole album here —The Western Wall, with Emmylou Harris, recorded at the Arizona Inn.

People still talk about seeing her in local coffeehouses as a young girl, or singing “Tumbling Dice” with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones at the Tucson Convention Center. Her performances of classics from the golden era of mariachi helped the genre gain a second wind, and forced the Tucson International Mariachi Conference to add an extra night to its performances. And at one of those mariachi appearances she showed her love for Lalo Guerrero by acting as the backup singer for the man who serenaded her when she turned 2.

She took a personal interest in fledgling mariachi and ranchera singers from Tucson, including Monica Treviño, and introduced the members of Tucson’s Mariachi Cobre to her vocal coach, after which Cobre set the standard for vocal work for years. And along with giants Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and Los Camperos de Nati Cano, she turned to Cobre and Tucsonan Gilbert Velez’s group to record with her on her Canciones de Mi Padre and Mas Canciones CDs.

When she began touring with symphony orchestras, singing American standards, Ronstadt turned to Tucson jazz icon Jeff Haskell to write arrangements and often to serve as conductor on the tours. And on a personal note, Linda generously agreed to be on the advisory board on this writer’s film on mariachis in Tucson.

Tucson loves her as much for the person she is as for her musicianship. Courageous, opinionated, outspoken and proud of her roots, she is well read, well informed and ready to get involved in whatever flips her switch.

When SB 1070 was signed, she was among the first rallying to protest at the state Capitol in Phoenix. And on several occasions she went door to door endorsing local candidates for office that she believed in.

When victims of domestic violence in Tucson had nowhere to go to escape, either by themselves or with their children, Ronstadt ponied up the money to build the Casa De Los Niños battered women shelter. Her caring for our city and for those most vulnerable has never ceased.

But no doubt Linda Ronstadt’s greatest connection to her hometown has been the inspiration for every aspiring young singer this city has produced. Every local young belter has a Linda Ronstadt tune in the hip pocket. And every mariachi has a tune or two learned first from Linda Ronstadt.

Daniel Buckley is currently working on his 8th documentary film, The Mariachi Miracle (AKAMariachis Transform Tucson). For more go to www.danielbuckleyarts.com.

[the Scribe]

I was hoping there would be some video released of this tribute concert but nothing yet.

Update: The show is sold out.



¡Viva La Tradición! 30 Años de "Canciones de Mi Padre" - SOLD OUT

Artists Partnership Series
Sat, September 30, 8:00 PM

Presented by Colibrí Entertainment

Some of LA's favorite artists will come together to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” a milestone for Mexican traditional Mariachi music in the United States. The night includes performances by Linda’s niece, solo artist Marisa Ronstadt; Los Angeles’ favorite all-female stringed mariachi, Las Colibrí; the first all-female youth mariachi academy, Las Jovencitas; and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will recreate scenes from the original “Canciones de Mi Padre” tour. Host José Armando Ronstadt will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda’s success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.

Concert Celebrating Linda Ronstadt's Landmark Album Canciones De Mi Padre

In 1987, Linda Ronstadt created a global mariachi sensation with her album Canciones De Mi Padre, which was based on the traditional mariachi music of her childhood. The album went on to be the most successful non-English language album in American recording history, selling two and a half million copies in the U.S. alone, picking up a double platinum certification and winning Ronstadt a Grammy Award. In Viva La Tradicion! 30 Anos de Canciones De Mi Padre at the Ford Theatres, José Armando Ronstadt hosts some of L.A.'s favorite artists to celebrate the landmark album's 30th anniversary, including Ronstadt's niece Marisa Ronstadt, all-female mariachi groups Las Colibrí and Las Jovencitas, and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will re-create scenes from the original Canciones De Mi Padre tour.

Event Website

www.fordtheatres.org/calendar/viva-la-tradicion-30-anos-de-canciones-de-mi-padre

Celebrando 30 años de "Canciones de mi Padre" de Linda Ronstadt

Escrito por Luis Arritola on August 9, 2017



VIVA LA TRADICIÓN SHOW!

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt's hit album "Canciones de Mi Padre" on saturday September 30, 2017 at Ford Theatres in Los Angeles



Latinos and Lovers of traditional mexican music alike are invited to the fifth edition of "Viva La Tradicion Show". Some of LA's favorite artists will gather to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the unforgettable album titled "Canciones de Mi Padre" by Linda Ronstadt, who with this production became an icon for traditional Mexican Mariachi music in the United States, with performances by:

Marisa Ronstadt (Niece of Linda Ronstadt)

Las Colibrí: the spoiled ones of L.A.

Las Jovencitas: Alumnas of the first female youth academy of mariachi

Ballet Folklórico Ollín: recreating scenes of the original tour of the album "Canciones de Mi Padre".

And the special presentation of the renowned Pepe Martinez Jr. and his mariachi
José Armando Ronstadt: Host Will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda's success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.

The show is schedule for Saturday September 30, 2017, at FORD THEATRE Located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA.90068. Tel: [phone].



2015 ¡Viva La Tradición! La Mujer Y El Mariachi


ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/4615/concert-celebrating-canciones-de-padre



2017 Viva La Tradition! 30 Años de Canciones de Mi Padre !

Dania Ocegueda
Published on Jul 30, 2018
Some of LA's favorite artists will come together to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” a milestone for Mexican traditional Mariachi music in the United States. The night includes performances by Linda’s niece, solo artist Marisa Ronstadt; Los Angeles’ favorite all-female stringed mariachi, Las Colibrí; the first all-female youth mariachi academy, Las Jovencitas; and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will recreate scenes from the original “Canciones de Mi Padre” tour. Host José Armando Ronstadt will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda’s success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.


Marisa Ronstadt at The Ford Theatre (Los Angeles, 2017)

Bob Ramirez
Published on Oct 13, 2017
A celebration of the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre" at the Ford Theatres in Los Angeles.
September 30, 2017

[the Scribe]

BWW Review: Linda Ronstadt Celebrates Her Life in a Conversation With Dan Guerrero at CSUN

by Shari Barrett Oct. 1, 2015



It's not often you get to share a rare moment in time with a music legend, listening in on a conversation as if it were taking place in her living room with a good friend as she shares memories of her incredible career in the music industry. Such was the case on Tuesday evening, September 29 at the Valley Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge where music legend Linda Ronstadt sat down with longtime friend and award-winning producer Dan Guerrero to share excerpts from her 2013 book Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir as well as photos and stories from her childhood in Tucson, AZ, through her life as one of the most influential vocalists of the modern era.

While sharing her memories, I learned that over the course of her notable career, Ronstadt broadened the latitudes of the traditional '60's pop singer, expanding her canvas to include country, rock and roll, big band, jazz, opera, Broadway standards, Mexican and Afro-Cuban influences, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of the ultimate song. With worldwide album sales of over 50 million, at least 31 gold and platinum records, 10 Grammy Awards, membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a National Medal of Arts to her credit, Linda certainly has cemented her place as the consummate American artist. And thanks to her many recordings, we will always be able to experience her incredible vocal stylings even though she no longer records or performs in concert.

As a young child, Linda developed her multi-range soprano voice while singing with her family in the adobe house built by her parents in Tucson. Her music career officially began when she was a "not very dedicated student" at the University of Arizona when she met guitarist Bob Kimmel. The duo soon moved to Los Angeles where they were joined by guitarist/songwriter Kenny Edwards. Calling themselves the Stone Poneys, the group became a leading attraction on California's folk circuit, starting at a small club in the South Bay before recording their self-titled first album The Stone Poneys in 1967. The band's second album, Evergreen, Vol. 2, featured the Top 20 hit "Different Drum" which was written by Michael Nesmith. After recording one more album with the group, Linda left to become a solo artist at the end of 1968.



Linda Ronstadt - Lifetime Achievement, Leadership in the Arts Award

For the next forty years, Linda built a career without precedent in American musical history. Along with the Eagles (her former back-up band), Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and others, she helped create California country-rock, the dominant American music of the 1970s. At the height of her fame, with her picture on the cover of TIME magazine, she broadened her musical outlook, embracing musical theatre, the Great American Songbook, and her Mexican heritage, sharing stories, recordings and videos of her many hits and singing partnerships.

Ronstadt has always had a deep connection to her Mexican roots. Close family friend, Lalo Guerrero, who is widely-acclaimed as "Father of Chicano Music" was a big influence on her. The evening's host Dan Guerrero, Lalo Guerrero's son, met Linda for the first time when she was on her "Canciones de Mi Padre" tour, and they have been close friends ever since, often sharing inside stories only the two of them could possibly know about her life on the road.



Linda Ronstadt Grammy Awards 1989 YouTube

Her album of traditional mariachi music "Canciones de mi Padre" is the biggest-selling foreign language album in American record history. Lovingly honoring that tradition, the evening included a musical interlude by the Conjunto Hueyapan, a string instrument music group dedicated to the Son Jarocho music tradition that originated in Veracruz, Mexico and is one of Ronstadt's favorite styles of Mexican music. The Conjunto Hueyapan was founded in 1973 by Fermín Herrera, professor of Nahuatl at California State University Northridge, who appeared onstage with his daughter, also an incredible singer who credits Ronstadt with being her first singing coach. Ronstadt thoroughly enjoyed the performance, claiming she has not seen the singer since she was about 8 years old.



LINDA RONSTADT - CONCERT 10/25/09 Possibly Linda's Last Concert

Linda Ronstadt sang her last concert in 2009, and shortly thereafter announced her retirement from singing due to her Parkinson's diagnosis. Unlike most retirements, however, Linda's has been quite busy since then receiving a Latin Grammy for Lifetime Achievement from NARAS President Neil Portnow, writing her previously mentioned memoir which included an extensive national book tour, and being elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in December of 2013. The ceremony was held on April 10, 2014 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and featured an induction speech by Eagles founding member (and ex-Ronstadt band mate) Glenn Frey, as well as a musical tribute to Linda featuring Emmylou Harris (one of her "favorite singing partners"), Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, and Carrie Underwood. Just recently, Linda was honored by President Barack Obama, who awarded her the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony on July 28, 2014.

I feel truly blessed to have attended this one-night only event and for the sake of her many fans and friends across the country, I hope Ronstadt will continue to share her lifetime of spectacular memories with audiences across the country for many years to come.

[the Scribe]

The Hispanic 100: www.adherents.com/people/100_Hispanic.html
A Ranking of the Latino Men and Women Who Have Most Influenced American Thought and Culture
The list below is from the book The Hispanic 100: A Ranking of the Latino Men and Women Who Have Most Influenced American Thought and Culture (Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press: New York City, 1995), written by Himilce Novas.


