The Devil's Swing: Ballads from the Big Bend Country of the Texas-Mexican Border

• Artist: Various Artists
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album, Collection (various artists)
• Genre: Latin

Review

These 19 performances in traditional Tejano styles were recorded in the mid- to late '90s during the making of the documentary film The Devil's Swing, which examines the region where the Rio Grande and the Rio Conchos meet. At this point on the Texas-Mexico border, around the towns of Ojinaga in Mexico and Presidio in Texas, the isolation from large urban centers has helped preserve the traditional ballad "corrido" styles that are heard on this CD. On the surface this is just another disc of traditional border music: brisk numbers with soulful vocal harmonies, accordion, and pulsing bass, as well as some sax and occasional drums. Read the English translations (provided in the bilingual lyric sheet) of these Spanish-sung numbers, however, and a darker side emerges. Most of these narrative ballads are in fact the stories of drug trafficking along the border, in which the protagonists often meet violent death and harsh prison sentences. This means you really do need to know Spanish to get the most out of the album, as without knowledge of the lyrical nuances, it just sounds like typical music of the genre. Of course, one could argue that as corridos have always dealt with current events, songs about drug trafficking are not really out of the ordinary, anymore, in this style. Note that while a few of these songs are heard in the accompanying film, this isn't a soundtrack but a collection of performances recorded in the making of the documentary, some of which happened to be used in the movie. ~ Richie Unterberger , All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Corrido de Kiansis	Traditional	Palomares De Ojinaga	(7:18)
Jacinto Treviño	Traditional	Palomares De Ojinaga	(5:12)
La Tumba De Villa		Palomares Del Bravo	(4:21)
Los Traficantes del Bravo		Palomares Del Bravo	(3:45)
La Tragedia De ojinaga		Los 3 Amigos	(3:53)
Corrido De Fermín Arévalo		Suspiros De Ojinaga	(3:11)
La Muerte De Fermín Arévalos		Jilgueros del Arroyo	(2:58)
El Corrido de Israel y Guadalupe		Luceros de Ojinaga	(5:20)
Corrido De Martín "El Shorty" Lopez		Tres Amigos De Isidro Ruiz	(3:22)
El Corrido De 'El Pira' Ramirez		Melquiades, Sevilla, Tomas, Frontera, Mariachi	(2:00)
El Zorro De Ojinaga	Paulino Vargas	Suspiros De Ojinaga	(3:19)
Corrido De Pablo Acosta		Palomares Del Bravo	(3:59)
El Corrido de Amado Carrillo		Sevilla, Tomas	(4:05)
El Arresto De Los Sánchez		Jinettes De Odessa	(3:37)
El Corrido De Gravielo Gardea		Frontera, Mariachi	(3:16)
El Corrido De "El Kilo"		Suspiros De Ojinaga	(4:08)
El Leon De La Sierra		Los Palomares de Ojinaga	(4:01)
Ejido De Palomas	Olivas, Carlos	Olivas, Carlos	(2:49)
El Corrido de Esquiel Hernandez	Santiago Jimenez, Jr.	Santiago Jimenez, Jr., Mark Rubin, Amado Banda, Mermea, Victor	(4:12)

Credits

Jilgueros del Arroyo (Performer), Mark Rubin (Performer), Chris Strachwitz (Liner Notes), Chris Strachwitz (Editing), Los 3 Amigos (Performer), Amado Banda (Performer), Morgan K. Dodge (Graphic Design)