Athens-Clarke County Library

Live @ the Library: Beto Cacao

September 8, 2019 3PM

beto Beto Cacao, an Athens-based musician and activist, will perform songs from his CD Undocorridos: Songs of the Stories and Struggles of the Undocumented in the USA. Playing in the traditional Mexican corrido style, Cacao songs spotlight the plight of the undocumented immigrant with songs that address issues important to the Hispanic community and beyond.

Beto shares:

Corridos are the ballads from Mexico, this music genre data from XVIII-XIX century on the times of the independence war in Mexico, people use this type of ballads to bring news from one town to the other, in the times when printed press where not popular and the fact that Mexican culture is oral tradition, it was the perfect medium to preserve those stories and highlight the popular culture and keep alive the peoples voice “la voz del pueblo”.

Corridos still exist, during all this time have had changes on the music style and the histories it’s been told. Through this years and following the policy, cultural and geographic changes corridos had adopt different forms. For many years for example the corridos did future the historic episodes in the life of the freedom fighters, Zapata, Villa, Adelita and the battles they fought, also some unknown personalities who’s names and stories may be lost if corridos would not exist.

beto History and life are complex. Because the poverty in Mexico on the country side, was contrasted with the wealth of the “hacendados” who posses a large pice of land and have peasants work for them, mostly indigenous descendants. This “hacendados” become the hero of the town when they provide with the school supply or support the local churches so many corridos where made to those hacendados. The times changes and drug traffic become a big industry. Then those drug lords become the heroes whom employed poor people and support local economies, is here where “narcocorridos” born featuring those stories, the life of drug traffickers.

Undocorridos is the stories of Undocumented Immigrants, their lives, their struggle and fight for liberation. I don’t pretend to have invented a new corrido style or a new concept, because other people have done this type of stories. I’m in the other hand suggesting a name to identify those corridos. I’m taking Undo- from the word Undocumented. One of the terms Immigrants with not legal Immigration status or undetermined immigration status had choose to use to identify their self, instead of “Illegal”, because this word have been used by anti-immigrant groups in a derogative way to de-humanize and oppress immigrants whit out immigration status and some cases to all Latinx community (aka Mexicans).

I’m not presenting in my songs, the riguroso structures and rhythms of corridos. But I’m using the small set of musical tools I have, supported by imagination and creativity.

I hope you enjoy this stories I’m presenting in this CD and I hope you see here a new voice, the voice of the voiceless, undocumented Immigrants in USA.

Beto Cacao.