1 Cesar Chávez (Cesar Chavez) 1927-1993
2 Henry Barbosa González (Henry Barbosa Gonzalez) 1916-
3 Luis Alvarez 1911-1988
4 Junípero Serra (Junipero Serra) 1713-1784
5 George Santayana 1863-1952
6 Pablo Casals 1876-1973
7 Desi Arnaz 1917-1986
8 Joan Baez 1941- Quaker (lapsed)
9 Antonio Novello 1944-
10 Plácido Domingo (Placido Domingo) 1941-
11 Henry Cisneros 1974-
12 Rita Hayworth 1918-1987
13 Oscar de la Renta 1932-
14 José Vicente Ferrer (Jose Vicente Ferrer) 1912-1992
15 Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert 1898-?
16 Roberto Goizueta 1931-
17 Edward R. Roybal 1916-
18 Herman Badillo 1929-
19 Rita Moreno 1931-
20 Geraldo Rivera 1943-
21 Linda Chávez (Linda Chavez) 1947-
22 Anthony Quinn 1915-
23 Chita Rivera 1933-
24 Adolfo 1933-
25 Roberto Clemente 1934-1972
26 Lee Travino 1939-
27 Gloria Estefan 1958-
28 Nancy López (Nancy Lopez) 1957-
29 Carlos Castañeda (Carlos Castaneda) 1925-
30 Linda Ronstadt 1946-


100 Hispanic-Americans Who Shaped American History www.adherents.com/people/100_Hispanic.html#Laezman

The list below is from the book 100 Hispanic-Americans Who Shaped American History, Bluewood Books (2002), written by Rick Laezman.

The individuals in this book are not ranked relative to each other. They are listed chronologically by birth.

Juan Ponce de Leon 1460-1521
Pedro Menendez de Aviles 1519-1574
Juan de Onate 1550-1630
Junipero Serra 1713-1784
Juan Bautista de Anza 1735-1788
Bernardo de Galvez 1746-1786
Manuel Lisa 1772-1820
Antonio Jose Martinez 1793-1867
Maria Gertrudes Barcelo 1800-1852
David Farragut 1801-1870
Pio De Jesus Pico 1801-1894
Juan N. Seguin 1806-1890
Mariano Vallejo 1808-1890
Romualdo Pacheco 1831-1899
Joaquin Murieta 1832-1853
Carlos Juan Finlay and
Juan Guiteras 1852-1925
1833-1915
Rafael Guastavino 1842-1908
Lola Rodriquez de Tio 1843-1924
George Santayana 1863-1952
Sara Estela Ramirez 1881-1910
Ignacio E. Lozano 1886-1953
Lucrezia Bori 1887-1960
Dennis Chavez 1888-1962
Maria Latigo Hernandez 1893-1986
Carlos Castaneda 1896-1958
Xavier Cugat 1900-1990
Severo Ochoa 1905-1993
Jose Arcadia Limon 1908-1972
Carmen Miranda 1909-1955
Luis Alvarez 1911-1988
Hector Perez Garcia 1914-1996
Anthony Quinn 1915-2001
Henry B. Gonzales 1916-1998
Emma Tenayuca 1916-1999
Edward Roybal 1916-
Desi Arnaz 1917-1986
Bert Corona 1918-2001
Jose Yglesias 1919-1995
Jose P. Martinez 1920-1943
Ricardo Montalban 1920-
Alicia Alonso 1921-
Antonia Pantoja 1922-
Tito Puente 1923-2000
Celia Cruz 1924-
Romana Acosta Banuelos 1925-
Reies Lopez Tijerina 1926-
Cesar Chavez 1927-1993
Lauro F. Cavazos 1927-
Carmen Zapata 1927-
Reuben Salazar 1928-1970
Richard "Pancho" Gonzales 1928-1995
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales 1928-
Jaime Escalante 1930-
Maria Irene Fornes 1930-
Dolores Huerta 1930-
Marisol 1930-
Lupe Serrano 1930-
Roberto C. Goizueta 1931-1997
Rita Moreno 1931-
Oscar De La Renta 1932-
Roberto Clemente 1934-1972
Nicholasa Mohr 1935-
Martha P. Cotera 1938-
Carolina Herrera 1939-
Lee Trevino 1939-
Vicki Carr 1940-
Luis Valdez 1940-
Victor Villasenor 1940-
Joan Baez 1941- Quaker (lapsed)
Lucille Roybal-Allard 1941-
Clarissa Pinkola Estes 1943-
Vilma Martinez 1943-
Geraldo Rivera 1943
William C. Velasquez 1944-1988
Jose Angel Gutierrez 1944-
Antonia Novello 1944-
Richard Rodriguez 1944-
Judith Baca 1946-
Linda Ronstadt 1946-

[the Scribe]

GOD IN POPULAR CULTURE
Ronstadt and
Mellencamp:
The Search for Roots

The air in Centennial Hall was tense with expectation; a current of restlessness swept back and forth among the well-dressed Mexican Americans who were at least half the audience. But it was not an anxious electricity nor an angry one. On the contrary, the anticipation of Los Tucsonenses was joyous. One of their own was coming back to perform in the University's hall- not only a third-generation Tucsonan who had made good in the big world but now someone to sing their own songs, the songs her father taught her.
And she was to sing their songs in the heart of a University that, for all its recent good will and honest effort, has never been able to relate to the Mexican-American middle class that has been in Tucson much longer than the century-old University.

Then the show began, "a romantic evening in Old Mexico" with the Mariachi Vargas; the Ballet Folklorico de la Fonda; and their darling, Linda Ronstadt, a shy, almost frail woman with an enormous voice. Los Tucsonenses cheered wildly after each number. When her father, Gilbert Ronstadt, walking with the help of a cane, joined her on the stage, they all rose in respect to one of their heroes. So did the rest of us.

We Anglos (an appellation bitterly resented by the Celt in me, but, for the moment, let it pass) cheered with them, profoundly moved by the music and by the enthusiam of the Mexican Americans. It was a special night for Tucson and perhaps for the whole country. Linda Ronstadt's search for her roots had offered to the rest of the country a slice of the wonders of Mexican-American culture. The success of her tour and her record "Canciones de mi Padre" indicated that the rest of the country was interested. Mexican Americans were no longer perceived merely as a social problem; they were now seen as what every ethnic group in fact is: a cultural resource.

Frederico Ronstadt, son of a German engineer who had migrated to Mexico, came to Tucson in the eighteen eighties. A successful businessman, he was involved in both politics and music. He and his brother founded the Club Filharmonico- which Tucsonenses will tell you was the first symphony orchestra in the city. His daughter Luisa was a popular singer in the Mexican-American community. The family has kept the traditions alive. His grandson Pete is the chief of police, and his granddaughter is probably the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era.

To reach that success, however, she had to leave behind Tucson and her Mexican-American heritage (though, be it noted, never in opposition to her family, who always supported her). Moreover, as one pieces together from interviews and profiles the story of her life during the two decades after she left Tucson, one is appalled at the physical and emotional toll the Rock music circuit takes from the lives of its celebrities, especially if they are women. Must a person go through such alienation and privation to be a success in American popular music? Is it necessary to leave home?

For Linda Ronstadt it surely was. There was no room for her in the Tucson of twenty years ago. Even though she attended SS. Peter and Paul grade school and her family was close to Bishop Francis Green (to whom Fred Ronstadt left his flute), sixteen-year-old Linda was expelled by the pastor of her parish from a parish high club dance for playing Rock music. It was pagan, evil music, he told her. Once again the Church missed a chance to embrace one of its gifted children.

Is it possible to "go home again"? John Cougar Mellencamp (about whom more shortly) argues that it is. When asked why he lives in Indiana near his home town of Seymour, he replies that he doesn't want to live anywhere else.

For Linda Ronstadt, a permanent return to the Tucson of her youth may be impossible, in part because that Tucson has been overwhelmed by waves of Anglo immigrants and doesn't exist anymore. But in Canciones, she does return to her musical roots and shares them with the rest of the country. At the level of symbol and story, if not of literal history, she has already gone home again.

Theologically, Canciones imposes on us two subjects for reflection- the celebratory nature of the Mexican-American world view and the inescapable importance of roots in our life. I shall atten to the first here and postpone the second until after a consideration of the Hoosier music of John Mellencamp.



Ask a literate Tucsonensis about Mexican-American religion and s/he will tell you about festivals- birthdays, baptisms, name days, rites of passage. The calendar, you will learn, is very important because you need to have available a list of which saints are being honored every week so that you can send presents to those who bear the names of the saints. Press a Mexican American about what all this means and you are likely to hear about yet more festivals and parties. Indeed, you will probably have to ask three or four times before it dawns on your respondent that you are interested in content and not form.

One of my graduate students gave the perfect answer: "Well, I suppose it means that we believed that God is part of our family and that he comes and joins us in all our festivals and celebrates with us like a member of the family."

Then she added, "Of course we don't know all the rules like you Irish do. That's why my children are in Peter and Paul school, so they can learn the rules and grow up to be good American Catholics just like the Irish children."

SS. Peter and Paul, you will remember, is the parish that ejected Linda Ronstadt for playing Rock music. At the time my student spoke those words, the same man was pastor.

I did not plead that there was a time when the Irish knew how to celebrate too. I merely said that the exchange ought to be in both directions and that the Irish could learn from the Tucsonenses the festivity of the Catholic tradition.

I did not even add, for which I expect points from the recording angel, that the pastor of SS. Peter and Paul might especially benefit from a little joy and celebration in his rigid, punitive, shanty-Irish life.

Linda Ronstadt's Canciones are almost all love songs, many of them, Tucsonenses will tell you, sad and melancholy songs. But the Mexican-American culture resolutely refuses to permit melancholy to triumph. With the Mariachi Vargas playing enthusiastically in the background, joy exorcises the melancholy themes every time. Joy- and faith- are victorious even in the beautiful and poignant Dos Arbolitos in which the singer observes sadly that the two trees are inseperable companions but that s/he has no companion. Sitting under the tree at the end of a tiring day, the singer is going to ask God, who makes companions even for the trees, to send a human companion.

It is the resolute joy of her songs, rather than explicit reference to God, which makes them theologically important. In a fascinating interview reported in American Airlines in-flight magazine, however, she shows that she is quite self conscious about the religious function of her music:

"But joy," said Linda Ronstadt, is a combination of
despair, fatalism, anger, triumph- it's all those things.
You know Joseph Campbell, author of Hero With a Thousand Faces?
He was a very good friend of mine, the neatest man I've
ever known. He said to me once, 'Life is basically intolerable.'
He said music is the only way we have of dealing with and
music is myth. Music is oral dream. It's a way of triumphing
over despair. The Catholics [she is one] say, 'life is a vale
of tears. Help me here in this vale of tears.' It's a myth.
The metaphor of life is the vale of tears. So. . ."

She broke into a glorious grin. ". . . if you can triumph
over it, that's cause for joy. This music has got that in it.
It's mythology. It's a triumph over a situation that is
basically intolerable."

