paired with “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”

While much of what Anzaldúa writes about is place-specific, the specificity of that place is also the result of collisions and affinities. These activities invite students to explore the layers of context that complicate the definitiveness of borders.

Introduction

ET: As we talked about “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” two thoughts came up repeatedly: (1) with such a canonical piece, what can we do with it that is new? and (2) given that we are in Central Massachusetts, so far from the US-Mexico border and the communities and cultures of that area, how can this mean something deep to outsiders?

In Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she recounts the “travelways” of language, music, and food in the borderlands between Texas and Mexico as different people moved through the landscape and time passed. Identities form, blend, and are challenged in these spaces as they flow, solidify, dissolve, and haunt. She speaks specifically of norteño, which blends musical traditions from around the world, and corridos music, which often documents the stories of the Mexican revolution. The music encodes waves of immigration, conquest, ranchero life, civil unrest, and iconic figures of that place and time. It is its own oral and sonic tradition that documents cultural and social realities that inform the lives of the musicians and their audience.

Guide

Close Listen: Drawing a Thought Map

Listen to RadioLab’s episode “Songs that Cross Borders” or Alt.Latino’s episode “Cumbia, the musical backbone of Latin America” and draw a map of the journey the conversation takes. Mark places, people, events, and ideas that come up in the conversation. Once you’re done listening to the episode, look at your map and see how ideas in the episode connect and diverge from one another. Write another layer of ideas, preferably in a different color or in CAPS with connections, associations, or thoughts you have.

It is worth gathering a list of thoughts on the traits of the music discussed in the podcast and other music like or near it, the culture around that music, and the social impacts and influence in and of the music.

Listen: “Songs that Cross Borders”

Listen: “Cumbia: The Musical Backbone Of Latin America”

Research and Reflect: Tracing a Song

Pick a song that means something to someone in your community or a community that interests you. Avoid songs to which you feel personally attached. Do some research to find answers to some basic questions:

1. When and where did the song first come out? Who wrote it or performed it? How have specific live performances or music videos represented it?
2. How many covers can you find of it? Is the version you’re listening to a cover?
3. Find the lyrics and mark any references, terms, etc. that seem to mean more than they appear.
4. What terms or genre labels get pinned to this song? Find some canonical examples of that genre.
5. How popular was it and with what groups when?

Now that you have a few brief answers with factual information, dig into a second round of research that finds deeper origins for those facts.

1. What was happening in and around the community when this song came out? What might the song be responding to?
2. What makes this version of the song different from and similar to other versions of the song?
3. Research the mysteries of the lyrics and find other songs that participate in similar traditions.

• • For instance, you might check out “The Story Behind the Song” podcast (https://redcircle.com/shows/1ea26847-b933-4033-9711-f7e1b6aa0988) to hear origin stories from creators, read reviews of the album it appeared on, and in general find language around the genres, traditions, and musical choices the music makes.
  • Then, you could also research some of the terms you found in Grove Music Online (https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic).

4. Find out where those terms or genre labels come from. What is the history of those genres and what traditions or genres did they build from, respond to, or resist?
5. Why might this song have resonated so much with the group it did? What about that community’s experience feels represented in that song?

Now you have a lot of material to think about this song culturally, socially, and musically. Surely you could write a paper on this song, but you could also write your own song that participates in these traditions now that you have more context.