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Post by Guest on Nov 22, 2017 15:30:16 GMT -5
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 22, 2017 15:46:23 GMT -5
Awesome!! Thanks for posting this. I have just the home for this article: ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/4570/cultural-influence-linda-ronstadt?page=1&scrollTo=43212
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 ROLLING STONE REVIEW
Linda Ronstadt: Canciones De Mi Padre By David Browne
January 14, 1988
Depending on how seriously one takes Linda Ronstadt these days, Canciones de Mi Padre ("Songs of My Father") is either a deeply felt homage to her family's Mexican heritage or the party-gag album of the year. For this confusion the blame must rest largely with Ronstadt herself, who's spent the Eighties flitting from one musical style to another — fake New Wave, operetta, big-band pop standards — without staking a claim to any of them. Now along comes her album of Mexican folk songs and ballads, complete with a cover that makes her look like an El Torrito waitress who's been nibbling at the guacamole.
In this case, though, Ronstadt isn't as dilettantish as she may seem. Her earlier forays into Spanish-language recordings — one track on 1976's Hasten down the Wind and a duet with Rubén Blades on his album Escenas — displayed her ease with the language. And this time she couldn't have found a better showcase than mariachi, the Mexican band music that dominates these thirteen tracks (which range from traditional songs to Latin hits of the early twentieth century). Ronstadt's increasingly guttural soprano lends itself to brassy huapangos and rancheras (folk dances) like "Los Laureles," and the self-pitying lyrics in the ballads and corridos (story songs) are enough to make J.D. Souther jealous.
Brought in for requisite authenticity, bandleader Ruben Fuentes arranged and coproduced the album with Ronstadt's producer and manager, Peter Asher. Here's where the album tends to go awry. In the Sixties, Fuentes was responsible for slicking up the traditionally simple mariachi style with strings and brass. On Canciones de Mi Padre, he lives up to his reputation, using a number of solid mariachi bands, including his own, but swamping them in syrupy strings and warbling trumpets. That may be in keeping with mariachi, which has always been a slightly cornball genre, but it doesn't excuse the flutes that clutter simple ballads like "La Calandria."
When Fuentes's arrangements aren't threatening to capsize the record, then Ronstadt herself is: she belts out the lovelorn ballad "Hay Unos Ojos" as if she were still on Broadway, and "Tú Sólo Tú," a song of drunken longing, is done as a sprightly duet for no logical reason. But taken as a risky commercial move at a time when Ronstadt could use a Top Ten hit, Canciones de Mi Padre is a fascinating bit of eccentricity from a most unlikely source.
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Post by fabtastique on Nov 23, 2017 10:40:14 GMT -5
This is a wonderful album. I was completely removed from this type of music until Linda made me aware. I remember buying the record at the time, being a Linda fan and not knowing what to expect. I was blown away.....
I'm pleased she is receiving this small credit for yet another achievement.
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Post by erik on Nov 23, 2017 10:49:42 GMT -5
Re. Rolling Stone's review of Canciones: For all the supposed liberalism that magazine is said to display, that review is not only one of the worst reviews (if not indeed the worst) she ever got for anything she ever did, but I would argue it's downright racist.
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Post by kgreen on Nov 23, 2017 11:11:42 GMT -5
Great overview of a classic record. Looking back, Linda has proven to be a visionary trendsetter multiple times. To list some:
1- her popularizing country rock and the formation of the Eagles.
2- her chance at a little Central Park month long performance of "The Pirates of Penzanze" turned into a smash and repopularized the century old Operetta to a mass audience
3- the revival of the Great American standard.out of the elevator for the first time in 20 years. Still the most authentically made of all the legions of pop stars who've tried them.
4- the revival of the mariachi.
5- showing a woman could still "Rock" at 50 with We Ran.
6- not to mention ground breaking, internationally recognized as great in things like the duets with Aaron Neville, and Trio
7- one of the last trendsetting concepts was reviving the almost obsolete "Glass Intruments". She didn't get a lot of press but has turned that world upside down and its popularity is great today..
Kev
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Post by fabtastique on Nov 23, 2017 13:41:38 GMT -5
Re. Rolling Stone's review of Canciones: For all the supposed liberalism that magazine is said to display, that review is not only one of the worst reviews (if not indeed the worst) she ever got for anything she ever did, but I would argue it's downright racist. very narrow-minded of them ..... shame |
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Post by Dianna on Nov 24, 2017 20:12:06 GMT -5
One word comes to mind for David Browne: Pendejo
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Post by erik on Nov 24, 2017 22:51:57 GMT -5
Quote by Dianna:
Well it's one thing if you are going to criticize somebody's album on merits (i.e. what's on the recording, as opposed to what is on the cover); I have no problem with that. But people like David Browne who make the kinds of so-called "critiques" that he made about Canciones, which at best lacked intelligence and at worst contained the most blatant bigotry, do a hell of a lot of damage to their profession.
And it still didn't stop the album from becoming the most successful non-English album by an American artist (female or otherwise) in history, a status that I believe still holds up today.
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Post by Richard W on Nov 25, 2017 15:10:32 GMT -5
To me, it was one of those instances when the "reviewer" didn't bother to listen to the record, or gave it once-through at best.
There's no way you could really listen to this album and not be awed by Linda's gorgeous, lusty singing and the incredibly rich and evocative instrumentation that accompanies it — then emphasize the album art over all that.
Funny this should come up now. I was at my local favorite Mexican restaurant a couple of weeks ago and in the 45 minutes I was there I heard 3 songs from Canciones.
