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Latin Mandolinby Sergio Lara
"LA ADELITA" La Adelita is the Woman of the Revolution, the companion of the Revolutionary, be he Emiliano Zapata or Sub-Comandante Marcos. "Adelita"or "La Adelita, "like "La Cucaracha," is a song from the Mexican Revolution in the early years of the twentieth century. Adelita was a soldadera, or woman soldier, who not only cooked and cared for the wounded but also actually fought in battles. In time the word adelita was used for all the soldaderas, who became a vital force in the war effort.La Adelita is a Corrido Revolucionario in 4/4 time in the key of A. Corridos are in 2/4, 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 time. The Mexican corrido, printed in the form of a broadside ballad, is a manifestation of Mexican culture which incorporates image, music, and text to form a language understood by Mexicans of all classes. Distributed as hojas volantes, or "flying leaves," these songs satirized and glorified people of all classes, accompanied the rhymed verse of the corrido. Circulating throughout most of Mexico and south Texas, corrido prints were distributed by corridistas, musicians who traveled from one market to another. While singing the corridos, the corridistas sold cheaply printed broadsides with lyrics to their songs illustrated by engravings. The corrido served as an audiovisual method of communication: as people heard the music, they looked at the art and lyrics of the broadside. Not only did text, image, and music rely upon each other in the corrido, but the artist, writer, printer, and musician were also intrinsically related. The original audiences were those who listened to the corridistas at the markets: the poor people of the pueblos who,for the most part, could not read and bought the corridos for a few centavos to look at the illustrations. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1919), the corrido expanded to represent "the heartbeat of the Mexican community. A few illustrations accompanied corridos which addressed subjects such as the entry of a presidential candidate into Mexico City, labor strikes, fuel shortages, soldiers and heroes such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, and soldaderas, women who took part in the Revolution as soldiers and camp followers. The corrido, which reached its high point during the Revolution, is still available and sung today. I remember seeing a man selling corridos outside of the supermarket in Texas. I also learned the lyrics to corridos such as "La Cucaracha," "La Valentina" and "La Adelita," songs which are familiar to many in Latino culture on both sides of the border today. Corridos are also still sung at funerals to commemorate a person's life. Events leading up to the Mexican Revolution can be followed by looking at images which accompanied newspaper articles, broadsides, and corridos. The position of the chroniclers of Mexican culture and politics emphasizes a need for social and political interpretations of their work. My version of "La Adelita" can be heard on "Entre Guitarras & Mandolinas" (Fusion Acustica Music 002-2005) my soon to be released all instrumental new recording of traditional Mexican and American Folk tunes.    About Sergio Lara |
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