ImmigrationProf Blog

Immigrant of the Day: Conrad Murray (Grenada)

Conrad Murray was born on February 19, 1953, in St. Andrews, Grenada. He moved to the United States in 1980. In 1999, he opened a private practice. Michael Jackson hired him as a personal physician for Jackson's 2009 concert tour. In June 2009, Jackson died of a prescription drug overdose. Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death in November 2011and was sentenced to four years in prison. He is currently serving out his sentence at a Los Angeles County jail.

 

KJ

Immigrants of the Day: Los Tigres del Norte

 

 

Fox Latino News reports that the members of the superstar band Los Tigres del Norte were once undocumented.  Los Tigres is a norteño-band ensemble based out of San Jose, California, with origins in Rosa Morada, Sinaloa, Mexico.  The group was started by Jorge Hernández, his brothers, and his cousins. They then began recording after moving to San Jose, California in the late 1960s, when all the members were still in their teens. They were sponsored by a local record company, Discos Fama, owned by an Englishman named Art Walker, who took them under his wing and helped them find jobs and material, as well as recording all of their early albums.  The Tigres were at first only locally popular, but took off after Jorge and Art Walker heard a Los Angeles mariachi singer perform a song in the early 1971 about a couple of drug runners, Emilio Varela and Camelia la Texana. There had been occasional ballads (corridos, in Mexican terminology) about the cross-border drug trade ever since Prohibition in the 1920s, but never a song as cinematic as this, featuring a woman smuggler who shoots the man and takes off with the money. After getting permission to record this song, Los Tigres del Norte released "Contrabando y Traición" ("Contraband and Betrayal") in 1974. The song quickly hit on both sides of the border, inspired a series of movies, and kicked off one of the most remarkable careers in Spanish-language music.

The band has won five Latin Grammy Awards and sold 32 million records.

KJ

MATAMOROS BANKS by Bruce Spingsteen

 

For two days the river keeps you down

Then you rise to the light without a sound

Past the playgrounds and empty switching yards

The turtles eat the skin from your eyes, so they lay open to the stars

Your clothes give way to the current and river stone

'Till every trace of who you ever were is gone

And the things of the earth they make their claim

That the things of heaven may do the same

Goodye, my darling, for your love I give God thanks

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Over rivers of stone and ancient ocean beds I walk on twine and tire tread

My pockets full of dust, my mouth filled with cool stone

The pale moon opens the earth to its bones

I long, my darling, for your kiss, for your sweet love I give God thanks

The touch of your loving fingertips

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Your sweet memory comes on the evenin' wind

I sleep and dream of holding you in my arms again

The lights of Brownsville, across the river shine A shout rings out and into the silty red river I dive

I long, my darling, for your kiss, for your sweet love I give God thanks

A touch of your loving fingertips

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros

Meet me on the Matamoros banks

From the Devils & Dust CD/album (2005). 

The song should remind us of the many deaths along the U.S./Mexico border by people seeking nothing more than a better life.

KJ

Banda Star Jenni Rivera, Daughter of Mexican Immigrants, RIP

 

  

Jenni Rivera, the Mexican-American singer and reality television star known as “the Diva of Banda,” died early Sunday in a plane crash outside Monterrey, Mexico, after a performance there. She was 43.

Rivera began recording in 1992, and her recordings often have themes of social issues, infidelity, and relationships. Her tenth studio album, Jenni (2008), became her first number-one album in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. In 2010, she appeared in and produced the reality TV show Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis & Raq-C.

A U.S. citizen by birth, Rivera was born in Long Beach, California. Her parents were immigrants from Mexico.  Fans have been mourning at Rivera's home in Encino.

Rivera was a champion of immigrants rights.   On May 29, 2010, tens of thousands of protesters converged on Phoenix to denounce Arizona's immigration enforcement law known as S.B. 1070.  While other well-known musicians stayed away, or just signed a petition, Rivera showed up and marched five miles in scorching heat.   She went on to play a full concert and gave a speech for immigrant rights and justice for the community she came from and never left.

KJ

John Lennon and George McGovern: Another Side of the 1972 Campaign

Senator George McGovern, 1972 Democratic Presidential candidate, died this weekend at age 90.  Jon Wiener's blog post at The Nation tells an old story of immigration court, the INS, John Lennon, and Senator McGovern.

 KJ

At the Movies: Searching for Sugar Man

Searching for Sugar Man (2012), winner of the Sundance Jury Prize and the Audience Award for best international documentary.

