NRR Project: 'Mal Hombre' (1934)

 

NRR Project: ‘Mal Hombre’

Performed by Lydia Mendoza

Recorded 1934

3:32

I could not do better to inform the reader about Lydia Mendoza than to point them to the excellent explanatory essay by Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez at the NationalRecording Registry. For the sake of the entry, I will include my own thoughts.

Mendoza was part of a musical family that lived and traveled through the United States and Mexico, performing for poor, Spanish-speaking audiences in all kinds of venues – bars, street corners, open fields. They had a body of music, composed from different influences, that would come to be known as Tejano music.

Mendoza lived in a society almost completely cut off from the mainstream. She never learned English – she didn’t have to. She moved inside of a culture whole and entire of itself, a Hispanic culture that, still today, lives on a completely different level that is unknown to the Caucasian majority.

Lydia, a performer since the age of 12, recorded this at the age of 16. “Mal Hombre,” a dark and dire portrait of an unfaithful, manipulative lover, became her signature song. Almost single-handedly, over the course of 50 albums featuring more than 200 songs, she set down the music and poetry of the Mexican-American underclass.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: the New Music Quarterly recordings.

NRR Project: 'If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again' (1934)

 

NRR Project: ‘If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again’

Music: John Whitfield Vaughan Lyrics: James Rowe

Performed by Thomas A. Dorsey

Recorded 1934

3:03

Gospel music was evolving. What once had been staid renditions of straight-up hymns began to incorporate the sounds of pop music, and even the blues.

Thomas Dorsey was one of those innovators, a prolific songwriter and performer. Of the blues. Yet in 1932 he turned his songwriting talents to writing gospel music exclusively. You can hear his barrelhouse sensibilities in his rendition of this song, interestingly one he did not write.

The lyrics of the song are sentimental and nostalgic, mourning the loss of a mother and her steadfast faith. However, this rendition of the song has the rollicking energy of a good-time song, with emphatic piano playing and singing by Dorsey, and a rowdy chorus behind him. The energy is infectious. It practically demands that the listener join in.

Dorsey rapidly abandoned performing and recording, but his output of classic songs include “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley.”

For more detailed information about the piece, please refer to Robert F. Darden’s excellent essay at the National Recording Registry.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: Mal Hombre.