ABSTRACT
The earlier discussion regarding corridos (ballads) serves as context for consideration of revolutionary corridos (Source 51). The corridos included in this selection record two very different historic events from the era of the Mexican Revolution: the Constitutional Convention of 1916–1917 and the murder of Emiliano Zapata. How might our perspective on these events change by reading these corridos? What sort of tone does each corrido set, and how might that tone contribute to a certain perspective on national events?
Fragment of “The Corrido of the Constitutional Congress of Querétaro” (1917)
Now Venustiano Carranza
has got his convention delegates
to straighten up the laws
that he will give to the people.
Come on, sweetie, let’s go!
Put on your purple sandals,
let’s go to Iturbide theater, an’
you’ll see the delegates.
313Let them talk, insult each other, and shout,
Down and up they’ll go,
and he who brings the most pinole [sugar candy]
will be the one to swallow the most spit.
And even if they all get upset
and speak of Constitution,
those that are here are not everyone,
nor are all the important ones here.
I say to the congressmen:
Do not fight so continuously
And instead of becoming a Congressional representative
end up with something done.
Come on, woman, and I’ll buy for you
your little guichol rebozo [shawl].
You will hear the delegates
air their dirty laundry.
There is a little of everything in the Congress,
as they say in Saltillo, a little chile, pork, and sweets,
and also picadillo [minced meat].
Everyone has some gift,
as the priest says.
Some the gift of gab,
others that of stubbornness.
Amaya, who is president,
shouts at them: Sons of huarache! *
I fought for the North
before any of you no-good people!
And the lawyer Cañete
tells him: Listen, president,
I am going to donate my laws
So that you might know how to treat the people….
314And here the singing ends,
These verses so common.
Long live Venustiano;
Long live the delegates!
“The Death of Emiliano Zapata” (1919)
Listen, dear sirs, to the corrido relating
a sad event;
For in Chinameca, thinking he was safe,
Zapata, the great insurgent was killed.
April of nineteen hundred
nineteen, will remain
in the memory
of the campesino [rural worker]
like a stain on history.
Bells of Villa Ayala,
Why do you ring so sorrowfully?
—It is that Zapata has died
and Zapata was a brave man.
The good Emiliano who loved the poor
Wanted to give them freedom;
for this the Indians of all villages,
with him went to fight.
From Cuautla to Amecameca,
Matamoros and el Ajusco,
The recruits of
Don Porfirio they had the pleasure to encounter.
Trinitaria [wild pansies] of the fields
on the plains of Morelos,
if you ask for Zapata,
they will say that he already ascended to the heavens.
Zapata said to Don Pancho Madero,
when Madero was already governing:
—If you don’t give lands, you will see the Indians
once again take up the battle.
315He stood up to Mister Madero,
To Huerta and Carranza,
For they did not want to carry out
His manifesto, the Plan de Ayala.
Run, run, little rabbit,
Go tell your brothers:
Mister Zapata, the bane of the tyrants,
has already died.
Riding with elegance on his cinnamon-colored mare,
he was a charro [horseman] to admire;
And in bringing down a bull,
And pulling down the bull by the tail was the strength
of a top horseman.
Play a tune from the lowlands
on the charanga [brass band].
A bull is rolling in the sand,
Because Zapata is one of the good ones.
A frog in a small puddle
Sings in his serenade:
—Where was there a better charro
than my General Zapata?
With lots of enthusiasm the people applaud
And even the little girls agreed
That Zapata the chief and his generals
Do good wherever they go.
With a jaripeo [rodeo] they celebrated
His victory in the scuffle
and among his fellow southerners,
that he is a charro, no one denies.
En route to Huehuetoca
thus a bird inquired
—Traveler, what did they do
with the famous leader?
316
He was born among the poor, lived among the poor,
and it was for them he fought.
—I don’t want riches, I don’t want honors—,
he said to all.
In the siege of Jojutla
One of the elders said:
—Bring General Garca,
so that he [will] accompany me to the front.
In the shade of a guava tree
Two crickets sang:
—Mister Zapata, terror of the gachupines [derogatory word for
European-born Spaniards],
has already died!
When the scuffle has ended
pardon the prisoners,
heal the wounded,
and to the poor, give them money.
Little star that at night
hangs from far off peaks,
where is our leader Zapata
who was the punishment of the rich?
—When I have died—he says to a subaltern—
you will tell the boys:
with weapon in hand you will defend your ejidos [communally held land]
like a man should.
He says to his loyal assistant
when they went about in the hills:
while I am alive, the Indians
will be the owners of their land.
Sweet-smelling little poppy
from the hills of Guerrero,
you will never again see
the famous fighter.
317With great sorrow he says to his old lady:
—I feel beaten down,
so everyone should rest, I am the wanderer
Like a bird without a nest.
Generals come and go,
They say to calm us;
and not able to do good by him,
they made a plan to deceive him.
Sing, sing little sparrow,
in your melodious song tell:
General Zapata fell
By the hands of traitors.
Don Pablo González orders Guajardo
to act as if he surrendered,
and upon his arrival at camp
shoot Zapata with their guns.
Guajardo says to Zapata:
I and my troops surrender;
in Chinameca I await you,
and we will have a drink.
Turbulent little stream,
What did that carnation tell you?
—He says that Zapata has not died,
and he will return.