Even at their most melancholy, they are joyous. For the Celts, the opposite might be true: even at our most joyous we sound melancholy.



Linda Ronstadt - FATHER GOD -

Those priest and religious who are engaged in "Hispanic work" are often immune to this rich dimension of Mexican-American culture. Indeed the "Hispanic Caucus" of clergy and religious that has appeared in many large dioceses (made up almost entirely, be it noted, of people with Celtic and not Hispanic names) often are the most joyless collection of celebrants that one could possibly imagine. They have "identified" with the Mexican Americans often to impose on them their own political agenda and are outside redeemers who have come to save and not to listen and learn.

They should be made to listen to Linda Ronstadt's Canciones every day and thus perhaps to come to understand that festival and celebration are essential to the Catholic tradition. The Mexican Americans have it and we don't. We must learn joy from them, much more than they must learn political strategy (not to say "liberation") from us.

I'm not saying that the cause of political and social justice is invalid. On the contrary, Mexican Americans have been cheated and continue to be cheated. I am saying, rather, that those who align themselves with La Raza will only be exploiters and manipulators themselves (no better in their own way than the pastor of SS. Peter and Paul) until they are ready to learn as well as teach.

You won't find much joy in John (Cougar) Mellencamp and his return to his small-town, Hoosier roots. You encounter, rather, in his most recent music, especially the two albums Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee, resignation and acceptance. If Linda Ronstadt represents the Catholic imagination (that which David Tracy calls "analogical," the awareness of God everywhere), John Mellencamp represents the Protestant imagination (the dialectical imagination in Tracy's terms which emphasizes the emptiness of creation). While he may not yet attend the Church of the Nazarene regularly as his family did, Mellencamp's search for roots- or more precisely his acceptance of the roots he never really left- requires the absorption of the the stern Protestant theology of his own tradition.

His return also involves the rediscovery of such traditional Hoosier instruments as the penny whistle, the mandolin, the banjo, and the dulcimer- to his work what the mariachi are to Linda Ronstadt. Ronstadt laments publicly that when she was growing up, bilingual education was unthinkable, so she never really learned the language of her father's songs.

The elite society thinks that such critical but sympathetic reexamination of one's origins is both unnecessary and wrong (unless perchance you are a member of one of the fashionable social groups- which middle-class Mexican Americans, German Hoosiers, Italians from Jersey, and West Side Irish Catholics are certainly not). Elite society is wrong. The music of Ronstadt, Springsteen, and Mellencamp tells us how wrong.

Popular culture both shapes society and is shaped by it. The roots-seeking Rock musicians are reflecting a broad cultural discontent as well as articulating and shaping it. If one reads the literature and listens to the music of the two singers discussed in this chapter (and Springsteen), one is almost overwhelmed by their passion for roots. They express one of the most desperate yearnings of modern humankind, a religious and human need which cannot long be denied.

One puts aside the tapes and the compact disks, the articles and the interviews, and wonders how long elite society can continue to pretend that such needs do not exist or are "conservative" and hence can be safely ignored or dismissed as "nostalgia."

And one also wonders how long the Catholic Church and its official theologians (of the right or the left) can continue to be indifferent to the hungers of humankind for responses that it is uniquely equipped to offer.

Probably for a long, long time.

read full article here: www.ronstadt-linda.com/artgod88-1.htm

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt, James Gutierrez Hispanic-Net Honorees for 2009

Hispanic-Net is pleased to announce Linda Ronstadt as Social Entrepreneur and James Gutierrez, Founder, Progress Financial, Entrepreneur of the Year. We will be celebrating their success on Saturday April 11th, from 6 to 9 pm at the Stanford Faculty Club, Stanford University. More details and tickets can be purchased at Hispanic-net Banquet RSVP

Linda Ronstadt
Hispanic-Net 2009 Social Entrepreneur of the Year


Linda-Ronstadt

Ms. Ronstadt has expanded beyond her world famous entertainment career to raising awareness of issues relevant to the Latino community. These include immigration and childrens' rights, empowerment through entrepreneurship, health issues and cultural awareness. A native of Tuscon, AZ, her family is deeply rooted in Mexican culture with family heritage on both sides of the border.. Awareness of her Latina background was first widely promoted with her 1987 album Canciones De Mi Padre. It stands as the biggest selling non-English language album in American record history with nearly 10 million records sold worldwide.

James Gutierrez
Hispanic-Net 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year


Jamesgutierrez

James Gutierrez, CEO, Co-Founder, is a serial entrepreneur who believes in changing the world through entrepreneurship and early stage investing. After graduating from college, James started Magic Beanstalk, a 3rd party recruiting company that organized campus recruiting events at 40 universities in the US and Brazil, and later built a web application for online recruiting. As CEO of Magic Beanstalk, James raised $5MM in venture capital, recruited the senior management team, and grew the business from 2 co-founders to 50+ employees with offices in NY and CA.

In addition to Progress Financial, James is a General Partner of Great Oaks Ventures, a $4M early stage angel fund that has invested in 12 ccompanies, including Jumpcut (acquired by Yahoo!), Trulia (funded by Accel Partners), Zimbio, OKCupid, and Farmacia Remedios. James received his MBA from Stanford where he was co-President of the Entrepreneur Club and a BA in Economics from Yale.

hispanicnet.typepad.com/hispanicnet/2009/03/linda-ronstadt-james-gutierrez-hispanicnet-honorees-for-2009.html

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt is a Solderada For a Time Such As This

Says the singer/Artistic Director: Participation in music and the arts can help people reclaim and achieve the American Dream

By Al Carlos Hernandez - Contributing Editor
Published on LatinoLA: June 18, 2010



On January 16, 2010, Ronstadt converged with thousands of other activists in a "National Day of Action." As a native Arizonan and coming from a law enforcement family, Ronstadt stated that her "dog in the fight" was the treatment of illegal aliens. She has serious concerns with Arizona's enforcement of the rule of law and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration efforts.



On April 29, 2010 Ronstadt began a campaign (including joining a lawsuit) against Arizona's new illegal immigration law, SB1070, calling it, "A devastating blow to law enforcement. The police don't protect us in a democracy with brute force." This is something she said she learned from her brother Peter, who was the chief of police in Tucson.



In May 2009 Ronstadt received an honorary doctorate of music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music for her achievements and influence in music as well as her contributions to American and international culture.

Recently Linda Ronstadt has emerged as a major arts advocate in the United States. In 2008 Ronstadt was appointed Artistic Director of the San Jos?® Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival held in San Jose, California. She continues to present the festival this year, a festival that is touted to be the biggest and best ever. Now in its 19th year, the San Jos?® Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival presents a week long schedule of music and educational events.

To celebrate Mexico's bicentennial in 2010, the festival has expanded to include terrific cultural programming throughout the year. The Mexican Heritage Festival has recently won an $800,000 grant to run three summer music and dance camps for children of low-income families in San Jose.



This year's theme of the Festival is Solderadas (a solderada is a female soldier). They commemorate the centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution from 9/15 until 9/26 with a week's worth of cultural activities consummating in a stellar concert. sanjosemariachifestival.com

Ronstadt, as well as festival guest special honoree United Farm Workers Union founder Dolores Huerta, believe that Mexican woman have fought side by side with men against social injustices, as they do to this very day. Strong women of political action and awareness should be celebrated and appreciated for all of their important work and lifetimes of sacrifices.

www.LatinoLA.com Contributing Editor Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez was invited to Linda Ronstadt's San Francisco home by dear friend and festival creative director, Dan Guerrero to talk about her latest endeavor.

She is quite the gracious host.

AC: We live in a post-ethnic society. Why the Mexican festival? Who is it for - us or another culture?

LR: In our culture you can't say that there is Mexico and there is USA. There are Mexicans in the USA but there is also this third culture. It is the conversation that is back and forth between the Americans and the Mexicans. It was hard for the guys in Los Lobos, for example, because they are in between two worlds, They are not fully Mexican, yet, they are fully American with Mexican culture and ancestry, Where do they fit in?

I remember going to Mexico as a young woman. My accent is very good but I cannot speak much Spanish. While talking to the cab driver he asked me where I was from, I said I was from Arizona and he said, "So you are an American." I said, "No. I'm Mexican. My Dad is Mexican." he asked where my dad was born and I said that he was born in Arizona. I viewed myself as Mexican. We had tamales and we would serenade people on their birthdays. We would wake up my grandma at 4 o'clock in the morning singing Las Ma??anitas. We followed these little forms and traditions; sometimes it is hard to discern your place. Where you are is your place and that is fine as long as you are doing something good with it.

Culture, heritage, and tradition are great to sort out for many of us. There is this amazing root. There are all of these different regions in Mexico which, for many who live here, are a significant part of them. This is what this festival is all about. For some we celebrate the cooking or maybe the music of Vera Cruz or Jalisco. There are mariachis from Jalisco who have absorbed different currents of all kinds of music so we are trying to sort all of these influences, these flavors. There is a tremendous diversity of culture that comes from Mexico - it came up here and got entangled with what was going on the in the USA and became a hybrid culture. There is a lot of good music, good food and good will that can be created from all of that stuff. We intend to showcase this in the best possible light.

AC: With this festival, then, is it your intention to integrate the Mexican culture into the American mainstream? If you look at the Italians, Irish and other immigrants who came here, they have assimilated on whatever level. Their culture becomes a part of the American fabric. So is it the goal of the festival? Do you want to say: this is Mexican culture but also American culture at the same time? Do you want to educate other Americans?

LR: I think it does two things. First of all it brings awareness of Mexican culture to the greater Anglo, Asian, African American whatever-is-out-there population. Really, the most important thing that it does is it creates a sphere for people who are of this culture and tradition. It is an experience of who we are and what we represent.

Kids today are in a vacuum. They don't know who they are and there is no cultural resonance or village around them that says, "You are the person that makes this or builds that." They don't know who they are, and so this gives them a chance to find out that their background is Mexican. This resonates, saying what you are. It is something to be proud of and it connects them back to their grandparents. It and connects generations together.

A good example is the Cuban musical group Buena Vista Social Club. Oh my gosh! The culture with the grandparents, mother, and father - it's all there. Families become one larger and extended family unit. They all enjoy the same traditional music; the music means different things to various family members at the same time. We don't have that so much here. Everybody is living in their own pod. Teenage pod, toddler pod, a grandparents' pod - and they are not connected. I think Mexican culture automatically connects generations.

AC: Is that why you did Canciones De Mi Padre back in the day?

LR: There were some great discoveries I made when I took my Mexican Canciones De Mi Padres show on the road a while back. I didn't know if anybody was going to show up. I had played this circuit around the country at all the outdoor pavilions. We did this every summer with rock and roll and we had forty thousand people at each show. Then I came back around this time with mariachis! I didn't know who was going to come. I was accustomed to people yelling, "Hey! Do Heat Wave!!!" It wasn't like that for Canciones. It was people giving gritos and they brought everybody. They brought children and grandparents - they brought the whole family. I said, "Wow! Look at them!" In all of my rock and roll touring years I'd never seen any kids or grannies - ever. I was thrilled.

