Northward Bound: The Mexican Immigrant Experience in Ballad and Song

About this book

". . . provides a valuable service of not only gathering and presenting from 5 000 song texts a wide variety of ballads with full translation but also placing them all in a succinct historical context extending from the Mexican War to the present." Journal of American Ethnic History " . . . a stunning achievement not only because it is an intelligent and comprehensive study of Mexican immigrant ballads but because analysis gives way to steps aside respectfully for a multitude of immigrants who sing their experiences of crossing the border into the U.S. with astonishing clarity and historical perspicacity." Western Folklore "Herrera-Sobeks folk-song collection is impressive as are her English translationscrisp and unstilted." MultiCultural Review "Herrera-Sobeks well-written book provides historians ethnomusicologists sociologists and other scholars with a case study that demonstrates how valuable song lyrics can be in their studies. Strongly recommended to humanists and social scientists." Choice "Supported with photographs full documentation and other scholarly devices this is a solid work on an unusual topic." Sing Out! Northward Bound traces Mexican emigration to the United States from 1848 to 1991 through the lyrics of Mexican ballads (corridos) and contemporary popular songs (canciones). These autobiographical songs reflect the relationship between individual experience and the history-making process.