Here is a synopsis of the film from its website:

In 1968, two producers went to a downtown Detroit bar to see an unknown recording artist – a charismatic Mexican-American singer/songwriter named Rodriguez, who had attracted a local following with his mysterious presence, soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They were immediately bewitched by the singer, and thought they had found a musical folk hero in the purest sense – an artist who reminded them of a Chicano Bob Dylan, perhaps even greater. They had worked with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, but they believed the album they subsequently produced with Rodriguez – Cold Fact – was the masterpiece of their producing careers.

Despite good reviews, Cold Fact was a commercial disaster and marked the end of Rodriguez’s recording career before it had even started. Rodriguez sank back into obscurity. All that trailed him were stories of his escalating depression, and eventually he fell so far off the music industry’s radar that when it was rumored he had committed suicide, there was no conclusive report of exactly how and why. Of all the stories that circulated about his death, the most sensational – and the most widely accepted – was that Rodriguez had set himself ablaze on stage 4 having delivered these final lyrics: “But thanks for your time, then you can thank me for mine and after that’s said, forget it.” The album’s sales never revived, the label folded and Rodriguez’s music seemed destined for oblivion.

This was not the end of Rodriguez's story. A bootleg recording of Cold Fact somehow found its way to South Africa in the early 1970s, a time when South Africa was becoming increasingly isolated as the Apartheid regime tightened its grip. Rodriguez's anti-establishment lyrics and observations as an outsider in urban America felt particularly resonant for a whole generation of disaffected Afrikaners. The album quickly developed an avid following through word-of-mouth among the white liberal youth, with local pressings made. In typical response, the reactionary government banned the record, ensuring no radio play, which only served to further fuel its cult status. The mystery surrounding the artist's death helped secure Rodriguez's place in rock legend and Cold Fact quickly became the anthem of the white resistance in Apartheid-era South Africa. Over the next two decades Rodriguez became a household name in the country and Cold Fact went platinum.

Here is a review by Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone.  More reviews can be found at Rotten Tomatoes.

KJ

Springsteen on Immigrants

 Balboa Park

 

Across the Border

 

Sinaloa Cowboys

 

Galveston Bay

Bruce Springsteen's work has made it to the ImmigrationProf blog (and here) in the past.   In 2010, he was honored with an Ellis Island Family Heritage Award.   Springsteen's maternal grandfather Antonio Zerilli immigrated to America through Ellis Island from Italy in 1900.

In the book Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll -- a "must read" for any true Springsteen fan, Professor Marc Dolan ties the three songs about Mexican immigrants (the first three above) to Springsteen's time living in southern California in the 1990s. 

Springsteen has been attacked on Peter Brimelow's anti-immigrant blog VDare as an advocate of "open borders" based on the song "American Land."

 

Click here for links to lyrics and other information about the Boss.

KJ

American Immigration Council Honors Immigrant Achievement in Music

The American Immigration Council is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 American Heritage Awards. The Awards celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of immigrants to America and this year we recognize immigrant achievement in music. The Council will celebrate the honorees and enjoy live performances on Friday, June 15, 2012, in Nashville, Tennessee during the Council’s Annual Benefit and as part of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Annual Conference.

The honorees include:

• Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel (Australia)

• Violinist/Violist Yura Lee (South Korea)

• Pianist/Composer Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera (Cuba)

For biographical information on the honorees, click here.

 

KJ

Si Se Puede: A Pro-Immigrant Video by Carlos Santana et al.

 

Watch this fun pro-immigrant video by previous Immigrant of the Day Carlos Santana and friends.

KJ

ICE v. King of Bollywood? Bollywood Movie Star Detained by La Migra

Earlier this month, Indian movie star Shah Rukh Khan, a/k/a the King of Bollywood, was detained and held for over two hours by U.S. immigration officials. He arrived in New York from India by private jet to address Yale students (who he later reportedly "charmed").  Click here for details.

 

KJ

Kat Stacks Deported to Venezuela

Are you cool enough to know who Kat Stacks is? Hint: a music hanger-on. Anyway she was deported last June. For pics, click here.

UPDATE (Nov. 12): A reader sent me a correction to my story, stating that Stacks is in immigration detention in Louisiana.

X Factor Contestant Faces Deportation

PerezHilton reports that an X Factor contestant is being deported from the UK.

 

KJ

Springsteen: The Rising -- An Inspirational Ode to the Courage of the Nation after 9/11

As you know, I have taken a somewhat dim view of the hullabaloo over the 10 year anniversary of September 11, 2001. Still, I think that we can draw some inspiration from some of the responses of real people doing their best on that fateful day as captured in the Bruce Springsteen song "The Rising."

Have a great weekend!

KJ

Rising Souls, Singing Scorpions A Documentary

 Rising Souls, Singing Scorpions is a documentary film by award-winning filmmakers Paul Espinosa and Mark Day about Ramón “Chunky” Sanchez, a southern California musician and community organizer based in San Diego. It’s a moving story of individual perseverance and an engaging tale of how art and culture can play a role in achieving justice and social change.

