Music Blog (Martha-Bryan's Version)

We open with a worn and weathered cowboy, sitting by the fire after a long day’s work. As he watches the light fade from the sky with the setting sun, he reaches for his guitar, singing and playing of the only things he knows: his life, his love, his home, and his history.  Sounds like the beginning of an insanely cheesy yet absolutely gut-wrenching movie, right? Well, with emotion and the story-telling of the working class, it also just happens to be what Mexico’s Ranchera (aka Norteño) music is all about!  Ranchera, as you may have guessed by now, originated on the ranches of Mexico. What you probably didn't  guess is that it pre-dates the Mexican Revolution, which started in 1910. However, it was after the revolution ended in 1917 that Ranchera music really began to take flight. This was due to the new “sense of national identity” found after the Mexican Revolution because of, well, revolution--  but it was also a byproduct of the movement of many rural Mexicans into more urba