Elijah Wald

martin patron

It’s been a few months since NorteñoBlog checked in with Hyphy Music Inc., the Fresno, California-based indie label devoted to (mostly narco-)corridos. Despite the label’s bud-bating logo “Kush Style,” adopted by owner Jose Martinez to distinguish his label as a mellow alternative to the gory Movimiento Alterado, I’ve previously chided the label on its lack of a distinct brand identity. (Seems like a weird thing to care about, I know.)

Recently, though, Martinez seems to have settled into a niche: His acts are all about HUSTLE. They play fast and work hard, and they sing about playing fast and working hard. Just like in rap, where the nonstop grind of the gangster becomes a metaphor for cranking out endless musical versions of that selfsame metaphor (a meta-metaphor?), Hyphy’s bands embody the gritty work ethic of the narcos they chronicle. That they sometimes sing about other subjects is the exception proving the rule. This extreme focus can lead to repetitive music, sure; but at their best, Hyphy acts create exciting micro-variations driven by morally fraught jitters. They know that, if their energy flags, a rival will quickly step in to fill the void. It’s music as an energizing and sometimes exhausting fight for life.

Un ejemplo: the accordion-slinging corridero Martin Patrón (aka Martin Lopez “El Patrón”) has just released his debut album Trap Corridos, hustling another term of art from U.S. rap. It comes only a decade and change after T.I.’s Trap Muzik, but whatever; the word “trap” still has currency in this year of “Panda.” Also like “Panda,” my transcriptions of Sr. Patrón’s songs remain sketchy-to-nonexistent, but a round of Hasty Cartel Googling reveals “M100” is probably about a Sinaloa Cartel honcho, and “Hijo de Joaquín” is probably about El Chapo’s kid. (St. Louis pride being what it is, arguments for the late Joaquín Andújar, himself no stranger to hustle, will be entertained.)

So don’t invite Patrón to play Career Day at your local high school. But the music’s the important thing: an irresistible blend of spiky tuba/drum/sexto counterpoint, topped by Sr. Patrón’s accordion, alternately spitting out impressive flourishes and chromatic Jackson Pollock splatters. He’s a fine singer, too, with a rich and resonant voice. A couple Facebook comments suggest he sounds like the late Tito Torbellino. Check out the Pick to Click single “El de la Rueda” (not a Torbellino cover) and see if you agree:

¡VALE LA PENA! Continue reading “Trap is Hyphy and Hyphy is Trap (¡Nuevo!)” →

In a good, brief interview with Public Radio International — listen to it here — narcocorrido scholar Elijah Wald supports the notion that nobody else really sounded like the late singer-guitarist Ariel Camacho, who died in a car accident last Thursday. “[Camacho’s music is] not norteño — norteño is the accordion sound,” Wald corrects the interviewer. Rather, Wald says, Camacho was bringing together two distinct Sinaloan sounds: the “classic, old-fashioned sound everywhere of just guitars and singers,” and “the classic Sinaloan sound” of brass bands. He locates Camacho’s sound in the 15-year-old El Canelo de Sinaloa y Los Dos del Sitio, also two guitars and a tuba. (This Canelo song is faster than Camacho’s stuff and the vocal harmonies aren’t as pronounced, but you can hear the lineage.) Wald also says that Camacho likely didn’t do corridos on commission, since his were about the real big shots — “like Hollywood movies” — and he confirms that Camacho’s death had nothing to do with cartel violence: “As with most touring musicians, the most dangerous thing is the touring itself.”

This interview is a refreshing contrast to the misinformation in most of the other bewildered obits, some of which think Camacho played with a bass and an accordion, revealing that their authors didn’t take five minutes to watch the Camacho videos they posted. To be fair, I hadn’t watched the video for Camacho’s love song “Hablemos” until now. It’s pretty and 100% accordion-free.