KJ

Live Music Theatre: Los Valientes (The Courageous Ones)

 
Los Valientes (The Courageous Ones) is a live music theatre work for singing actor and onstage music trio of cello, piano and percussion. Based on the lives of three heroic Latinos, the show celebrates the lives of Mexican painter Diego Rivera, martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Mexican-American outlaw Joaquin Murrieta - some say the Zorro character was based on this historical figure. The music ranges from traditional Latino folk and popular songs sung in Spanish to instrumental works by Latin American composers.

You can watch samples of the show by clicking here:

Diego Rivera and Oscar Romero

Joaquin Murrieta

The show will tour throughout the United States during the September/October 2011 Hispanic Cultural Awareness Celebration. 

For further details, please visit www.coreensemble.com/losvalientes/.

KJ

More songs circulated in the Immprof list serv

Two more contributions to the growing list of immigrantion-related songs from the immigration professor's list serv.  I hope those of you who have musical talents find and practice these songs in anticipation of perforiming them at our next immigration professor's conference--hiroshi are you listening?

From Professor Ruben G. Rumbaut (UC Irvine-Sociology

)

To the wonderful compilation of songs on the immigrant experience, here're five more (from Mexican artists), compliments of my wife Irene

"Lamento de un bracero" -- Antonio Aguilar
"Un mojado sin licencia" -- Grupo Tayer
"La tumba del mojado" -- Los Tigres del Norte
"Julio César Chávez" -- Ramón Ayala
"Los mandados" -- Vicente Fernández

And still more, with YouTube links (this from my brother Luis Rumbaut, a lawyer in DC who played in a band himself):

Todos Vuelven may have been covered by Blades, but it was originally a vals peruano (canción criolla) from before i was born: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqx7DrMEc7c
　
my candidate (our band used to play it, with much appreciation by the audience): Vivan los Mojados, also from Los Tigres del Norte:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmN9XQUXgZY
　
but the generic granddady of them all (1915!) may be Canción Mixteca, here done by the mind-stretching Lila Downs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rexc-Goc8_Y&feature=related

From Professor Sheila Velez (Pittsburg-Law)

1. Visa para un sueño,　 Juan Luis Guerra .　 (Visa for a Dream) Juan Luis Guerra is a Dominican singer and song writer, his music can be distinguished because he infuses the traditional rhythms of the Dominican Republic (bachata, perico ripiao, merengue) with poetry and social commentary.　This song is about the struggle of Dominican who migrate, the false papers and the long lines under the burning sun at the US Consulate in Santo Domingo. For those of you that think that you can not dance merengue, watch the dancers in the background and give it a try. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiC9TyiBoxI

2. No me llames extranjero, Alberto Cortez ( poem　 by Amor) (Do not call me a stranger or foreigner).　 Alberto Cortez is one of the leading voices of Latin American music, a household name, a voice we all grew up with. This is a powerful song that after all this years always moves me to tears.　 It hangs in my office."Do not call me a stranger because I was born under other skies!  your wheat is like me wheat, your hand is like my hand, your fire like my fire and hunger" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQMmyHfgSg

3. Boricua en la luna,　 Roy Brown and Fiel a la Vega (Boricua in the moon)　 (poem by el maestro Juan Antonio Corretjer) Juan Antonio Corretjer, Puerto Rico´s national poet was born in New York. This is song is about Puerto Rican migration to New York and Puerto Rican identity.　 Boricua refers to the taino name of the Island, Borikén.　 We are all Boricuas and we are known all trough Latin America as Boricuas like people from Costa Rica are Ticos.　"Yo serÃa borincano aunque naciera en la luna" I would be Borincano even if I was born in the moon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83U_kVYT8hc

4. En la otra orilla, Frank Delgado.　 (In the other shore) Frank Delgado is a contemporary Cuban singer and songwriter that lives in Havana.　 His songs are full of criticism of the current Cuban social and political situation in a witty and sardonic way.　　 This song is about the the relationships between those who left Cuba and those who remain.　 How at first all those who left were called gusanos (worms)　 but as the divisas became a necessity they came to be called comunitarios. A veritable example of transnationalism.　　　　 How family, music and santeria holds both shores together in spite of politics and distance.　 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ZPCVCC4H0&feature=related

He also has a very popular son called Letter from a Cuban Boy to Harry Potter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRRQoYYXa4w&feature=related

5. Redemption Song,　 Bob Marley.　 No introduction necessary. "Old pirates, yes, they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit But my hand was made strong By the hand of the almighty We forward in this generation Triumphantly" Another song of freedom, redemption songs emancipate yourself from mental slavery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHgMD1S0bg

