Suplemento: José Alfredo Jiménez

Although his songs are among Mexico's best--and best loved--Ella, Que te vaya bonito, El último trago, Si nos dejan, El rey--somehow we never devoted a full week to José Alfredo. Probably because so many are represented in the Chavela Vargas/Antonio Bribiesca collection with which we began the semester. (And Chavela was his master interpreter.) But let me pass along a download of José Alfredo cantando sus propias canciones--along with two insightful articles you may have a chance to read at some point. These are not required for a course project, but I wanted to share them with you as a kind of celebration of what's been an excellent semester!

Reading: Dos ensayos, uno de Carlos Monsiváis, crítico mexicano bien conocido, y el otro por Manuel Arroyo Stephens, de España: 

https://berkeley.box.com/s/o7psl78re0jgk1c9gaiq

I have them from a book of the collected lyrics--la letra de José Alfredo. Read carefully--ya verán que al mismo tiempo tienen que ver  con Chavela (a quien lo dedica su prólogo Monsiváis).

Música. A download with songs by José Alfredo, several of which you'll recognize from Chavela's recordings. Here they're sung by José Alfredo mismo. All posted on Box. When you download, include the xml file in your iTunes for all track and title date. Note: these songs (and many many more) are available on YouTube, of course--but the sound quality in the download should be better--and this is a consistently chosen set:

https://berkeley.box.com/s/ellpzyhvr6wykenyak6e

Our project and discussion would have followed these lines:  Quiero que van pensando, dando consideración a la relación entre Chavela Vargas y José Alfredo Jiménez. ¿Que representaba José Alfredo para Chavela--y porque. Pues bien, entonces eligir una canción particular--hacétela foco de tu proyecto.
Hablamos (en clase) en particular de la letra de Tu recuerdo y yo. Las relaciones entre los papeles (presente y no presente), puntos de vista--y como se cambian--y de porque se llama a José Alfredo, El Hijo del Pueblo... Y la diferencia entre los interpretes de José Alfredo--porque las mujeres tienen tanto éxito con sus canciones (Lola Beltran, Amalia Mendoza, Lucha Reyes, y por supuesto, Chavela Vargas)