As a Mexican I am emotionally overwhelmed & supremely grateful to Pixar for how accurate & culturally authentic their depiction is of our musical culture in "Coco".

I was already excited for this movie due to Pixar's reputation & the fact that our Mexican heritage will finally get adapted by the world's most beloved studio with Disney but I never expected them to go above & beyond a "hollywoodized" depiction of our heritage. Not only did Pixar's team manage to create an authentic depiction of our Mariachi musical culture but they actually captured what I thought no one would ever do, which is to show the crucial role that folk music plays in all of our lives & the emotional relationship we have to it.

In Mexico it's common for famous folk singers to also be movie stars. The closest thing the US has to this is Elvis or Frank Sinatra starring in movies, but although their music lives on today no one largely remembers or watches their films anymore. It's completely different in Mexico where singer songwriters from 50-60 years ago are still venerated & remembered today & whose music & movies are enjoyed by the entire family. I, just like the character in the movie, also grew up watching black & white VHS tapes of these people. The character of De La Cruz is in a recreation of these icons, some who even make brief cameos in the film like Pedro Infante.

The thing is, unlike other Mexican cultural exports, our folk music is not really big outside of Mexico or immigrant communities in the US. For us, that lifelong relationship we have to our folk music is at the core of who we are in many ways. It's present at all our celebrations & daily lives in my family & many others. Pixar's team didn't merely try to recreate Mariachi folk music, they legitimately produced something that is indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact I would go further than that and say they have made the real thing down to the exact musical tones & vocal shifts of the singers. The lyrics equally evocative of the sentimental Latin passion in our folk songs. It's so good I think if you were to pass off one of the movie's songs to a common Mexican they would not even be able to tell it was made for a Disney movie. That may sound like something facetious but honestly it really is that good & speaks volumes about the quality & the respect that went into the song compositions. They clearly hired all the right people & upon looking at the vocal casting they are well established singers too. I'm sure many who saw the film noticed these were not ordinary "Disney" songs. They are folk songs from a musical culture that is still alive & well today & whose roots span over a century. I'm very happy that people from around the world who otherwise may not have ever really been exposed to our musical heritage will now hear a culturally authentic representation of it.

*I would encourage to listen to the movie's soundtrack in Spanish too to hear the best rendition of the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfzmjgpx-VE

Submitted November 30, 2017 at 06:44PM by GenericReditUserName http://ift.tt/2j3asqY