Backed by L.A.’s famed Mariachi Los Camperos, Guerrero playfully rewrites the Christmas classic with references to tequila, girls, drunks, and mariachis. Singer-songwriter Lalo Guerrero, known as the father of Chicano music, has more success with his own humorous take on the tradition. “Las Posadas,” Lalo Guerrero (Colonial 453) The accompaniment is by the respected Mariachi Oro y Plata De José Chávez, in addition to a conjunto. The faithful will find it disrespectful, and anybody with a sense of humor will find this attempt at holy humor falls flat.
Popular Mexican actor and comedian Tin Tan recorded this posadas parody, along with a comedy sidekick. “Las Posadas de Tin Tan,” Tin Tan y Marcelo (Columbia 6308-X) The label lists the genre as “corrido,” yet the song is everything but. The composers are José Agustín Ramirez and Lorenzo Barcelata, founding members of the popular group from the 1930s. It has elements of traditional posadas, but also vaudeville comedy skits and segments that echo the Gregorian chants of the Catholic mass. This two-part 78 recording is fascinating, with multiple parts and stylistic changes. “Las Posadas,” Parts 1& 2, Trovadores Tamaulipecos (Columbia 3690X)
On the other hand, the collection does hold several novelty and parody songs, some by major artists, which play upon the posadas theme. For a more comprehensive collection of Latin American Christmas songs, check out the album Cantos de Las Posadas and Other Christmas Songs on the Folkways label. There’s an instrumental on a Bluebird 78 by Alfonso y Su Orquesta that keeps close to the melody, and another recording by Pepe Luis and His Orchestra on Seeco Records that uses only snippets of the traditional melody in what is otherwise a pretty standard cha cha cha.
#1940s christmas carol songbook archive#
The archive contains a dozen songs with “posadas” in the title, but none with the full traditional lyrics, at least none that have active audio tracks. Then everybody partakes in a party with a piñata for the children and a Christmas feast with tamales, buñuelos and a seasonal fruit drink called ponche. Finally, on the night of December 24, at the final stop, the homeless Holy Family is allowed in. The ritual of looking for lodging, and the refusal, is played out in various verses, sung by each side in the re-enactments. Traditionally, families take turns posing as innkeepers at their homes, turning away the pilgrims, or peregrinos, who carry candles and paper lanterns and pretend to look for a place to stay.
The celebration lasts for nine nights, dramatizing the futile search for lodging after Joseph and the pregnant Mary arrive in Bethlehem and find no room at an inn (“posada” in Spanish). Las Posadas is a festive community celebration featuring a door-to-door procession through neighborhoods, re-enacting the story of Christmas through song. Here are a variety of celebratory selections, from solemn hymns to “Jingle Bells” with a salsa beat. Still, there are sufficient examples to provide a taste of the Christmas spirit, Latin style.
Others also celebrate more earthly themes: Puerto Rican aguinaldos, for example, often sing the praises of lechón, the roasted pork that replaces turkey in Caribbean and Filipino yuletide meals.Īs a category of music, Christmas tunes are entirely incidental to the Frontera Collection. Some stick strictly to religious themes, such as the Nativity songs of Las Posadas, the Mexican tradition that recreates the Holy Family’s search for lodging. Seasonal chestnuts such as “White Christmas,” written in 1942 by Irving Berlin, and “Jingle Bells,” penned by James Pierpont in a Massachusetts tavern in 1850, are among the most popular Christmas songs on the planet.īut Latin America also has a strong musical repertoire for Christmas celebrations. Rekindle that holiday feeling or create some new memories with the CDs and storybook below.No country has a canon of Christmas carols to rival the United States. Visit the Christmas Songs History section for the stories behind the songs. Half a century later, Gene is probably best known for his Christmas recordings of Here Comes Santa Claus and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Gene and his wife Jackie Autry rode in the parade in the early 1980s. Gene also participated in the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1945, 1946, 1947, and was the Grand Marshal of the parade in 1980. Gene Autry's affiliation with Old Saint Nick would lead him to record numerous Christmas songs including the chart topping holiday hit, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The record launched Gene into yet another field of stardom, that of the role of the Christmas Cowboy.
#1940s christmas carol songbook movie#
America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry was already a popular radio star and movie icon when he recorded Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) in 1947, a song which he co-wrote with Oakley Haldeman.
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