Dinner In Mexico City
Dinner In Mexico City
"Orquesta Tipica" of Mexico City
Director: Pablo Marin
RCA Victor LPM-1018
1954
From the back cover: The visitor to Mexico City is constantly reminded that three great cultures have gone into the molding of Mexico – the Indian, the Spanish, and the modern, post-Revolution Mexico. It is a comfortable stroll from the Paseo de la Reforma – a street eight miles long and 200 feet wide which has been called the most beautiful boulevard in the world – to the Alameda, a charming new park developed on the spot which for 300 years was the "burning ground" of the Spanish Inquisition, and thence to the Zocalo, a great square which has been the hub of Mexico's life since Aztec times and where the offices of the President of Mexico are now located.
Dinner in Mexico City can be equally varied. It might be taken in the modern splendor of the 1-2-3 Restaurant; at the Prendes Restaurant, reputedly the oldest in the city; or on the roof of the Hotel Majestic with its commanding view of the snow-capped and ageless mountains which have looked down with great impartiality on Aztec, Spaniard and Mexican.
The music that is Mexico's is indelibly marked by the history, the geography and the people of the country. Some of the selections in this album are mementos of the Mexican Revolution. Cielito Lindo, for instance, which is one of the most widely-known of Mexican melodies, was extremely popular with the men of the Army of the Revolution, particularly in the northern sections of the country. At the same time and in the same region, the gay and happy rhythms of the polka, Chuchita en Chihuahua, had enormous popular appeal.
The spirit of certain sections of Mexico is caught in some of this music. La Bamba is a "son jarocho," typical of the cheerful dance music of Vera Cruz. The lyrics have an especially bright wit. It is usually sung and played by a group including harp, guitars and violins.
Totally different is the slow and doleful Oaxacon melody, La Zandunga. When it is danced by a woman of Oaxaca, dressed in a costume typical of the province, she conveys the impression of a prayer being offered, sweetly and sorrowfully.
The Mexican countryside in general is evoked by La Feria de las Flores. In both words and music, it offers a vivid description of that varied scenic beauty that is pre-eminently Mexican. Something of this buoyant feeling for the countryside is also to be found in Las Bicicletas (The Bicycles), a polka with a beautiful melody and carefree rhythm which was written for and dedicated to the Cyclists Club of Mexico in the days when cycling was one of the best ways to see the country.
Such bygone days and the customs of the past are memorialized again and again in Mexican music. The waltz, Ojos de Juventud, is reminiscent of that older era whose songs were noted both for their musical beauty and the elegance of their lyrics. Another waltz, Cuando Escuches Este Vals, also harks back to the romantic period of Mexico when young men traditionally filled the night with the delicate and sweet melodies of their "serenatas," sung at the windows of their lady loves. Cuando Eschuches Este Vals has shown a particularly enduring quality for it is still used by present day lovers intent on serenading in the small hours.
There is more than romance to be conjured up by these long-cherished melodies, however. High spirits have always been typical of Mexico and a high spirit is the dominate mood of Danzas Calabaceadas, an old and cheerful popular melody which is played for both listening and dancing at intimate celebrations.
There is also a philosophical attitude inherent in Viva Mi Desgracia, or Hooray For My Misfortune. This waltz serves to remind people of their bad luck and, if their emotions are properly stirred, they either cry or yell in response to it.
Both the old and the new in Mexico music are blended in Maria Elena, a waltz based on a romantic melody with a modern treatment which was widely popular in the United States a decade or more ago.
El Faisan, a folk song about a young lover who is under the guidance of a good fairy, is particularly appropriate for this collection for it was written by Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, one of the most prolific writers of Mexican songs and the founder of the "Orquesta Tipica" of Mexico City which plays these selections.
When the "Orquesta Tipica," or Typical Orchestra, was organized in 1929 by Maestro Lerdo, it was an adjunct of the Police Department and was known as the Typical Orchestra of the Federal District Police. Since then it has come under the jurisdiction of the Director General of Social Action of the Department of the Federal District and its name has been changed to the Mexico City Typical Orchestra.
Among the elements which make this orchestra "typical," in addition to the music it plays, is its instrumentation, for, besides the customary strings, brass and bas, its members play marimbas, "salters," "mandalas" and "banjos sexton."
The orchestra is conducted on these recordings by Pablo Marin who became its director after the death of Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. Maestro Marin was co-founder of the orchestra and is widely known as a composer in the Mexican idiom. – Notes by John S. Wilson
Cielito Lindo
Las Bicicletas
Danzas Calabaceadas
Ojos De Juventud
Cuando Escuches Este Vals
La Bamba
Maria Elena
Las Feria De Las Flores
La Zandunga
Viva Mi Desgracia
Chuchita En Chihuahua
