Pop, Rock, and Coca-Cola

Posted Monday, December 1, 2008 by Katie Day Good - in Mexico

The students I’ve interviewed at the School of Mexican music seem confident that the old tunes will never die. People will keep singing them at the top of their lungs at festivals and parties, and no Mexican wedding will ever be complete without them. Alejandra, the talented ranchera singer who sits next to me in chorus, sums it up like this:

“I used to go out to clubs with my cousins. I’d dance to the hits, electronica, rock en español, and all that. But whenever we had a party, at the end of the night, it was always me who sang. Everybody drunk, and I would sing. They never forgot that I would sing. So somehow, Mexican music has always had an important role. Maybe in different intensities, but it’s always been present in everybody.”

Despite the cultural value of singing old, “pure” Mexican songs (which have plenty of European ingredients, like guitars and waltzes, themselves), day-to-day Mexico City pulses with lots of imported sounds, too.

  • Listen to a quick turn of the dial on an FM radio in Mexico City:

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    • Here are a few examples of what the city sounded like when I stepped out of the School of Mexican music and took a walk around town:

  • An older man plays a medley of popular songs in the subway tunnel, featuring “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Lo Dudo” by José José.

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    • A rockabilly band

    A crowd gathers in the historic Centro to hear a rockabilly band perform in a music store.


    A rockabilly band

    Close up of the band.

  • Listen to a sample of the rockabilly band:

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    • The Annual Coca-Cola Christmas Parade makes its way down Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City’s main street. Giant Coke Floats (unfortunately not the drinkable kind) blasted catchy Christmas tunes as they drove past thousands of spectators.

    The Annual Coca-Cola Christmas Parade makes its way down Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City’s main street. Giant Coke Floats (unfortunately not the drinkable kind) blasted catchy Christmas tunes as they drove past thousands of spectators.

  • Click here to hear the Coke Float roll by, followed by independent vendors who relied on their own jingles for selling light-up toys and snacks.

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    • Monday, December 1st, 2008 Audio, Thoughts

    1 Comment to Pop, Rock, and Coca-Cola

    1. Hey Katie, I like your posts… Sometimes at a campfire in Birchwood, I’m the last one singing… You know, old stuff, like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles… Please bring a few tunes back for me at a campfire (I need new material)… Later

      2. Craig on December 12th, 2008

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