In a recent traditional arts proposal, the applicant is asked to describe their cultural lineage. I see this as an important question because there has long been bias around lineage in Mexican traditional arts. And I welcome the opportunity to address it with depth and nuance. The recognition of Mexican tradition bearers in Mexican American communities is typically weighted towards the Mexican born and those with lineage recognized by institutions when, in fact, our deep traditions are often transmitted informally, beyond institutional reach.
These biases also have deeply personal resonance for those of us who are US born and sometimes treated as outsiders to our own heritage by people and institutions tasked with designating authenticity. In college, my Irish American ethnomusicology professor, and director of our student mariachi, told a friend that I was ashamed of being Mexican because I did not behave in a manner that he recognized. The greatest folk masters with whom I have worked invited me into the tradition as a practitioner based on my ability, not place of birth, primary language, nor cultural affinity. I could not imagine teaching traditional music to my American born or non-Latino students under the condition that they could never be fully part of it.
I began the Los Cenzontles youth group at a multicultural arts organization in the 1980’s. The project’s success made its director feel threatened by our increasing independence. In 1994, I was given an ultimatum to forfeit my contract to the children’s album Papa’s Dream that I was independently producing for Los Lobos and Lalo Guerrero under a claim of intellectual property. I declined. Before I was fired, a celebrated African drum master, the director’s mentor, was tasked with giving me ‘one last chance’ to submit. In that meeting he became outraged at my resistance and screamed, while assaulting me, “You are nothing! Not even a real Mexican! You owe everything to ---- (the director). He made you!”
I then incorporated Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center; we celebrated cultural independence, and began growing our program and organization based on the idea that culture belongs to those who work it - to borrow from Emiliano Zapata. And I could not be more proud of the accomplishments and impact that Los Cenzontles has made on its thousands of students and traditional music on both sides of the border.
In our globalized era we must adjust our attitudes about authenticity, cultural belonging and identity. The rural economies and lifestyles that gave birth to Mexico’s folk traditions are gone or disappearing rapidly. Many elder folk masters now live outside their ancestral lands, and people continue to migrate, creating fluid opportunities for the flourishing of traditional arts in new places. Yet, antiquated colonial attitudes and control that persist in the US and in Mexico dampen the possibilities of the traditional arts which thrive best when provided unobstructed air and fertile ground, whether rural or urban, in Mexico or the US.
It is past time that we recognize broadly that Mexican Americans are a vital part of the diaspora of Mexican culture. And that our masters are masters. There is no sustainable alternative.
Eugene Rodriguez
