Lydia Mendoza: A Family Autobiography

Lydia Mendoza: A Family Autobiography

From Library Journal The Mendoza family, popular Texas-based Mexican American musicians, here tell their story in interviews recorded over a period of ten years. Concentrating on the years from 1930 to 1960, the interviews present a fascinating look at the world of the Spanish-speaking Southwest as experienced by this struggling family of performers. Singer/guitarist Lydia Mendoza, the most recognizable member of the family thanks in part to a lengthy recording career stretching from 1928 into the 1980s, is also featured on a new compact disc produced by interviewer Strachwitz titled Mal Hombre , which includes her 1934 hit of the same name. Essential for libraries serving Mexican American communities and for collections on ethnic music. A Spanish-language edition would have been welcome.- James E. Ross, Seattle P.L.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Lydia Mendoza made her first record while still a child in a make-shift recording studio in a San Antonio hotel room in 1928. Six years later, after the enormous hardship of migrant farm work, during the depths of the Great Depression, Lydia returned with her family to San Antonio to become a "star" when she recorded "Mal hombre" (Evil Man) as a solo singer accompanied only by her twelve-string guitar. Lydia Mendoza has endured much like the Carter Family has in American country music. She became known as "La Cancionera de los Pobres" (The Songstress of the Poor) but she did not limit her repertoire to the tastes of any one social group. Her songs and recordings appealed to almost all Mexican Americans and, due to the wide distribution of her records, Lydia's popularity spread throughout the Spanish-speaking regions of North and South America. Lydia, along with her sisters Maria and Juanita, recorded every type of song from stylish tangos and boleros, to the rancheras favored by cantina patrons which often speak of heartaches, treachery and deceit. The corridos she sang told of historical events, tragedies and heroes, both real and imagined.In 1982, Lydia Mendoza was granted the National Heritage Award by the National Endowment for the Arts, and an archive in her honor was established at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. From Kirkus Reviews Lydia Mendoza--with 12-string guitar and soulful renditions of tangos, boleros, corridos, and other popular songs--catapulted to fame (if not fortune) as ``La Cancionera de los Pobres'' (``The Songstress of the Poor'') in the 30's Southwest, becoming the most renowned member of her performing family. Here, Strachwitz-- chronicler on both records and film of Mexican-American music--has skillfully compiled and woven together ten years' worth of vivid, personal interviews with Mendoza, her family members, and her associates. Leonor Mendoza, the family matriarch, was born into a well- educated, middle-class Mexican family, but upon fleeing the Mexican Revolution with her hard-drinking husband (who responded to most situations with imaginative lies), she plunged into poverty with her children, most of whom had only what little education Leonor could provide. They traveled the US, harvesting crops, but soon found they could earn more as performers, even in the early days when they played for pennies in the streets and, most notably, in the Plaza del Zacate in San Antonio. Lydia's Blue Bird recording of ``Mal Hombre'' in 1934--wildly popular over the airwaves--made her name on both sides of the border, even though she was cheated out of royalties. With Lydia's radio popularity as a draw, the family went on the road, performing in circus tents, church halls, and theaters. The shows were stopped temporarily by marriage, children, and WW II gas rationing; sisters Juanita and Maria became famous as a duet; and Lydia was still touring in the 80's, during the folk revival. A real treat for Mendoza fans, and a good read for those interested in Mexican-American popular culture or the emergen