The other cool thing was they knew exactly where to yell. Not like the rock people. It is one of the favorite audiences I have ever had. That what this festival is for. It's that resonance that's letting people have a sense as to who they are. Who you are has to be reflected back to you. When I hear mariachis I never tire of it. I get that feeling in my heart and it just straightens my spine.

AC: So it's about Familia Cosmica then?

LR: Now we're getting back to the idea of families showing up for these concerts. In the meantime, since I did those Canciones shows, there are corporations that have come in and bought up all of these tickets. They have a monopoly on ticket sales so now a ticket for a concert is between 75 and 500 dollars - or God-only-knows-what they want to stick you with. People can't afford to go and take families anymore. In our festival we have an entire day on a Sunday that is free and this year we have the best groups.


Adelita! The Women of the Mexican Revolution

Published on Mar 16, 2015
This is the opening sequence of the 2010 Festival original production, "Adelita! The Women of the Mexican Revolution," conceived by Linda Ronstadt and staged and directed by Dan Guerrero. This compelling multi-media production told the story of the women warriors of Mexico's Revolution of 1910. In this opening sequence, the real women, men, and yes, children, who fought for social justice, are brought to life.

AC: Why Solderadas?

LR: This year's theme of the festival is Solderadas. This is the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revolution. I wondered what the women's experience was during that time. The hindsight is that it was the men who get the glory.

What were the effects on these women who stood with them and took care of them and their children? They were widowed. Their children were slaughtered or died of diseases and they followed along supporting the soldiers. There was no government to support the revolutionary armies. They had to go along with flour and lard and make tortillas. They had to go out with their rifles and shoot something like a rabbit to eat. They actually picked up rifles and started fighting as well.

If you were married to the colonel and he got killed, you would take his 30/30 and you commanded the troops. The guys were too busy fighting to realize that they were taking orders from a woman. They were happy to listen to someone who knew what they were doing.

I thought it was important to see what they war was like from a woman's point of view. The children were always the most horrific victims of war. In Mexico they would steal the boys as young as eight or ten and turn them into soldiers. They are doing this in Africa today and the boys are totally traumatized. One of the most famous mariachi trumpet players was a child soldier. Pancho Villa kidnapped him. In this beautiful artist soul . . . Lord knows what he had to do and what he experienced.

After the war the women were put right back into the kitchen and never got the credit they deserved.

I am a great believer In the domestic arts. My sister is a career homemaker and she was a homemakers for many years. My God! I had to hire six people to do what she did in half a day. I have great admiration for her. She is a wonderful cook, knew how make her house beautiful, took care of her kids, and ironed that shirt just right so that philandering husband of hers would look good. She was my example of why not to get married, I admire the fact that being a domestic is full time work but now there are a lot of things for women to choose from. My mom wanted to be a scientist. She told us to never to learn to type because then you would end up being a secretary.

AC: What is your highest expectation for the festival this year?

LR: What would be perfect is if some kid comes in with his violin, trumpet, or guitar and he gets to meet one of those really great players from one the major Mariachi groups - one of the great masters. He hears someone blowing his horn exactly the right way and he says, "Oh man! I really want to do that! I want to learn how to play just like that!" To me that is a tremendous success. It's the next generations wanting to play that incredible music. Maybe they want to be just like Los Lobos - like Caesar and David. I just love those guys.



AC: How important has music been in you life and why is it important for our kids?

LR: I grew up in the desert in Tucson, Arizona on what was then a rural route. My grandfather's cattle ranch had been whittled down considerably as a result of the financial storms of the last Depression, but we were pretty happily established there amid the cactus and the cottonwoods.

My family had built a little compound with my grandparents in one house, my father and mother and the four of us kids in the other. I don't remember when there wasn't music going on in some form - my father whistling while he was figuring out how to fix something, my older brother practicing the "Ave Maria" for his performance with the Tucson Boys Choir, my sister sobbing a Hank Williams song with her hands in the dishwater, my little brother struggling to play the huge double bass.

On Sundays my father would sit at the piano and play most anything in the key of C and sing in his beautiful baritone. He would sing love songs in Spanish for my mother. He'd sing a few Sinatra songs while he remembered the single life before children and responsibilities, and before the awful war that we won that time. My mother would play ragtime or something from Gilbert and Sullivan. Evenings, if the weather wasn't too hot or freezing, and the mosquitoes were not threatening to carry us away to the land of Oz, we would haul our guitars outside and sing songs until it was time to go in, which was when we had run out of songs. There was no TV. The radio couldn't wander around with you because it was tethered to the wall and we didn't get enough allowance to buy concert tickets.

In any case, there weren't many big acts playing in Tucson so if we wanted music we had to make our own. The music I heard there, in those two houses before I was ten years old, provided me with enough material to explore for my entire career. A career which has stretched from the late sixties until now. It gave me something else too, something even bigger than that. It gave me an enormous yardstick to measure my experiences against generations of other people. It placed me in a much larger cultural context and helped me to locate my humanity.


Arts Advocacy Day 2009 Congressional Hearing: Linda Ronstadt

In the United States we spend millions of dollars on sports because it promotes teamwork, discipline, and the experience of learning to make great progress in small increments. Learning to play music together does all this and more. Jos?® Abreu, the founder of El Sistema (the children's music curriculum currently considered to be the best in the world) says this: "An orchestra is a community that comes together with the fundamental objective of agreeing with itself. Therefore, the person who plays in an orchestra begins to express the experience of agreement. And what does the agreement of experience mean? Team practice and self expression. The practice of a group that recognizes itself as interdependent. A group where one is responsible for others and the others are responsible for oneself. Agree on what? To create beauty." Music exists to help us identify our feelings. Through music one can safely express strong emotions like anger, sorrow, or frustration that might otherwise find a release in violence. Just as bad, it can cause one to seek solace in the numbing relief of drugs.

I'm continually stunned and deeply concerned when I hear groups of school children trying to sing something as simple as "Happy Birthday" and they are unable to match pitch. Many recent school children's performances that I have observed have sounded like a gray wash of tone-deaf warbling. Not the children's fault.


The Velocity of Change - GIA Keynote by Ronstadt, Hidalgo and Los Cenzontles

For thousands of years human history was passed down the generations using music as a way to remember long sagas before they could be written down. In these modern times, we tend to think of music as an entertainment or something that helps a troop of soldiers to step out smartly in a parade. Music is not just entertainment. Music has a profound biological resonance and it is an essential component of nearly every human endeavor. Oliver Sacks, the noted neurologist, wrote a book called "Awakenings" in which he describes his patients whose brains were severely damaged by Parkinson's disease. These patients were unable to walk, but when music was played they were able to get up and dance across the floor. Music has an alternate set of neurological pathways through our bodies and our brains.

Currently, I am acting as the artistic director of the Mexican Heritage Foundation in San Jose, California. We have a mariachi program that has functioned successfully in the schools since 1992. We also have an exciting math and music program in development. For 'under served' families, indeed for all families, participation in music and the arts can help people reclaim and achieve the American Dream.

About Al Carlos Hernandez - Contributing Editor:
Edited by Susan Aceves
Email the author

full article: latinola.com/story.php?story=8703

[the Scribe]

A Tribute To Linda Ronstadt & Women In Mariachi Music

THIS EVENT IS IN THE PAST!
WHEN
Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 1 p.m.

WHERE
Market Creek Amphitheatre 310 Euclid Avenue, San Diego, CA 92114
Map

AGES
All ages

COST $10

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Jacobs Presents will have a Mexican Fiesta (to pay “Tribute to Linda Ronstadt and Women in Mariachi Music”), where all-female Mariachi Flor de San Diego and Mariachi Uclatlán de Los Angeles will be playing some of your favorite Lind Ronstadt’s songs.

Enjoy entertainment for the whole family, great Mexican Food and the performance of Ballet Folklorico Nanahuatzin and DanzArts – Sabor Mexico Dance Co.

The acclaimed Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles will also be part of this magnificent tribute.

As America’s first all-female Mariachi Group, Reyna has been taking on a male-dominated musical tradition and building the popularity of Mariachi music since its founding in 1994.

In this occasion, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles will be paying tribute to Grammy-Award winning Linda Ronstadt, whose Mariachi album Canciones De Mi Padre has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

These canciones are part of Ronstadt’s family tradition and musical roots. On July 28, 2014, President Obama awarded Ronstadt with the National Medal of Arts and Humanities.In addition to the Tribute, an exhibit on History of Women in Mariachi Music will be displayed, including original Trajes Charros (Mariachi Suits) from different time periods.

Come with your whole family for an unforgettable experience full of dance, music, flavor and good times…!Que Vivan Las Mujeres!

Tickets are available at www.jacobspresents.com

For more information on Jacobs Presents please visit www.jacobspresents.com or call 619-450-4080

Location: Market Creek Amphitheatre 310 Euclid Avenue, San Diego, CA 92114 Google Map

Dates and times of events are subject to change without notice. Always check the event organizer's website for the most updated schedule before attending.



2nd Annual Mariachi Women’s Festival – Tribute to Linda Ronstadt

March 21, 2015 @ 7:30 pm

Tribute to Linda Ronstadt at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse- Mariachi Women's FoundationEnjoy a spectacular evening taking in the talent of 3 all-women mariachi groups who will pay tribute to Linda Ronstadt and celebrate Linda’s place in the history of mariachi women. Our guests will include Mariachi Mariposas who will travel from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to share their passion for mariachi music and back by popular demand the passionate Mariachi Flor de Toloache from New York City! Starting the evening off will be the newest all-female group in the Los Angeles mariachi, Las Angelitas!

The elegant and charming ladies of MARIACHI MARIPOSAS will travel all the way from South TEXAS to captivate you with their extraordinary mariachi sounds and voices. Experience a revolution not with fire and brimstone but with a phenomenal mariachi performance that will alter your view of South Texas. Mariachi Mariposas will offer a performance marinated in artistic grace and passion and expressed through the heart of a woman. This group is comprised of the top female musicians from across the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas.

MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE is the first and only established all female mariachi band in NEW YORK. Each member’s cultural background adds even more diversity to their already unique sound and appearance. They are an all women band spanning the globe from Puerto Rico, to Mexico, Singapore, Germany, Cuba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. They performed for 15 minutes in last year’s concert. This year, they are back by popular demand and you get to hear an entire performance!

Be among the first to enjoy the sounds of MARIACHI LAS ANGELITAS, the newest all-female group in LOS ANGELES. They are composed of some of L.A.’s most talented mariachi musicians and have already performed as the accompanying mariachi for a concert by well-known and celebrated Mexican singer, Yolanda del Rio.

