Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño

In Sounds of Crossing Alex E. Chávez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the sounds and poetics of huapango arribeño, a musical genre originating from north-central Mexico. Following the resonance of huapango's improvisational performance within the lives of audiences, musicians, and himself-from New Year's festivities in the highlands of Guanajuato, Mexico, to backyard get-togethers along the back roads of central Texas-Chávez shows how Mexicans living on both sides of the border use expressive culture to construct meaningful communities amid the United States' often vitriolic immigration politics. Through Chávez's writing, we gain an intimate look at the experience of migration and how huapango carries the voices of those in Mexico, those undertaking the dangerous trek across the border, and those living in the United States. Illuminating how huapango arribeño's performance refigures the sociopolitical and economic terms of migration through aesthetic means, Chávez adds fresh and compelling insights into the ways transnational music-making is at the center of everyday Mexican migrant life.

Author: Alex E. Chávez
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 12/01/2017
Pages: 440
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.72lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780822370093

About the Author
Alex E. Chávez is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and produced the album Serrano de Corazón by Guillermo Velázquez y Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú.