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PLAN DE LA VILLA: TRADITIONAL MARIACHI MUSIC
Listen to El perro and Los arrieros Review by Manuel Peña, Ph.D., Professor of Music, California State University, FresnoIn an age when cultural purists sometimes criticize mariachis for their increasing drift toward commercialized, nontraditional styles (rock and other American music, for example), Los Cenzontles takes us back to bedrock mariachi—the kind that specializes in the traditional son jalisciense. Unique in its unvarnished folk style, Los Cenzontles with Julian González should satisfy the most demanding of purists, offering the listener a taste of the mariachi as it sounded in the era before commercialization. Los Cenzontles takes us back to the pre-1930s mariachi style, when the trumpet had not yet established itself as a core instrument. Indeed, until the 1920s the mariachi was a highly variable ensemble; it often consisted of whatever instruments may be at hand, though by the end of the nineteenth century the violin, vihuela and guitarrón seem to have emerged as the instrumental core of what was still a purely folk music. Los Cenzontles exemplifies the mariachi as it had crystallized by the 1920s. It consists of four instrumentalists (two double as singers). Tregar Otton plays first violin, Julian González plays second and also sings; Eugene Rodríguez pulls duty on vihuela, and Hugo Arroyo works the guitarrón and also contributes vocals. Lucina Rodríguez performs zapateados on some of the sones. True to its folk orientation, Los Cenzontles deviates markedly in its style from the standard techniques that are now obligatory in contemporary, commercial mariachis. And it is this unorthodox, back-to-the-roots style that makes Los Cenzontles unique and links it to predecessors such as El Cuarteto Coculense, whose early twentieth-century sounds have been preserved by Arhoolie Records of El Cerrito, California (see, in particular, El Cuarteto Coculense: The Very First Mariachi Recordings, 1908-1909). The CD under review contains twelve recorded selections. Simply by perusing the song list, the listener is alerted to the traditional nature of Los Cenzontles. Whereas contemporary mariachis cover a wide variety of genres ranging from sones to rancheras (Mexican "country" songs) and even mambos and rock, Los Cenzontles sticks to what it does best—the traditional son jalisciense. Thus, all twelve selections on the CD are son or son variants (all but one include lyrics). True to their folk nature, many of the sones feature unusual accompaniment patterns. For example, the opening number, "Amapolita morada," utilizes a novel strumming pattern on the vihuela, one which creates a strong sense of hemiola, or cross-rhythmic impulses, that fluctuates between 6/8 and 3/4 time signatures. Of course, rhythmic fluctuation is not untypical of sones jaliscienses, but in this case the hemiola is so pronounced and so seemingly unrehearsed that it sounds unmistakably folk. Other sones that strike the listener as unorthodox, by contemporary standards, are the eponymous "El plan de Villa," with its slow tempo and off-rhythm accents emanating from both the vihuela and the guitarrón. Julio González's own son, Así es Tecolotlán," likewise follows the anachronistic, folk-like rhythmic pattern of "Amapolita" and "El plan de Villa." More typical sones, rhythmically speaking, are represented by "El guaco" (played with special zing), "El becerrero," "El perro," and "El pitayo." Finally, "Los arrieros" is notable for its jarabe-like structure, wherein different genres are mixed in a potpourri, although in this case the mixture consists of simple variation within the same basic son. In all of these sones, a fresh, zestful and "down-home" enthusiasm prevails, one that we seldom hear in garden-variety commercial mariachis. It is worth reiterating that Los Cenzontles represent an older, folk tradition, not only in their instrumentation and technical approach, but also in their singing style. Again, González and Arroyo sing in the familiar duet style long associated with the mariachi (as well as other Mexican regional styles), but what is striking about this duet is the quality of the voice timbre and articulation. In their nasal quality they strongly evoke the folksong style that was so pervasive in Mexican regional music of yesteryear, whether it be jarocho, tamaulipeco, norteño or jalisciense. In sum, what we get in "El plan de Villa" is a genuine old-style mariachi, one shorn of much of the modern-day accretions we have come to associate with the commercial version—brassy trumpets, bel-canto-style voices, smoothed-out rhythms and complex harmonies. In Los Cenzontles we witness something akin to what diffusionist folklorists used to call the "urform"--the original, blueprint version from which all others descend. In a world marked by increasing standardization, Los Cenzontles "urform" sounds represent a unique musical experience. And, while their excursion into the mariachi world of yesterday may seem quixotic, it is refreshing to hear, at least once more, mariachi music as it once flourished. Cultural purists, rejoice!
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Los Cenzontles with Julian González. 2002. Produced by Eugene Rodríguez. Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center. LC7502. One compact disc. Song texts in Spanish with English translation.