Help a gringo out.

June 8, 2011 10:46 AM

What genre(s)of Mexican music is/are exemplified in the first three minutes of this song? What albums and musicians are hallmarks of this genre?
posted by Philipschall to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Even though it uses what sounds to me like a vihuela, it doesn't strike me as representative of a particular Mexican musical genre. It sounds to me like Calexico meets Morriconi cinematic imagined border territory to me.
posted by umbú at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2011

Oops. Sorry about the second "to me."
posted by umbú at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2011

Yeah I'm gonna second umbú that there's nothing really typical of a Mexican musical genre here. I guess my qualifications for answering are that I've danced folklorico for over 10 years and am familiar with the many different regional folk music genres of Mexico. It doesn't sound like any of the more current genres that I'm familiar with either. Sorry!
posted by wilky at 11:37 AM on June 8, 2011

Thirding umbú. I'm sure you've seen the video's description in YouTube. This is a collaboration with Café Tacvba, a "mexican rock" band which in their beginnings incorporated different genres of Mexican music with modern genres.

If you liked this, you should look for their albums, specially Revés/Yo soy.
posted by clearlydemon at 12:11 PM on June 8, 2011

It sounds more like Ry Cooder inspired than anything else.
posted by JJ86 at 8:49 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]