La Llorona is a Mexican folk song about a ghost who haunts various bodies of water with the intention of dragging children who venture too close to their watery graves. It's partly a story to keep kids away from water, but it's also a cautionary moral tale to keep women from being whores, because the whole reason La Llorona was cursed to this watery afterlife in the first place is because she drowned her kids to be with a man who didn't end up wanting her anyway. I am going to learn the words so I can sing it to Pablo, even though we don't even have a bathtub.
Manu Chao lives in Tijuana, but he is not technically Mexican. His parents are Spaniards, and he was born and raised in France. Beto and I first discovered him while watching a documentary about illegal immigrants that made me cry while we still lived in Los Angeles. This clip is from French television, which may or may not make you cry.
Malaguena Salerosa is a song most of the musicians walking around town know and will play for five dollars. Some of them play it much better than others. I usually pick which ones I like best based on how much feeling goes into the vocals. This clip is from the Kill Bill 2 movie premiere. It's on the soundtrack. It's hard to beat this version. It's pretty amazing.
