Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Analyze corridos to gain a sense of the traditional form.
• Analyze themes and literary devices in corridos.
• Write original corridos based on the traditional form.

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

• What is the Corrido?
• Lyrics: “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” 
• The Story of Gregorio Cortez
• Lyrics: “El Moro de Cumpas” by Leonardo Yañe
• Rubric: Corridos

Music

•  “El Moro de Cumpas”

Teacher Background

Teachers should familiarize themselves with the corrido genre and its place in history. 

Student Prerequisites 

Students should be familiar with the geography and general history of Mexico. Students should be familiar with current events.

Accessibility Notes

Modify handouts as needed and allow extra time for task completion.

Engage

1. Begin with a free-writing exercise. Ask students to describe what their everyday life is like. Then ask them to write about a time when their everyday life was disrupted in some way–anything from a humorous anecdote to a significant event.

2. Ask students how the language they used in their freewriting exercise may differ from essays, school assignments, a job application. Explain that many forms of literature are written in everyday, ordinary language (i.e., poems by Langston Hughes, contemporary slam poets, etc.). The Mexican corrido is one example of a literary tradition written in everyday language.

Build

1. Share the resource, What is the Corrido?, to discuss the characteristics of corridos. Explain that the corrido is a type of ballad or short narrative, a story usually based on real life. Ballads have been written in cultures all over the world, and the form dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries. The ballad has roots in the oral tradition, and thus the form is simple and direct and uses ordinary, everyday speech and dialogue. The subjects in ballads tend to be about lost love and recent events. Some traditional corridos, in particular, tended to focus on events due to the clashing of cultures—that of the United States and Mexico. However, almost any subject can be the focus of a corrido.

2. Explain that although most traditional corridos were written about historical events (wars and revolutions) and heroes (John F. Kennedy and Fernando Valenzuela), and major catastrophes (earthquakes and train wrecks), many corridos were written about the common aspects of everyday life, and the ways that everyday life is disrupted. Subjects of such corridos have included the struggles and joys in relationships and employment, the characteristics of a hometown or region, and stories of individuals who defend themselves from outside forces. Corridos sang along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 19th and early 20th centuries, for instance, often dealt with the conflict between the U.S. and Mexico that affected their daily lives.

3. Share the lyrics to the famous corrido, “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” and The Story of Gregorio Cortez. Provide students with some historical context surrounding Cortez’s story. Cortez epitomized the border hero for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans because he represented a man who stood on principles and defended his rights against the rinches, the name given to Texas Rangers (a “law enforcement” group that was founded in 1823 to fight Native Americans). The Texas Rangers had achieved worldwide fame as a fighting force during the Mexican-American War, but when the war ended, the Rangers no longer had an official function since it was up to the U.S. military to defend Texas. The Texas Rangers continued to participate in fights with Mexican nationals. In 1916, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico and intensified tensions between Anglos and Hispanics. The Rangers, along with hundreds of special Rangers appointed by Texas governors, killed approximately 5,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans between 1914 and 1919. Stories of brutality and injustice among the Rangers were common.

4. Discuss how Gregorio Cortez is depicted as a border hero in the corrido. Ask students whether they think he would be such a hero if he were not a farmhand and vaquero, but an outlaw prior to his encounter with the sheriff. Albeit Cortez’s story is a more extreme example of conflict between cultures. The Mexican and Mexican-American people could relate to Cortez’s struggle because it mirrored their own everyday struggles living in poor employment and economic conditions and their own conflicts with the rinches. Discuss how the theme of "his pistol in his hand" is linked to the oppression of Mexicans by the United States.

5. Examine how the lyricist glorifies Cortez through simile (comparison of two unlike objects with the word “like” or “as”) and hyperbole (exaggeration for emphasis) in “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez.” Ask students to share examples (“leaped out of the corral,” "His voice was like a bell,” “trying to catch Cortez/ Was like following a star”). Remind students that the characteristics of heroes in many literary traditions (i.e., tall tales) are often depicted in hyperboles (obvious exaggeration for effect).

Apply

1. Inform students that corridos were usually written in a timely fashion in response to current events. Share the lyrics to the corrido “El Moro de Cumpas” by Leonardo Yañez, which tells the story of a very famous horse race that took place in 1957 in the town of Agua Prieta, Mexico, which borders Douglas, Arizona. Composer Leonardo Yañez, nicknamed “El Nano”, a member of the Mariachi Copacabana, wrote this corrido after watching the race from the finish line. “El Moro de Cumpas” is one of the best-known corridos and served as inspiration for a feature film about the horse race.

2. Tell students that the horse is an important symbol in Mexican culture. Horses are essential to the cattle industry, a widespread source of employment in many parts of Mexico, including the northern border states. Secondly, without horses, the Spanish conquistadors would not have been able to defeat the native peoples and occupy their land. Point out that a horse is also important in “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” since, without the horse, he would not have been able to outrun the rinches. Also, in rural Mexico, the horse used to be an important means of transportation. Horseracing became a popular form of entertainment for Mexicans and Mexican Americans and remains so today. In Mexican horse races, usually, only two horses are raced against each other.

3. In corridos about horse races, the horses are often given human characteristics that describe them as brave, respected men. And although there is one winner in the competition, both participants are honored. Have students reread the Lyrics: “El Moro de Cumpas” and follow along with the Excerpt: “El Moro de Cumpas.” Ask students to point out instances in the lyrics in which the horses were given human characteristics (i.e., El Moro is described as handsome, both horses are “two seekers after triumph”).

4. Discuss the themes of the corrido. One theme involves the way people are prone to make judgments based on appearances. Point out the lines “Everyone kept saying / that that horse came / especially to win.” Ask students why everyone thought El Moro was going to win (they were charmed by his good looks). Note that Relámpago surprised many of the betters (notethat “relámpago” translates to “lightning”).

5. Discuss the theme of gambling in the poem. Note how many people from Agua Prieta and neighboring towns voted on the match. Ask students: What is the allure of gambling is, such as American horse and dog tracks, the lottery, and casinos? How did the economic conditions in the border town of Agua Prieta influence gambling? Tell students that many who bet on Moro lost not only money but vehicles and ranches. Discuss how the descriptions of the horses and the horserace reveal general respect for horses. Gambling is not criticized in the lyrics, for example. The horses are lauded for their beauty and speed. Ask students: How did the description of the horses reflect the important position of the horse in Mexican culture?

6. Ask students how Yañez builds suspense in this corrido (by waiting until the last two stanzas to state the winner of the race). Discuss how writers are able to create “page-turners” through suspense.

7. Have students write original corridos. Encourage them to write on a topic of their choice or select one from the resource, What is the Corrido? The main criterion is that the corrido should be centered on an event, character, or story that is happening in the present time. Tell students that they must follow the form of traditional corridos and use colloquial language.

Reflect 

1. Organize a corrido concert, asking students to read the lyrics of their songs aloud or perform. Invite students to incorporate instruments like a guitar or accordion. Assess students’ knowledge with the Rubric: Corridos. 

Corrido

“El Moro de Cumpas”