Raudal y pervivencia del corrido mexicano

Even though on multiple occasions scholars of Mexican balladry have decreed its death, the Mexican corrido survives. Not only does it survive; it remains the most important balladic production in the world, given its historical corpus and its extensive and continuous living tradition, its immense production, and its manifestation as an industry that manages multimillion-dollar profits in Mexico, the United States, and some other Latin American countries. This article reflects on the tradition of the corrido in Mexico. It begins with an overview of the corrido's origins (the Hispanic thesis versus the indigenista thesis) as well as the geography of its development in Mexico (El Bajío according to Vicente Mendoza and the Mexican-Texan border according to Américo Paredes). The article then examines the conditions that have led to the continuity and development of corridos in Mexico. There are many countries with a ballad tradition, but Mexico is the only one that preserves several living traditions of the ballad in the corrido.