Corridos Sin Fronteras

Learn more

• Learn more about culture, music, second languages, songwriting, and world history.

Legal

Corridos Sin Fronteras is an educational website from the Smithsonian Institution which highlights objects and music from the traveling exhibition “ that celebrates the narritive songs known as corridos. The exhibition traces the historical development of the corrido in the New World, from its European origins until today.” It can be viewed in both English and Spanish. The site has films and videos, musical recordings, speakers, performers, online articles, books and publications and more.

Throughout history and into present day, Mexico has recorded her triumphs, defeats and determination through narrative songs called corridos. This popular telling of history and current events touches on topics as diverse as horse racing, heroes, love and politics. Whatever story needs telling, the traditional Mexican ballad form can be used to tell it.Corridos sin Fronteras is the companion site to a traveling exhibition of music, images and corridos-related artifacts from the Smithsonian. The website is divided into three main sections- Learn, Listen and Write. Configured as a timeline, Learn provides a chronology with explanations of major events and for most of the entries, the ballad related to that event. So, for example, selecting World War I brings up the lyrics (in English and Español) as well as the audio of a song written about the Draft of 1918. Listen provides more direct access to the audio by time period. Students may select play to hear the ballad, or select sing along to hear the ballad and see the lyrics, verse by verse, in English and Español. Write profiles modern corridos composers and encourages students to compose their own! Students listen to examples, match words line by line to instrumental music, and finally, perform their creation.Corridos sin Fronteras is a bilingual site. Throughout the site it is possible to easily switch from English to Español and back again with just a click. Students can read and explore in Español then click to English to confirm their understanding of the content they just read. In addition, it is important for students to have rich, comprehensible input in their native language. One element of building fluency and understanding is allowing students to use their native language skills. This site, and other interdisciplinary bilingual sites, benefits students in Spanish class as well as English Language Learners in the social studies or music classroom. The glossary is unique in that it offers not just a definition of the term, but also, for many of the words, a suggestion for seeing that term used in context. In addition, the resources include a comprehensive collection of relevant, credible web resources and lesson plans suitable for students grades 6-12 studying social justice, historical thinking, and written expression. Additional online articles are provided to give teachers the background information they need to effectively understand this topic prior to teaching a unit integrating corridos.