If you like reggae you can also check out, Deportee by Buju Banton, it deals with the life of persons deported back to Jamaica. "Back together again, mi baby fren'
Dust off yuh clothes, an' start from scratch again Back together again, mi baby fren' Dust off yuh clothes, an' start, nuh true" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmmUKFvZVd0

6. Papeles Mojados, Chambao. (Wet papers) Chambao is a techno flamenco group from AndalucÃa, Spain.　 The name refers to the tent fisherman in the region use to protect themselves from sun and sand.　 The song is about African migrants crossing the Mediterraneo.　 TMany don´t make it, they dreams drown, we papers, papers without owner" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad58oDZ4i_0

7. Clandestino,　 Manu Chao.　 Manu Chao is a Basque and Gallego singer.　　 The Clandestino album was released in 1998 and even features a commentary by Subcomandante Marcos (ejercito zapatista de liberacion nacional). "Alone I go with my sorrow Alone goes my sentence To run is my destiny To escape the law Lost in the heart of the great Babylon They call me clandestine For not having any papers" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad58oDZ4i_0

8. Pa´l Norte , Calle 13. (To the north) Calle 13 Residente is a controversial urban singer and songwriter from Puerto Rico.　　 He is widely known through out Latin America for his controversial lyrics and social activism. "Today I leave to the north without passport... on foot, on paws... but it doesn't matter this man hydrates himself with what my eyes portray with a pair of landscapes in my knapsack with vitamins of chlorophyll with a rosary that keeps watching on me."　 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBYO1ZfxxSM

My personal favorite, El hormigero, (The Anthill) About the unstoppable growth of the Latino community "Here we come, the ants invading enemy lands, our invasion without missiles, underground ants can overcome any giant, the sting you feel later, there are more ants than cowboys,　 the humble eat the nobleman, by 2020 we will double, you have to share the candies " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQGQMsNrXy4

9. Pobre Juan, Maná (Poor Juan)　 Mana is a popular rock band from Guadalajara, Mexico.　 Pobre Juan is the history of a young man with a pregnant wife, he leaves for the north, but never makes it.　　 Betrayed by the coyotes, it is never known if it was la migra o the desert but Juan never returned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mm7GRyvgcI

10. La casa por la ventana, Joaquin Sabina (Throwing the house trough the window)　 Joaquin Sabina is one of the most popular Spanish singers and songwriters.　 Do not be fooled by the salsa rythm, is a heartbreaking song about immigrants in Spain: Dominicans,Cubans, Africans, Roma an even Ukranians that " in plazas and cinemas for a plate of soup and a straw mattress, with a carpet and a kleenex polish and shine Europe's " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byB61uYe1GU

11. Te guste o no, Juan Manuel Serrat.　 (Like it or not) The great Catalan singer and songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat sings about loving the similarities but loving even more the differences between us all.　 Multiculturalism at its best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4cN6n5P33M

12. Cantares,　 Juan Manuel Serrat (poem by the great Antonio Machado).　 This is not really a song about immigration but about forging your own path.　 Venturing out, walking and leaving behind what you might never be able to come back to.　 And doing it full of hope. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj-W6D2LSlo

EQ

Houston Grand Opera Premieres Immigration Musical

The Houston Grand Opera will present the premiere of "To Cross the Face of the Moon" on November 13, 2010 with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán.  It will be sung in Spanish with English surtitles.  Here is a summary:

 Houston Grand Opera’s 41st world premiere follows one family from its patriarch’s distant American dream to their generations-long quest for fulfillment in the country that still does not quite feel like home. The work’s story, by acclaimed director and writer Leonard Foglia, is based on first-hand accounts of Mexican immigrants to Houston. The score of To Cross the Face of the Moon is by José “Pepe” Martínez, music director of the world-famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, who will make their only Houston appearance this year at the opera’s concert premiere on November 13 in the Brown Theater. HGO presents the fully-staged opera Talento Bilingüe de Houston featuring a Texan Mariachi band in four performances on December 3, 4 and 5. Recent Studio alumnus Octavio Moreno, a native of Hermosillo, Mexico, will create the baritone role of the family patriarch Laurentino. The role of Renata will be played by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, who is a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, and has been a member of the Houston Grand Opera Chorus for five years. The role of Mark will be sung by David Guzman in his company debut, and Pepe Martínez will perform the role of Chucho.

KJ

Alt.Latino: A Musical Look at SB 1070

 
Alt.Latino has been covering the controversial new immigration legislation in Arizona from a musical point of view: Soundstrike is a movement of recording artists who are either boycotting the state of Arizona in protest of the legislation or writing protest songs.  Check it out!

KJ