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The KUT Longhorn Radio Network Presents: Mexican American Experience Collection

Audio recordings including interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns in the series "The Mexican American Experience" and "A esta hora conversamos" from the Longhorn Radio Network, 1976-1982.

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PROGRAM INFO

Title:
La Camelia
Program #
1981-05
Theme:
Culture

Series:
Music
Host:
Rosa-Linda Fregoso
Guest:
Carmen Tafolla
Date:
Dec 1, 1980

La Camelia

Rosa-Linda Fregoso discusses the corrido, “Contrabando y Traición,” with Carmen Tafolla, an instructor at the University of Texas, and speaks with several Chicanos about its popularity. Fregoso first retells the fictional story behind the corrido, which centers on La Camelia who helps save her boyfriend, a drug trafficker, and then kills him when he tries to leave her for another woman. Fregoso speaks with Tafolla about the history of corridos and the ways in which they reflect changing social values. Tafolla explains that the song is so popular because La Camelia is a very real character and she belongs to the Chicano community. Fregoso then speaks with several Chicanos who discuss why the song is popular and analyze her story.

Tafolla next discusses several sequel corridos and how audiences have responded. Tafolla also explains that the song is popular with Chicanos because they recognize the reality of drug trafficking and its heavy toll on the community. Ultimately, she concludes it is the song’s realism that makes it so compelling.

KEYWORDS

Arturo Caminante
Carmen Tafolla
Chicano Representations
Consumer Culture
Contrabando y Traicion
Corrido de Kiansis
Corridos
Creative Educational Enterprises
Drug Trafficking
El Paso
Epic Ballads
Esteban Jordan
Female Protagonists
Feminism
Guns
Informal Economics
Kansas City
La Camelia
Los Angeles
Marijuana
Money
Music
Narcocorridos
Newspaper
Nuevo Leon
Oral history
Police
Popular Culture
Record Stores
Romanzas
San Antonio
San Francisco
Sonrisas
Spain
Tigres del Norte
Transnationalism
Troubadours
Trucks
University of Texas at Austin
Women
Y encontraron a la Camelia
 

Center for Mexican American Studies | Department of History | The Benson Latin American Collection

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