Arrive early and enjoy the outdoor a free pre-concert performance by the beautiful fountain in front of the Playhouse from 5:30-7:00pm given by the youth group Mariachi Rosas del Valle from Central California. If you are a mariachi woman or mariachi girl, wear your traje and be recognized! If you’re not but want to wear a mariachi suit, this is your chance! Mariachi Women are welcome to bring their instruments and play along for the closing grande finale performance of “La Negra.”

The Mariachi Women’s Foundation prohibits photography & video

Tickets range from $35-$75. To purchase tickets online, click here. To purchase tickets over the phone call [phone]. For more information, visit The Mariachi Women’s Foundation website.

[the Scribe]

Quote by ronstadtfanaz:

Even within the musical genres Linda was a cross pollinator going from Folk to Country to Rock and Pop (to name a few) as noted in this music clip around late '60s early 70's.

[the Scribe]

Op-Ed Linda Ronstadt's 'Canciones de mi Padre' changed my life, and my culture



Linda Ronstadt with Jesus "Chuy" Guzman, left, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa on Dec. 7, 2005. (Los Angeles Times)
By Gustavo Arellano

November 21, 2017, 11:15 AM

Whenever I hear the opening of Linda Ronstadt’s “La Charreada” I think back to the winter of 1987, when I was 8 years old. That’s when my mom bought Ronstadt’s latest release: “Canciones de mi Padre” (“Songs of My Father”), a Spanish-language cover album that remains a milestone of American music and Mexican American history. A rush of brash mariachi strings, and male yelps that mimic the excitement of a Mexican-style rodeo, followed by Ronstadt’s mighty voice that holds a note for seconds before she launches into rapid-fire verses — and it all comes to me again.

Its national success — it sold over 2.5 million units, the biggest-selling foreign-language album ever in the United States — was a crucial moment to my peers and me. Our generation would become the first group of Mexican Americans to grow up comfortable with both sides of that term. Seeing Ronstadt sing in Spanish on national television, her album cover published in newspapers, taught us that it was OK to be unapologetically Mexican, no matter how assimilated we may be. Any time you hear one of us say “Doyers,” or wear a splendid guayabera, it’s because of her.

“Canciones” was the coda to a banner year for Mexicans in popular entertainment. “La Bamba” and “Born in East L.A.” told stories of the Los Angeles Chicano experience on the big screen. The Los Lobos-fronted soundtrack to the former had played across the Southland that summer. (My dad bought our cassette from a street vendor in front of a King Taco.)

“Previous generations of American entertainment giants downplayed their ethnic heritage to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Ronstadt was the biggest deal of them all. She had used Español before in her career: a Latin American version of “Blue Bayou,” her own composition, on the 1976 LP “Hasten Down the Wind,” and a duet with salsa legend Rubén Blades in 1985. But with “Canciones” she did something revolutionary. Previous generations of American entertainment giants downplayed their ethnic heritage to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Now came Ronstadt, deep into her career, with a bold announcement: I’m Mexican, and what of it?

The album isn’t perfect. In “La Charreada,” you can tell Ronstadt’s primary language isn’t Spanish because she pronounces words too exactly and doesn’t elide like a native speaker. Sometimes, she offers despair when the right tone for a song is melancholy, subtle differences that Mexicans raised on mariachi noted then and now.

But 30 years later, “Canciones” remains a classic. It’s an education, as songs span genres from huapangos to sones huastecos, corridos to rancheras, feminine confessions to macho boasts. The three mariachis that backed Ronstadt — Mariachi Vargas de Tecatitlán, Los Camperos de Nati Cano and Mariachi Sol de México —remain the most prominent in the world and ensured that every song sparkled. Ronstadt’s mastery was such that standards such as “Y Ándale” (“Get on With It”) became permanently associated with her.

Critics at the time couldn’t understand the album. Multiple interviewers asked Ronstadt if it was a cheap ploy to capitalize on her distant heritage at a time when “Hispanics” were hot. Rolling Stone dismissed “Canciones” as “the party-gag album of the year,” and complained that the cover art “makes her look like an El Torrito [sic] waitress who's been nibbling at the guacamole.” (The Times, to its credit, praised the “purity of spirit” in her efforts.)

Ronstadt was unapologetic. “I wanted [fans] to know,” she told a newspaper in 2008, “that they had something that really was strong and it was pure Mexican and that they should feel proud of that and they don't have to sell [their culture] down the river.”

To promote the album, Ronstadt appeared in all tiers of American pop life: the hip (“Saturday Night Live,” where she performed two tracks with Mariachi Vargas), the august (PBS’ “Great Performances,” for which she recorded a special), and the muy mainstream “Today” and “Good Morning America.” Her best performance was on “Sesame Street,” where she sang “La Charreada” in English to Elmo backed by a Muppet mariachi that nailed it. That appearance, in particular, stuck with me: Nothing normalized seemingly foreign concepts in the 1980s more than “Sesame Street,” so seeing a Mexican on it taught my child’s mind that we were really, truly cool.

“Canciones” won a Grammy for best Mexican American performance in 1989, and an Emmy for the PBS special. But the album did much more than help Ronstadt’s career, or my sense of place.

She was there in 1990 when Mariachi USA hit the Hollywood Bowl for the first time; every summer since, the largest such festival in the U.S. has drawn crowds to the most L.A. of concert venues. Ronstadt “revive[d] the mariachi tradition for both old and new audiences,” wrote UCLA musicology professor Steven Loza in his 1993 book, “Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles.” She also “brought to [mariachi] an even larger, international level of commercial recognition and diffusion.”

My mom still has Ronstadt’s CD, although she now listens to songs on her iPad. It doesn’t matter: The chills that “La Charreada” and the other tracks create remain the same. So gracias, Linda, for showing the world mexicanidad at its best. Now, can you hook me up with an original vinyl?

Gustavo Arellano is the author of "Taco USA" and is a longstanding contributor to Opinion.

[the Scribe]

CORRIDOS: Tales of Passion and Revolution

Mar 9, 2014 7:25:16 GMT -5 kgreen said:

Every 2 years or so, I create this link for the Greatest Screen event of Linda's career. Corridos, a PBS special several months before the Canciones De Mi Padre record. It showcased her Mexican Style and incredible stage presence, better than her other nods on film and TV. From the moment she comes on screen singing "Yo Soy El Corrido: and the next 5 minutes she combines her rock voice to her mexican style to the song "Yo Soy El Corrido, which she also used in her stage show. This version is as gun toting, dancing singing Linda. A real wow for any fan and a personal favorite. She looks gorgeous too.

We need to email them to release this and also make the songs available. Want new Linda music, here it is! Some snippits of songs too which probably have a full recording. These need to be released especially since Linda will likely not sing anymore. This is Linda in her "PRIME".

Note, after her first 5 minutes, there is a 20 minute segment, while good, has no Linda in it. We need to get this released to the general public. Let me know your thoughts, all show info is below.

Show Link

hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000539671.html

COLLECTION TITLE: El Teatro Campesino collection
TITLE: Corridos
ALTERNATE TITLE: Tales of passion and revolution
DATE: 1987 Apr. 1
LOCATION: Recorded at KQED studios, San Francisco, CA, on Apr. 1, 1987.

SYNOPSIS: Corridos: Tales of Passion and Revolution, nationally broadcast on PBS and the winner of the George Peabody for excellence in Television in 1987, was the final result of the El Teatro Campesino's stage production of the same name. The piece began as a five week workshop in ETC's San Juan Bautista playhouse in the summer of 1982, exploring the stories and narrative lyrics of Mexican popular ballads or corridos. The workshop production was an instant popular success with audiences and critics. ETC decided to stage a new production of Corridos at the Marines Memorial Theater in San Francisco, where it ran for three months to great reviews and eleven Bay Area Critics Awards. Other stagings followed in 1984. Corridos finally evolved into a full-fledged video production in 1987, after several drafts of the script that not only reworked the selection of ballads, but also condensed the material to fit into the confines of a one-hour special. The production presents two full-length corridos: Delgadina (a haunting parable of incest in a wealthy Mexican family), and Soldadera (based on the dispatches of American journalist John Reed, in which the compelling story of Elizabeta is framed by three songs of women during the 1910 Mexican Revolution). Highlights from other traditional corridos are connected by engaging narrative sequences: Yo soy El Corrido (the story of the corrido itself), Rosita Alvirez (a comedic parable of a defiant young woman who meets an early death), and El Lavaplatos (the story of an immigrant who dreams of becoming a movie star and ends up a dishwasher). Joining members of the original cast, the production included popular songstress Linda Ronstadt, singer/actor Daniel Valdez, San Francisco Ballet artist Evelyn Cisneros, and actor Clancy Brown.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
"Materials of the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library are protected by copyright. They may not be copied, downloaded, or reproduced. The owner of this work has granted NYU Libraries non-exclusive rights to include this material in the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library and to make it accessible to the public for educational and research purposes. Requests to purchase or for permission to use the work should be directed to the owner."
COPYRIGHT HOLDER: El Teatro Campesino
CONTACT: Luis Valdez
ADDRESS:
Luis Valdez
705 4th Street
P.O. Box 1240
San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
USA
PHONE(BUSINESS): [phone]
PHONE(FAX): [phone]
EMAIL: [e-mail]
WEBSITE: www.elteatrocampesino.com

[erik]

Quote by ronstadtfanaz:

Even within the musical genres Linda was a cross pollinator going from Folk to Country to Rock and Pop (to name a few) as noted in this music clip around late '60s early 70's.

Just for the record, the pic is from the May 3, 1969 edition of Billboard Magazine, at a time when she was just beginning to pioneer the art of C&W/rock for women.

I’ve mentioned this a number of times, but the kind of album, perhaps just a concept album of sorts, that I wished Linda had made before Parkinson’s gradually ate away at her ability to sing was an album that combined aspects of her country, rock, and Mexican musical roots, utilizing instrumentation from each of the three forms (including occasional mariachi brass), with some songs in English and some in Spanish. She has combined the three before, in both versions (English and Spanish) of “Blue Bayou”; on “Lo Siento Mi Vida”; “Adonde Voy”; “Carmelita”; and “The Dreams Of The San Joaquin”; and a full-length album of this kind with all-new material would seem an ability to show how those three aspects of her Southwestern upbringing helped make her the legendary and hugely influential female singer that we all know and appreciate.

[the Scribe]

This news of Linda Ronstadt losing her voice due to Parkinson’s Disease seems like an especially sinister storyline. What a cruel machination of mother nature to rob a woman of her one defining gift while she still has life and clear cognitive factories to contemplate her fate. This isn’t any voice, or any woman. But Linda Ronstadt is smart and strong, and I’m sure she will come to peace with it.

And we must come to peace with it, but how do we replace the Linda Ronstadt voice?

