Chulas Fronteras & Del Mero Corazon – newly remastered on BluRay! / Brazos Films BluRay-104

Brazos Films DVD-104. By Les Blank and Chris Strachwitz. Bilingual, in color. TRT: 116 minutes. Two classic documentaries on the history and roots of Tex-Mex music, together on one DVD, plus 30 minutes of “Lost and Found” bonus footage.

Chulas Fronteras with:
Lydia Mendoza Flaco Jiménez Narciso Martínez Los Alegres de Teran Rumel Fuentes Don Santiago Jiménez Los Pinqüinos Del Norte Ramiro Cavazos (Canción Mixteca) and others. A complex insightful look at the Chicano experience as mirrored in the lives and music of the most acclaimed Norteño musicians of the Texas-Mexican border.Selected by The Library Of Congress to be added to the National Film Registry list of now 400 motion pictures to be preserved in perpetuity.
Filmed in South Texas.

Del Mero Corazón with:
Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, Ricardo Mejia, Conjunto Tamaulipas, Chavela y Brown Express and more. A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition.

“Seeing Chulas Fronteras is the best way to get an understanding of the music culture and way of life of working people not only along the Tex-Mex border but way beyond – everywhere!”
– David Hildalgo of Los Lobos

Del Mero Corazón:
Cancion Mixteca – Ramiro Cavazos and Rafael Ramirez
Mi Tejanita – Los Pinguinos del Norte
Muchachos Alegres – Narciso Martinez
Luzita – Narciso Martinez
Panchita – Lydia Mendoza and La Familia Mendoza
Mal Hombre – Lydia Mendoza
Pero Hay Que Triste (Pero Ay Que Triste) – Lydia Mendoza
Chulas Fronteras – El Piporro
Los Rinches de Texas – Dueto Reynosa
Corrido de Cesar Chavez – Los Pinguinos del Norte
Corrido de Texas – Ramos y Ramirez
Chicano – Rumel Fuentes and Los Pinguinos del Norte
La Nueva Zenaida – Flaco Jimenez and Fred Ojeda
Un Mojado Sin Licensia – Flaco Jimenez
Cotula – Santiago Jimenez Sr.
Prenda del Alma – Los Alegres de Teran
Volver Volver – Los Alegres de Teran
Mexico-Americano – Los Pinguinos del Norte

Songs in Del Mero Corazon:
Seis Pies Abajo – Ricardo Mejia and Ruben Valdez
Zenaida – Los Madrugadores
Las Quejas de Zenaida – Andres Berlanga
El Camioncito Pasajero – Conjunto Tamaulipas (Rafael Ramirez and Tono Borrego)
Al Pie de la Tumba – Conjunto Tamaulipas (Rafael Ramirez and Tono Borrego)
El Troquero – Conjunto Tamaulipas (Rafael Ramirez and Tono Borrego)
En Cada Vida Hay un Momento – Leo Garza y so conjunto (Noe Rocha, Freddy Pena, Martin Alvarez)
Quiero Que Sepas – Chavela Ortiz and Raymond Flores
Besos y Copas – Chavela Ortiz and Brown Express
Las Nubes – Little Joe y La Familia

Songs in the Bonus Footage:
Mal Hombre – Lydia Mendoza
Amor de Madre – Lydia Mendoza
Llorando en Navidad – Lydia Mendoza
Amarga Navidad – Lydia Mendoza
Polka – Narciso Martinez
Huapango – Narciso Martinez
Viva Seguin – Santiago Jimenez
La Piedrera – Santiago Jimenez
Madrecita Idolatrada – Jose Morante
Mi Borrachera – Jose Morante
Huapango – Los Hermanos Cardenas
Mazurka – Los Hermanos Cardenas
Los Ojos de Pancha – Los Alegres de Teran
El Ausente – Los Alegres de Teran

REVIEWS
“. . . Chulas Fronteras is absolutely the best Chicano documentary film that I have seen to-date…It is our history rescued without excuses and without romanticism but with vitality”

– Prof. Juan Rodriguez — University of California San Diego
“…the best visual record of Tex-Mex and Norteño music that I know.”
– Ry Cooder

“Chulas Fronteras’ provides a magnificent introduction to the most exciting Norteña (“Northern” Texas-Mexican border) musicians working today: Los Alegres de Teran, Lydia Mendoza, Flaco Jimenez and others. The music and spirit of the people is seen embodied in their strong family life and sheer enjoyment of domestic rituals: preparing of food and eating, celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary, gathering in the backyard with friends. At the same time Blank does not overlook the hardships, in particular the Chicano experience of migrating from state to state with the seasons for work in the fields. He makes clear the role that music has in redeeming their lives by giving utterance to collective pain. For music, politics and life are integrated in this film in a way that is both enchanting and unsettling.” “’Del Mero Corazón’ is Blank’s truest, most expressive film to date; there is history, there are expressions of pride in La Raza demonstrated by street murals and by “Las Nubes ” an uplifting anthem to the Latin heritage sung by Little Joe & La Familia.”
– Joe Nick Patoski — Texas Monthly

“’Del Mero Corazón’ is a lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Nortena music tradition. Love songs are the poetry of daily life, a poetry of passion and death, hurt and humor  pleasures and torn dreams of desire. In the film these songs travel from intimate family gatherings to community dancehalls, from the borderlands to wherever La Raza works, lives, settles down. They are passed along changed and turned into new songs, always sung from the heart. Stars: Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz and Brown Express, Little Joe and La Familia and more. Blank’s camera paints portraits of pain and vitality, then sees through them to the hearts and souls within.”
– Rick Chatenever — Santa Cruz Sentinel