An historical corrido (ballad) from the Frontera Collection at UCLA is now part of the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, which each year recognizes recordings that best reflect the American experience.
“Gregorio Cortez� by Trovadores Regionales is the first corrido ever to be added to the registry. Corridos are narrative ballads on topics of the day that continue to be popular among Latinos.
“Corridos are part of a most significant historic and artistic heritage,� said Guillermo Hernandez, former director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, the collection’s project director and a renowned expert on corridos. “Corridos represent a rich poetic and musical tradition that preserves the voice of common people.�
Congress created the registry to celebrate the richness and variety of the nation’s audio legacy and to underscore the long-term preservation of sound recordings so that they may be appreciated and studied by generations to come. The first selections were announced in 2003.
“Gregorio Cortez,� a corrido recorded in 1929 about a Mexican American ranch hand who killed a Texas sheriff in self-defense and eluded authorities for 11 days in 1901, was one of 50 selections added to the registry. The song, which is based on real-life events, has been recorded many times since the 1920s and is considered an icon within the field of Chicano studies.
 Who else can reporters call for more information?    No Story Resources assigned  What email/web links would you like listed with your story?    No Web Links assigned  Add photo or graphic to your story:   No Pictures Uploaded   CAmerico Paredes wrote “With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero,� based on the legend of the corrido. Paredes’ writings about the folklore and ballads of Mexico and Mexican America are a staple in any Chicano studies class. In 1982, actor Edward James Olmos starred in a film version of the story, “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.� Cortez’s story is viewed as an example of cross?cultural misunderstanding and blind oppression.
According to the corrido and Paredes’ book, Cortez became a folk hero in Mexican American communities, particularly along the Texas-Mexico border. A sheriff shot Cortez’s brother during an inquiry over the sale of a horse. The sheriff then turned the gun on Cortez, who shot the sheriff, killing him. Cortez fled and triggered one of the biggest manhunts in Texas history.
The earliest version of the corrido of “Gregorio Cortez� is in the Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection, which UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center and UCLA Music Library started to digitize in 2001. The Frontera Collection is the largest repository of Mexican and Mexican American music in existence. It contains music from 1905 to 1990. Los Tigres Del Norte, the award-winning Mexican norteño band, donated $500,000 to digitize and provide public access to the Frontera Collection.
By gathering these rare and very fragile recordings together in an easily accessible form, the archive will enable wide-ranging research in Mexican and Mexican American culture. The first digitization phase of the vast collection is nearly complete. Approximately 10,000 78 rpm phonograph recordings have been digitized. The public now has access to the first 50 seconds of about 20,000 songs via http://digital.library.ucla.edu/frontera/. UCLA computer users can listen to the entire songs.
The diverse Frontera Collection includes the earliest recordings of corridos and many other popular genres. These recordings are a foundation for Latino music today, since the singers and musicians who made these records helped popularize and propagate a number of traditions including Mexican regional, Tejano, Chicano and Mexican American music. Mexican regional music continues to be the most popular among Latinos and still features many corridos.
In addition, the collection includes many spoken performances, such as patriotic speeches and vernacular comedy skits. Many of the recordings are one-of-a-kind because the companies that recorded them no longer exist, or if they do still exist, have lost or melted their metal masters.