None of the voices that lent their talent to defining the American culture as the preeminent showcase for artistry and talent are being replaced as the greats falter and disappear and their contemporaries are relegated to obscurity. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio…indeed.

...we all are victims here. Linda Ronstadt didn’t just lose her voice, we all lost Linda Ronstadt’s voice. And the sounds of life will be one more shade towards grey henceforth.

CULTURE: Linda Ronstadt and Parkinson’s

Linda Ronstadt says that Parkinson’s Disease has robbed her of her singing voice.

This is such sad news. Linda Ronstadt is one of America’s greatest pop singers and has been since the 1970s.

Heart Like a Wheel was a profound album, with enormous impact, I always thought. (Dark End of the Street just kills)

It was huge in the guitar twangin’ country rock scene of my hometown of Claremont, California in the 1970s and we played the hell out of it at my house when I was growing up. It contained one of my favorite songs from that genre, Willin’, by the master, Lowell George.

The album was the first inkling, too, of a talent Linda Ronstadt displayed throughout her career of finding good songs and songwriters.

She was an early adopter of Warren Zevon, for one. Zevon’s Carmelita is one of the most evocative songs ever of Los Angeles; in this case, the 1970s street junkie scene in Echo Park. Simple, succinct, image-based songwriting, and thus great storytelling.

The other fine thing about Linda Ronstadt the singer is how she started out in California country rock, but early on refused to be pigeon-holed. That can’t have been easy for a woman in the music industry.

Instead, she recorded big band music, oldies, Mexican rancheros and just a lot of solid straight pop music.

Through Canciones de mi Padre I discovered Cuco Sanchez, with Gritenme Piedras del Campo – a Mexican blues if ever there was one. (Cuco Sanchez is, btw, a singer not to be missed.)

Her work with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton is some of the best stuff any of those ladies have done. Check out For a Dancer, the song by Jackson Browne, that she recorded with Emmylou.

We’ll not be hearing her likes around here for a while, I believe.

On a personal note, Linda Ronstadt has always been so supportive of my writing and reporting. I can’t say how wonderful it is to have spoken to one of the icons of my musical generation and have her tell me how much she loved my books.

I appreciated it enormously and lived on it like food for a few days.

My Claremont High School pal, Janet Stark, her assistant, put us in touch. Thanks Janet and thanks very much to you, Linda. Here’s wishing you the best.



journalist Sam Quinones samquinones.com/reporters-blog/2013/08/24/culture-linda-ronstadt-and-parkinsons/

[the Scribe]

Linda Ronstadt on Music and Culture

A pop performer discusses the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival.

By Ben Fong-Torres 

Linda Ronstadt performs at a 2007 concert, image

Linda Ronstadt sings from the heart at a 2007 concert.

Singer Linda Ronstadt is a musical groundbreaker, an early blender of country and rock who has also excelled with pop standards and light opera—even Cajun music. In recent years she has championed mariachi as artistic director of the annual San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival, now in its 19th year. September 15 to 26. sjmariachifestival.com.

Q Your connection?
A My grandfather was a German-Mexican rancher and engineer who settled in Tucson, Ariz. He had a mariachi band that played in town. My 1987 album, Canciones de Mi Padre, celebrates those musical roots.

Q So you’re passionate about mariachi?
A I love the music; there’s nothing like it. It’s folk orchestra with deep roots in tradition that has projected itself into a pop form, just as rock and roll has.

Q How’d you get to be artistic director?
A I played in the festival for a couple of years, and they asked if I could come up with ideas for the gala concerts. The first was with Los Lobos and the story of “La Bamba,” originally a song of rebellion. Second was a tribute to three divas of ranchera music. And the third was Mariachi Goes to the Movies.

Q And this year’s gala?
A The theme is Adelita! The Women of the Mexican Revolution.

Q Why is the festival crucial right now?
A Mexicans are making such enormous economic and cultural contributions, and for second- and third-generation Mexican Americans it’s important to connect them back to their heritage. You have to have the roots, and then the branches will take care of themselves.

Photography by Kevin Martin

[erik]

Quote by ronstadtfanaz:

This news of Linda Ronstadt losing her voice due to Parkinson’s Disease seems like an especially sinister storyline. What a cruel machination of mother nature to rob a woman of her one defining gift while she still has life and clear cognitive factories to contemplate her fate. This isn’t any voice, or any woman. But Linda Ronstadt is smart and strong, and I’m sure she will come to peace with it.

And we must come to peace with it, but how do we replace the Linda Ronstadt voice?

None of the voices that lent their talent to defining the American culture as the preeminent showcase for artistry and talent are being replaced as the greats falter and disappear and their contemporaries are relegated to obscurity. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio…indeed.

...we all are victims here. Linda Ronstadt didn’t just lose her voice, we all lost Linda Ronstadt’s voice. And the sounds of life will be one more shade towards grey henceforth.

Just for the record here, the above quote was taken from an article posted on the Saving Country Music website on the weekend that Linda make her announcement about her contracting Parkinson's:

www.savingcountrymusic.com/we-lose-linda-ronstadts-voice/

As one person on some of the other forums I visit pointed out to me, the only actual branch of the music world that hasn't yet honored Linda is the mainstream country music world, even though her impact on that genre, even if from well outside, has been, how shall we say, staggering. Apart from a lot of female artists in country music covering her songs over the years in concerts and on record, plus her collaborations with Dolly and Emmy of course, it's really only been Carrie Underwood (at the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction of Linda) and Brandy Clark (at last year's Parkinson's benefit at the Ace Hotel in L.A.) that have really paid any direct tribute. There really hasn't been any mass honoring of Linda from that part of the music industry. It may have a lot to do with the fact that the country music industry is by and large centered around Nashville, and Linda's left-of-center, West Coast-based approach to country was anathema to that town's industry higher-ups. Still, Linda is a big reason why there are a lot more women in that sector than there were 40 years ago.

[the Scribe]

excerpts From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_rock
Chicano rock

Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American (Chicano) groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specific Latin instruments or sounds. The main unifying factor, whether or not any explicitly Latin American music is heard, is a strong R&B influence, and a rather independent and rebellious approach to making music that comes from outside the music industry.

Chicano rock is the distinctive style of rock and roll music performed by Mexican Americans from East L.A. and Southern California that contains themes of their cultural experiences. Although the genre is broad and diverse, encompassing a variety of styles and subjects, the overarching theme of Chicano rock is its R&B influence and incorporation of brass instruments like the saxophone and trumpet, Farfisa or Hammond B3 organ, funky basslines, and its blending of Mexican vocal styling sung in English.

There are two undercurrents in Chicano rock. One is a devotion to the original rhythm and blues and country roots of Rock and roll. Ritchie Valens, Sunny & the Sunglows, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Thee Midniters, Los Lobos, Malo, War, Tierra, and El Chicano all have made music that is heavily based on 1950s R&B, even when general trends moved away from the original sound of rock as time went by.

Chicano rock 'n' roll star Ritchie Valens, was a Mexican-American singer and songwriter influential in the Chicano rock movement. He recorded numerous hits during his short career, most notably the 1958 hit "La Bamba." Valens died at age 17 in a plane crash with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper on February 3, 1959. The tragedy was later immortalized as "the day the music died" in the song "American Pie."

Another characteristic is the openness to Latin American sounds and influences. Trini Lopez, Santana, Malo, and other Chicano 'Latin Rock' groups follow this approach with their fusions of R&B, Jazz, and Caribbean sounds; but all of the groups and performers have some of these influences. Los Lobos in particular alternates between R&B/roots rock and the Tex-Mex/Latin rock style.

In places such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and Dallas and Houston, Texas, the African-American audience was very important to aspiring Latino musicians, and this kept their music wedded to authentic R&B. Undoubtedly, many listeners in the 1960s heard Sunny and the Sunglows "Talk to Me", or Thee Midniters' and more famously, Cannibal and the Headhunters' "Land of a Thousand Dances" and assumed that the groups were black. Dick Hugg (aka Huggie Boy) and KRLA 1110 played a big role in promoting this music. Chicano rock music was also influenced by the Doo-wop genre, an example being the song "Angel Baby" by the Chicana fronted group Rosie and the Originals.

The roots of Chicano rock are found in the music of Don Tosti and Lalo Guerrero, "The Father of Chicano Music"[citation needed] Tosti's Pachuco Boogie, recorded in 1949, was the first Chicano million-selling record, a swing tune featuring a Spanish rap, using hipster slang called Calo. Lalo Guerrero arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1930s and found that L.A is "bursting with ambition". Lalo and his friend captured their spirit in music by mixing swing and boogie woogie in a cross-cultural, dialog between African American, Anglo, and Mexican American influences. Guerrero also adapted swing and "jump" styles to Spanish language recordings—all this as rhythm and blues was beginning to emerge as a forerunner to rock 'n' roll. In the 60s there was an explosion of Chicano rock bands in East Los Angeles. One of the first to have a local hit, and even appear on Dick Clark, was The Premiers, who covered a Don and Dewey song called "Farmer John." It featured the beat from the popular hit, Louie, Louie, which was in turn based on a Latino song, Loco Cha Cha.

The 1950s brought rhythm and blues and the roots of rock 'n' roll. Mexican American were among first to catch the beat and introduced a Latin flair to early rock music.

In the early to mid-1960s, the American audience was probably more open to Latin sounds than even today because of the popularity of bossa nova, bugalú, mambo, and other forms. Also, musicians who didn't conform to the rather limited range of early rock could find success as folk performers.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, when civil rights and the Vietnam War were compelling issues, young Mexican American proudly called themselves Chicanos—which once considered as a derogatory term—and many took to the streets to stand up for their rights. Bands like Tierra and El Chicano, created new music that "said something" about Chicano heritage and their struggles for equality and justice.[9] In the midst of these events, Mexican-American immigrants of East L.A. were being exposed to cultural identity problems and struggles with assimilation. Chicano rock emerged as a musical art-form with the power to cross over to the mainstream. With aims to pay homage to their native culture and capture the unique Chicano experience. Chicano rockers unified both the Mexican and American roots that lived within their oppressed cultural spheres.

The trend of Chicano rock mirrored what was happening on college campuses as well. The rise of Chicano Studies departments, which offered courses in Chicano literature, politics and culture, affected college students and musicians tremendously. Musicians rebels against the "old world" and adopt the Mexican and Latin American styles in their own music.

Along with visual artists, activists, and audiences, the musicians of the East Los Angeles chicano rock scene form an emergent cultural movement that speaks powerfully to present conditions. The chicano rock scene of East Los Angeles serves as a form of unity for radical Chicanos who wish to bring forth a call to action and a site for resistance through their art. By claiming the musical style of the "old world", Chicanos are reclaiming their indigenous identity and undoing Spanish colonialism.

