Los Alegres De Teran – Original Recordings 1952-1954 / Arhoolie CD-9048

Description

CD 9048

Los Alegres De Teran (Eugenio Abrego & Tomas Ortiz) became the first super stars of the Mexican regional music today known universally as Musica Nortena. They are the founding fathers of this delightful lilting regional accordion driven music combining the popular rural dueto vocal tradition with Eugenio’s button accordion and Tomas Ortiz’s heavy 12 string guitar called a bajo sexto. After making their first radio broadcasts over XET in Monterrey N.L. around 1947 their fame slowly spread along the border. However they did not reach audiences throughout the wider Spanish speaking Western Hemisphere until well after they began to record for the Falcon label in McAllen TX. On this CD we bring you those early historic Falcon recordings made before they had their first hit with “Carta Jugada.”

1) La Arrepentida – cancion
2) El Corrido De Mariano (Resendez) – corrido
3) Sin Tu Amor – cancion
4) El Ciclon – redova
5) Ya No Me Importa – cancion
6) Prefiero Sufrir ‚ cancion
7) La Oficina – polka
8) Honorio Farias – corrido
9) Tu Cruel Ausencia – cancion
10) Traicion Cobarde – ranchera
11) La Palanca – polka
12) Falsa Ilusion – ranchera
13) Nuevo Corrido De Ezequiel (Rodriguez) – corrido
14) Piensas – ranchera
15) La Llorosa – ranchera

Los Alegres De Teran (Eugenio Abrego & Tomas Ortiz) became the first super stars of the Mexican regional music today known universally as Musica Nortena. They are the founding fathers of this delightful lilting regional accordion driven music combining the popular rural dueto vocal tradition with Eugenio’s button accordion and Tomas Ortiz’s heavy 12 string guitar called a bajo sexto. After making their first radio broadcasts over XET in Monterrey N.L. around 1947 their fame slowly spread along the border. However they did not reach audiences throughout the wider Spanish speaking Western Hemisphere until well after they began to record for the Falcon label in McAllen TX. On this CD we bring you those early historic Falcon recordings made before they had their first hit with “Carta Jugada.”

 

REVIEW

IN THE OLD STYLE
Arhoolie releases a goldmine of early tracks by LOS ALEGRES DE TERAN
by Will Seeley

In the world of norteño/conjunto music much of the best music to my ears is the forgotten stars of yesteryear. Although norteño is a vital living style of music the younger bands lack the rhythmic flexibility and wistfulness in the harmony singing of the older accordion/bajo sexto based music. While it’s true that there are some current bands evoking the old style most listeners consider the old style to be just that: old. The music of their parents or grandparents. Something not to be appreciated but rather to get past or only hear once in a while not unlike Vera Lynn’s World War II ballads or early Bing Crosby.

But we’re lucky because we have a record label in El Cerrito right on San Pablo a little north of Berkeley’s marina called Arhoolie Records. Arhoolie led by the infamous Chris Strachwitz has been resurrecting the old style of norteño and tejano (the south Texas brand of norteño) since forever and while he doesn’t hold exclusive license to famous labels like Falcon he manages to consistently put out amazing reissues.

And now in 2004 we have Arhoolie’s first CD reissue of the all-time superstars of traditional norteño Los Alegres De Teran. A duo consisting of Tomas Ortiz on bajo and Eugenio Abrego on accordion Los Alegres frequently rounded themselves out with an upright bass player but never (to my knowledge) ventured into the land of electric bass and drums. So far I’ve only come across one or two discs of music (usually later) Los Alegres that I considered suspect but mostly they are the perfect norteño band. I like everything. Normally if someone wanted to venture in the world of norteño the first thing I would recommend would be a classic Falcon disc like Los Ojos de Pancha or Mas y Mas Corridos but now I might have to change that.

Grabaciones Originales (original recordings) 1952-1954 catches Ortiz and Abrego at the dawn of their career before their first big hit and before they became nationally known. “Carta Jugada” the song that broke them through was recorded in 1953 and the huge success “Los Ojos de Pancha” wasn’t until 1956 so this documents them after they started recording for Falcon and before they became huge stars. Due to legal issues the hits aren’t included even though “Carta” is obviously of the right era (EMI Mexico owns most of Falcon’s recordings). In fact all of these songs never appeared on an actual LP by Los Alegres instead only on 45s and 78s and also never on any CD. That makes it like finding the holy grail!

Musically one thing that distinguishes this disc from other Los Alegres discs is the proliferation of instrumentals (always a common thing in norteño but definitely missing from their bona fide Falcon albums) and the recording quality does betray the times although it’s still quite clear. The singing is beautiful and the songs are stunning. I would qualify this as a must-have disc for any fan of norteño or Mexican music at all or even if you’re remotely into it.

Another recent release by Arhoolie is the compilation The Roots of the Narcocorrido a 26 track (!) compilation of corridos (narrative ballads that usually celebrate a heroic figure) spanning the years from 1888 to the 1970s but mostly dating from the thirties and forties. (Obviously the recordings aren’t from that wide a time-span just when the songs themselves were written). The “narcocorrido” is a genre of corridos from the 1970s til the present that tell the tales of drug traffickers or other figures who move through that shadowy underworld usually turning them into heroes. It’s the norteño version of gangsta rap (sort of!)

The corridos presented here aren’t really all narcocorridos but rather an attempt by Arhoolie to demonstrate a historical precedent of idolizing Robin Hood style bandits people who defy the authorities but who simultaneously benefit and protect the interests of their own community. There’s tales of smuggling and armed resistance and more. The final track is the lone track from the actual era of the narcocorrido and sums things up quite nicely both stylistically and in its content.

The performers represented here go from the well-known (Los Alegres de Teran! Also check out Corridos de Contrabando on Falcon) to the less renowned at least on this side of the border like Gaytan y Cantu Los Moneteños Los Cuatesones and others. The music hews closely to the Arhoolie style of old-school norteño with an occasional foray into pure duet singing (in many ways the genre that norteño is descended from) and even a mariachi track. Melodically corridos can be a touch repetitive so the content is paramount but it’s still wonderful and hugely enjoyable from a musical point of view. And if your Spanish is lacking (like me) there’s full translations in the liner notes and everyone will recognize the word “marijuana” which pops up from time to time.

After all these years if you think about it it’s pretty amazing that Strachwitz and co. can still come up with new things to drop on their public. Les Blank’s film Chulas Fronteras done in collaboration with Strachwitz first appeared in the seventies and Arhoolie has been steadily releasing tejano and norteño CDs and LPs since then some of it recorded by them and some like the releases this year (Dueto Alegre the early Freddie Fender and now the Los Alegres de Teran disc) plundered from the vaults Of 78s and 45s and 33s. That vault must be huge and I hope there’s much more.