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Post by erik on Nov 25, 2017 18:21:05 GMT -5
Quote by Richard W:
And if Mr. Browne had bothered to look back through his magazine's archives, he would have noticed the first interview she gave to Rolling Stone back in 1971, where her Mexican/Spanish background was discussed at a fair length. This, and the presence of "Lo Siento Mi Vida" on Hasten Down The Wind. He was judging the album by its cover (which is authentic-looking), which is really a no-no to begin with; but to slight the album the way he did made me a little bit hot under the collar.
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Post by Dianna on Nov 25, 2017 23:07:04 GMT -5
I wonder how familiar David Browne is with Mariachi Music? He really didn't have anything to compare it with? Those songs on Linda's beautiful record are very old, music my grandparents listened to. Not exactly something I'd expect a music critic from Rolling Stone to be in the know about. Given the album was the highest selling non english record in the US,obviously Browne was wrong giving it 2 stars. I notice he was little vague and kind of left it open with the nasty insults and a few back handed compliments, probably playing it safe, in case it sold well. They should have got somebody who knows about that style of music and somebody who would not refer to Mariachi as a "cornball genre."
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Post by erik on Nov 25, 2017 23:32:47 GMT -5
Quote by Dianna:
The cynic in me thinks that if this had been an album done by Elvis Costello (I know, not f***ing likely), Browne and Rolling Stone would have given it five stars.
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Post by Dianna on Nov 26, 2017 3:18:08 GMT -5
The cynic in me thinks that if this had been an album done by Elvis Costello (I know, not f***ing likely), Browne and Rolling Stone would have given it five stars. Probably so ... but I doubt it would have sold 5 copies lol.This review is almost 30 years old.. wow.. What Browne failed to realize that The Mariachi Music is very dear to Linda. I was told that Linda "found her home in the stage style when she sang in Spanish." Most everybody knows that Linda grew up with Mexican Music so it wasn't something she was sampling or a phase.. that's kind of what I took away from Browne's review or that he was insinuating it....RS should have hired a journalist who knows about Mexican Music.. Maybe somebody with the heritage to match and maybe a critic who is no stranger to the southwest or the Sonoran desert, where Linda herself grew up. I think Browne is still around. Has anyone follow up with him? If somebody handed me an album in Arabic or Persian to review, not being exposed to the genre, even if I were a music critic by trade, I don't think I could give it fair judgement. |
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 26, 2017 4:29:47 GMT -5
Here is another crappy review but this time Frenesi. It could just be Linda's best album and that is saying A LOT considering all of her music is excellent. I was cool to the We Ran album at first but I can't stop playing it now. Mad Love is another top notch album that critics love to hate. These people are complete idiots.
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Post by fabtastique on Nov 26, 2017 11:01:21 GMT -5
Frenesi is my most favourite Linda album - her voice is top class here and the music, again new to me at the time, completely inspired me to listen to more of this. It is an album I will always treasure.
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Post by Guest in PA on Nov 26, 2017 14:19:27 GMT -5
Geeze, so many high praise reviews and important celebrations of Linda and you guys go right to the handful of hacks from 30 years ago. You almost seem obsessed with Marsh and other unknown critics. A cultural phenomenon- and sadly negativity is all you can discuss. Very odd.
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Post by guest in pa critic on Nov 26, 2017 16:46:34 GMT -5
Geeze, so many high praise reviews and important celebrations of Linda and you guys go right to the handful of hacks from 30 years ago. You almost seem obsessed with Marsh and other unknown critics. A cultural phenomenon- and sadly negativity is all you can discuss. Very odd. |
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 26, 2017 23:23:03 GMT -5
Geeze, so many high praise reviews and important celebrations of Linda and you guys go right to the handful of hacks from 30 years ago. You almost seem obsessed with Marsh and other unknown critics. A cultural phenomenon- and sadly negativity is all you can discuss. Very odd. |
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Post by eddiejinnj on Nov 27, 2017 9:05:47 GMT -5
Guest in PA, do you have any comments on the album itself vs being negative re: your perception that we are only negative on this site. This was a recent article in the LA Times. I think it is important to discuss culturally how this album evolved including original reviews and reviews/perceptions now. Not that I need to defend our forum but I will. We all have touted this album and its importance for years. Erik, one of our admins including myself, always discusses how important Linda is influentially and gives contemporary examples of her influence. As far as reviews, as Linda says, if you listen to the positive ones you have to listen to the negative ones and basically opts out of concentrating on such things. We discuss overwhelmingly positive things including "good" reviews/comments re: Linda so then we have to look at the negative ones too. I, personally, don't have a problem with members or guests giving constructive criticism re: the site etc. but I do believe their opinions/comments are also fair game for analysis. eddiejinnj
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Post by philly on Nov 30, 2017 18:15:25 GMT -5
I wonder if Linda has seen the Pixar movie "Coco." I hear it's wildly popular in Mexico, and has some Mariachi inspired songs in it. I know she's enjoyed the vintage Disney animated movies. This would have been a perfect vehicle for her to participate in if she was still able. I hope someone sends her a screening copy and she gives a review of it, would love to hear her thoughts.
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Post by erik on Dec 1, 2017 10:23:25 GMT -5
Quote by philly:
From the previews I've seen on TV and on YouTube, it looks fairly non-controversial, with some amusing riffs on such Mexican traditions as Dia de los Muertos. If Mexican-American organizations don't find anything offensive about it, I kind of doubt Linda will either.
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