The Eastside scene's story of formation, the diversity of its origins, and its commitment to political activism and coalition building illuminate the relations between culture and politics in the present. The musical practices of the East L.A. scene bring to the discussion the dislocations and displacements of people of color in urban California, but they also reflect the emergence of new forms of resistance that find counterhegemonic possibilities within contradictions.

Linda Ronstadt, once hailed as the "First Lady of Rock," is a versatile singer who traversed multiple genres en route to massive national success in pop music in the 1970s and '80s. Ronstadt was nurtured by her Mexican American family whose musical roots run deep in the Mexican border region of Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt holds dear the memory of childhood serenades by "The Father of Chicano Rock," Lalo Guerrero, a close family friend. Ronstadt's great-aunt Luisa Espinel gained international popularity interpreting Spanish and Mexican song and dance in the 1930s. Among the most popular female pop singers, Ronstadt is one of the most influential Chicana musicians ever, as evident in her extensive discography and four-decades long career.

[the Scribe]

Selected list of career achievements

•As of 2013, Linda Ronstadt has earned three No. 1 Pop albums, ten Top 10 Pop albums and 36 charting Pop albums on the Billboard Pop Album Charts. On Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, she has charted 15 albums including four that hit No. 1.
•Also—as of 2013—Ronstadt's singles have earned her a No. 1 hit and three No. 2 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (with ten Top 10 Pop singles and twenty-one reaching the 'Top 40' overall). Additionally she has scored two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and two No. 1 hits and on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.
•Linda has recorded and released well over 30 studio albums and has made guest appearances on an estimated 120 other albums. Her guest appearances included the classical minimalist Philip Glass's album Songs from Liquid Days, a hit Classical record with other major Pop stars either singing or writing lyrics, she also appeared on Glass's follow up recording; 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, an appearance on Paul Simon's Graceland, where she sang second voice beautifully on a wonderful song of Paul Simon's called "Under African Skies," a song which it appears has a verse dedicated to Ms. Ronstadt, to her amazing voice and harmonies, and to her birth in Tucson, Arizona, she voiced herself in The Simpsons episode "Mr. Plow" and sang a duet "Funny How Time Slips Away" with Homer Simpson on The Yellow Album. Ronstadt has also recorded on albums with artists as diverse as Billy Eckstine, Emmylou Harris, The Chieftains, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, J. D. Souther, Gram Parsons, Bette Midler, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Earl Scruggs, The Eagles, Andrew Gold, Wendy Waldman, Hoyt Axton, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Ann Savoy, Karla Bonoff, James Taylor, Valerie Carter, Warren Zevon, Maria Muldaur, Randy Newman, Nicolette Larson, the Seldom Scene, Rosemary Clooney, Aaron Neville, Rodney Crowell, Hearts and Flowers, Laurie Lewis and Flaco Jiménez.
•Her three biggest-selling studio albums to date are her 1977 release Simple Dreams, 1983's What's New, and 1989's Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind, each one certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for over 3 million copies sold. Her highest-selling album to date is the 1976 compilation, Greatest Hits, certified for over 7 million units sold in 2001.
•Linda Ronstadt became music's first major touring female artist, selling out major venues, and she also became the top-grossing solo female concert artist for the 1970s. Ronstadt remained a highly successful touring artist into the 1990s at which time she decided to 'scale back' to smaller venues.
•Cashbox magazine – fierce competition to Billboard in the 1970s – named Linda Ronstadt the '#1 Female Artist of the Decade'.
•Linda's RIAA certification (audits paid for by record companies or artist for promotion) tally as of 2001, totaled 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and 7 Multi-Platinum albums.
•Ronstadt's album sales have not been certified since 2001, and at the time, Ronstadt's U.S. album sales were certified by the Recording Industry Association of America at over 30 million albums sold while Peter Asher, her former producer and manager, placed her total U.S. album sales at over 45 million. Likewise, her worldwide albums sales are in excess of 60 million albums sold, according to Verve Music. Verve Music Group
•She was the first female in music history to score three consecutive platinum albums and ultimately racked up a total of eight consecutive platinum albums.
•Her album Living in the USA was the first album by any recording act in U.S. music history to ship double platinum (over 2 million advanced copies).
•Her first Latin release, the all-Spanish 1987 album, Canciones De Mi Padre stands as the best-selling non-English-language album in U.S. music history. As of 2013, it has sold over 2½ million U.S. copies.
•Ronstadt has served as record producer on various albums from musicians such as her cousin David Lindley and Aaron Neville to singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. She produced Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages, an album of classical music using glass instruments with Dennis James, and Ronstadt singing on several of the arrangements. In 1999, Ronstadt also produced the Grammy Award winning Trio II.
•She has received a total of 27 Grammy Award nominations in various fields from rock, country, and pop, to Tropical Latin, and has won 11 Grammy Awards in fields including Pop, Country, Tropical Latin, Musical Album for Children, and Mexican-American.
•In 2011, Linda was again honored by NARAS (the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
•Ronstadt was the first female solo artist to have two Top 40 singles simultaneously on Billboard magazine's Hot 100: "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy" (October 1977). By December, both "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy" had climbed into Billboard's Top 5 and remained there for the entire month.The Book of Singles—Top 20 Charts 1984 to present Day: Dave McAleer: 2001: ISBN 0-87930-666-1:
•As a singer-songwriter Ronstadt has also written songs covered by several artists, such as "Try Me Again" covered by Trisha Yearwood and "Winter Light" which was co-written and composed with Zbigniew Preisner and Eric Kaz, and covered by Sarah Brightman.
•Ronstadt recorded songs written by a diverse group of artist including Lowell George, Zevon, Costello, Souther, Anna McGarrigle, Newman, Karla Bonoff, Patty Griffin, Sinéad O'Connor, Julie Miller, Mel Tillis, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, John Hiatt, Joe Melson, Seldom Scene, Bruce Springsteen, George Jones, Tracy Nelson, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Little Feat, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Brian Wilson, the Rolling Stones, the Miracles, Oscar Hammerstein II, Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
•Rolling Stone writes, a whole generation "but for her, might never have heard the work of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, or Elvis Costello."
•"Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" included Heart Like A Wheel (1974) at No. 164 and The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt (2002) at No. 324.
•In 1999, Ronstadt ranked No. 21 in VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. Three years later, she ranked No. 40 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music.

[the Scribe]

Feb 14, 2018 22:58:06 GMT -5 lawrence said:

www.npr.org/2018/02/13/585540550/how-ranchera-music-helped-1-woman-fall-in-love-with-her-mexican-culture
Some discussion of Linda's influence and a clip of her singing Por Un Amor

February 9, 2018

It's My Podcast and I'll Cry If I Want To

Four years ago, Latino USA producer Antonia Cereijido was only an intern and still in college when she did what a lot of people do when they're not sure what their life will look like after graduation: she cried in the bathroom. After wiping her eyes and returning to her desk, she tried to comfort herself by calculating how many other Latinos had cried at the same time she had. Which led her to ask herself: do Latinos cry more that other people, on average? Thus began her strange and lachrymose journey into the world of crying.

Listen· 44:19 www.npr.org/podcasts/510016/latino-usa (discussion about Linda begins at 20:50)

play.podtrac.com/npr-510016/npr.mc.tritondigital.com/NPR_510016/media/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510016/584471279/npr_584471279.mp3?orgId=1&d=2660&p=510016&story=584471279&t=podcast&e=584471279&siteplayer=true&dl=1

[the Scribe]

How Ranchera Music Helped 1 Woman Fall In Love With Her Mexican Culture
Listen· 5:04 ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2018/02/20180213_atc_how_ranchera_music_helped_1_woman_fall_in_love_with_her_mexican_culture.mp3?
February 13, 2018·4:24 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered
Adrian Florido

Before Valentine's Day, love is in the air. But sometimes, love hurts. It's a harsh reality that many Mexicans deal with by listening to rancheras, traditional songs from Mexico's countryside that you can put on when you need a good cry. One young woman found a connection to her ancestors through the sounds of guitars and tears.

A longer version of this story originally aired on NPR's Latino USA.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

On this day before Valentine's Day, love is in the air. And for some, so is heartache. Listening to music can be a way to deal with it. In Mexico, when you have had a couple of tequilas and you need a good cry, the music you put on is rancheras. NPR's Adrian Florido brings us the story of a woman who fell in love with her culture through this music.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: When Beatrice Garcia Meade was 13, her family moved from a working-class Mexican neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas, to a mostly white neighborhood with a country club.

BEATRICE GARCIA MEADE: And in my quest to fit in, I guess I aligned myself with all the people that I was surrounded by and so was very disconnected from being a Garcia, if you will.

FLORIDO: She didn't speak Spanish. Sometimes she hid the fact that she was Mexican.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR TU MALDITO AMOR")

VICENTE FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: But her parents were like many Mexican parents. And during Sunday chores or at parties, they would blast ranchera songs.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR TU MALDITO AMOR")

FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: Rancheras are traditional songs from Mexico's countryside. Garcia remembers how emotional her parents would get when they played them.

GARCIA: I hate to say this, but it was kind of embarrassing. It was just so over-the-top.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR TU MALDITO AMOR")

FERNANDEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

(SOUNDBITE OF LINDA RONSTADT SONG, "YOU'RE NO GOOD")

FLORIDO: As a kid, Garcia was listening to rock and pop. She liked singers like Linda Ronstadt

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU'RE NO GOOD")

LINDA RONSTADT: (Singing) I'm going to say it again. You're no good. You're no good. You're no good. Baby, you're no good.

FLORIDO: What Garcia didn't know was that Ronstadt, too, was Mexican. One day the late-'80s...

GARCIA: I heard my father talking about Linda Ronstadt's "Canciones De Mi Padre."

FLORIDO: It was Ronstadt's album of Mexican music, rancheras.

GARCIA: And it piqued my interest. And I remember going and finding the CD and listening in secret (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR UN AMOR (FOR A LOVE)")

RONSTADT: (Singing in Spanish).

GARCIA: And I loved the music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR UN AMOR (FOR A LOVE)")

RONSTADT: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: The album starts with Ronstadt singing about a lost love. Because of that love, she sings, I've cried tears of blood straight from my heart.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR UN AMOR (FOR A LOVE)")

RONSTADT: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: For the first time, Garcia understood the lyrics because the album's liner notes had them in English.

GARCIA: And feeling for the first time that connection and the stories, the passion, it really - it struck me deeply.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POR UN AMOR (FOR A LOVE)")

RONSTADT: (Singing in Spanish).



FLORIDO: "Canciones De Mi Padre" was Garcia's gateway to the music but also to exploring her Mexican identity. Eventually she went off to college where one of her roommates was Mexican, and together they went to bars that played rancheras. By now it was the mid-'90s. The Internet was taking off. So Garcia dialed up and looked for translations. Garcia remembers it wasn't that long after that she cried to a ranchera for the first time. It was on one of those visits to the bar.

(SOUNDBITE OF CUCO SANCHEZ SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

GARCIA: And as the night wore on, as the beers were consumed and feeling this love for our culture, our people, for being Mexican...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

CUCO SANCHEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

GARCIA: ...That's when the tears start flowing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

SANCHEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: Since then, she's cried countless times listening to rancheras. And now at family parties, she and her dad and her uncle - they belt them out together, and Garcia knows what she's singing about.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

SANCHEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

FLORIDO: Adrian Florido, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

SANCHEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

KELLY: You can hear a longer version of this story on NPR's Latino USA podcast.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CANCION MIXTECA (QUE LEJOS ESTOY)")

SANCHEZ: (Singing in Spanish).

[eddiejinnj]

I have always wished that Linda had included "El Crucifijo de Piedra" on Canciones since it is the apex of her Mexican recordings sales and discussion wise. IOt is in my top ten of all time Linda songs as she just absolutely nails it with such passion. eddiejinfl

[the Scribe]

Why Linda Ronstadt matters to the mariachi world



Linda Ronstadt with her father, Gilbert, at the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.

I was going through the transcript of an interview I did in late 2012 with Richard Carranza, now the Superintendent of Schools in the San Francsico School District.

Carranza is the man who started Mariachi Aztlan at Pueblo High School, and who created the curriculum for mariachis that has become so much a part of mariachi education throughout America. The interview was conducted as part of the research for my film and book project, “The Mariachi Miracle,” now in production.

Much of the interview focuses on the creation of that program and how it changed his world, thrusting him into the educational administration arena.

But he also talked about the many other turning points in his life that came from being a mariachi in his youth. These include attending the first mariachi conference in the U.S. in San Antonio as part of Tucson’s Los Changuitos Feos. The Changuitos took the crown in the battle of the bands in that program. He talks about attending the first mariachi conference in Tucson, and the early years when Vargas, Lola Beltran, Linda Ronstadt, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Mariachi Cobre and more took the stage in Tucson.

And then with boyhood enthusiasm he launched into this spontaneous assessment of what Linda Ronstadt’s recordings meant to him as a mariachi from Tucson. I suspect it had the same resonance for many around the country. Would love to hear your take as well on what she’s meant to the mariachi world, so feel free to comment.


Richard Carranza

Meanwhile, here’s the quote:

“I would also say that you cannot talk about the importance of the mariachi movement, especially the youth mariachi movement, in the United States without also talking about our Tucson home girl; Linda Ronstadt.

She’s quintessentially, phenomenally responsible for what mariachi music has become in the United States, uh, because here you have someone that has reached the pinnacle of American pop music. I mean she’s a rock star! And a talentedrock star; she can sing! And she’s great looking. And she can communicate.

And what? She’s recorded an album with mariachi; and not just some studio musicians she picked up somewhere; Mariachi Vargas! Oh my goodness!

Sol De Mexico’s on there! Oh my goodness! The Camperos are on there! Oh my god – she didn’t just bring anybody, she got the best! And there, the honor on her album Canciones de mi Padre. Wow! What a statement!


Singer Linda Ronstadt

And for people that were, in my age group, that were on the edge; that were on the fence; my colleagues, other teachers that, “Well,” you know, “Wow this is really cool. It’s a neat student engagement program. I’m not really sure how I feel about this whole mariachi thing but it’s a neat student engagement program.” Linda Ronstadt just recorded this and she’s got this show.

It changed people’s perceptions. All of those challenges that I’ve talked about; about what mariachi is and it’s in bars for drunks and you teach them to play out of tune and you’re going to steal people out of orchestra; all of that negativity, all of a sudden gets shoved aside because what do you have? You have a major pop star; major rock star; molded in the United States that says, “I’m proud of who I am and I’m recording some albums in this regard; and these are the songs that my father sang.” Whoa! You don’t think that there were thousands upon thousands of kids that could say the exact same thing; I sing this song because my father sang it or my grandfather sang it or my uncle sang it; instant connection.

She’s incredibly important and in just my humble opinion; I don’t think she always gets the credit for just how important she’s been to this movement. I’m just tremendously proud, you know, even now living in San Francisco, to be able to say, “Yah, I know Linda has a house in San Francisco but she’s a Tucsonan. I’m a Tucsonan.” And to be able to say, “Those are our roots. That’s what it’s about.””

~ by Daniel Buckley on January 6, 2015.

Posted in Daniel Buckley Arts, Daniel Buckley Documentaries, Mariachi blog, Mariachi documentary, Slice of Life, Uncategorized

3 Responses to “Why Linda Ronstadt matters to the mariachi world”
I was just a few years behind Richard Carranza in the youth Mariachi movement in Tucson and didn’t understand Linda Ronstadt’s impact on myself and my local colleagues until a few years after “Canciones de Mi Padre” was released in 1987. It became crystal clear when my parents, who were staunch admirers of “Golden Era” singers like Antonio Aguilar, Amalia Mendoza, Javier Solis and Miguel Aceves Mejia were awed by Linda’s interpretations and the arrangements (done by Ruben Fuentes) of standards. It was a generational connection that opened my eyes. Soon after, you couldn’t find a group in Tucson that didn’t incorporate “Los Laureles”, “Por Un Amor”, “Tu Solo Tu” and “La Charreada” into their repertoire. Her appearances at the Tucson International Mariachi Conferences both as a featured artist and as a guest milling about the student workshops further solidified the connection and we (youth mariachis) were caught in the wake that would pull us along many years after both LP’s (“Mas Canciones” 1991 as well) made their impact on the Mariachi world!

John Contreras said this on January 6, 2015 at 5:29 am | Reply

Wow what pride I feel bein of Mexican American descent. ..studied his tory of Mexican music at university of Texas in 1978.also my sister got to experience can cones de mi Padre in new York City!

adrianaflores said this on January 9, 2015 at 6:40 pm | Reply

I remember going to see the Canciones tour at what was then called Great Woods in Massachusetts. It was spectacular. I have seen Linda Ronstadt 39 times in my lifetime, and she has never disappointed. That night, there were some really rude people behind me and all the kept yelling was “Sing in English. I didn’t pay for this.” I remember turning around and telling them, “Yes, you did. It was billed as the Canciones di mi Padre Tour. Now, shut up or leave.”

Thanks for the article. It was awesome.

Deb Della Piana said this on February 19, 2015 at 1:32 pm | Reply

www.danielbuckleyarts.com/2015/01/why-linda-ronstadt-matters-to-the-mariachi-world/

[the Scribe]

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Linda Ronstadt Testifies to Congress

Tucsonan Linda Ronstadt joins other musicians and leaders of the art world today in Washington, D.C. to testify in support of funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Here is an excerpt of her remarks, courtesy of Mercury News:

For thousands of years human history was passed down the generations using music as a way to remember long sagas before they could be written down. In these modern times, we tend to think of music as an entertainment or something that helps a troop of soldiers to step out smartly in a parade. Music is not just entertainment. Music has a profound biological resonance and it is an essential component of nearly every human endeavor. Oliver Sacks, the noted neurologist, wrote a book called "Awakenings" in which he describes his patients whose brains were severely damaged by Parkinson's disease. These patients were unable to walk, but when music was played they were able to get up and dance across the floor. Music has an alternate set of neurological pathways through our bodies and our brains.

Music programs have a very discernable positive effect on our children's education. A recent survey by Harris Interactive of 450 randomly selected high schools revealed that students who are enrolled in a music program have a 90.2% graduation rate, while those who take no music classes have a 72.9% graduation rate. Christopher Johnson, professor of music education and associate dean of the School of Fine Arts at Kansas University, conducted a landmark study comparing test scores of students in a music program with students who had no music. Professor Johnson later testified before Congress, presenting some eye-opening data: students of all regions and socio-economic backgrounds who studied music scored significantly higher on math and English tests than students who did not study music.

Recently I have been invited to sing at several schools. I agreed on the condition that I not sing from the stage to a large school assembly but rather in the classrooms of first and second graders so that they could hear un-amplified music in a more natural setting the way I experience it in my living room. I know that many of these children don't have families that play music at home. In fact, most of them have had no experience with anything but recorded music. They think music comes out of their television or computer screens, not out of people's hands and mouths. After they got over the shock of discovering that we didn't have volume knobs on our heads or on our acoustic guitars, they settled down and listened to our selection of folk songs from the early part of the twentieth century. These were not children's songs. They were songs about building the railroad, exploring unknown territory and the loneliness of being a stranger in a new land. Afterward, we talked about the stories in the songs and how they might apply to their lives.

There are some excellent programs that promote live performances in the schools and they deserve to be supported. Yo-Yo Ma, the renowned cellist who performed recently at President Obama's inauguration, has volunteered his time to perform in schools with the help of an organization called Young Audiences.

In my hometown of Tucson, an organization called OMA (Opening Minds to the Arts) has made a tremendous impact in helping children of many different cultures and languages to assimilate into the Tucson Unified School District. Children of African refugees, Native Americans, and Mexican immigrants, all have benefited from learning music, the universal language, as they struggle to become proficient in English and excel in their other subjects. In only the first year the program was implemented, the dramatic rise in test scores in schools being served by OMA surprised teachers and researchers alike.

click for full remarks: www.mercurynews.com/2009/03/30/opinion-arts-advocacy-day-testimony-from-linda-ronstadt/

Some of my favorite memories revolve around time spent listening to Ronstadt's Canciones de mi Padre album with family and friends. I can close my eyes and hear my long-deceased nana on my mom's side singing Tu Solo Tu to me, or my tata on my dad's side belting out ¡Y Andale!

I even remember tearing up when Linda appeared with Elmo on Sesame Street, singing La Charreada. It was the first time I felt like the rest of the country was paying attention to something so closely connected to my identity.

That album (and yes, I own the vinyl...plus a CD, DVD and now digitized version) was my first personal introduction to my mother tongue of Spanish. My parents didn't speak it in our house and barely understand it today due to the hate their parents experienced growing up in the era of Operation Wetback when it was declared open season on Mexicans, regardless of which side of the imaginary line they were born. It's a sad thing, really, and something I've been trying to rectify by studying and re-learning a language that holds an indescribable connection to my soul.

Linda's testimony today is consistent with what I experienced when Canciones debuted in 1987 - a renaissance of cultura, to a new generation that encouraged learning. She was already an established artist in the country/pop world and by doing an album in her native tongue using powerful songs that go to the heart of what it means to be Mexicano, people like me found ourselves memorizing the words to the corridos and boleros, exercising our brains and hearts to make room for another language.

I'm pleased to have the opportunity to see this amazingly talented (and liberal!) woman perform at this year's Tucson International Mariachi Conference towards the end of April. I attended a mariachi serenata performance of hers a few years ago but can hardly contain the excitement for this one. Reading Linda Ronstadt's testimony today, and reflecting on my experience of having music be a guide for deeper education, brings an uncontrollable ¡Grito! from my lips.