Cruzando las fronteras de sur a norte y de norte a sur

Abstract

Wind bands were an integral component of the turbulent political currents that dominated the late Porfiriato (the dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz, 1876–1911) and Mexican Revolution (1910–20). Three case studies set along the US-Mexico border demonstrate how musical excellence was maintained while political allegiances and methods of financial patronage were shifting radically under successive governments during a time of violence and instability. Close examination of the use of wind-band music in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua—at the Díaz-Taft presidential meeting in 1909, the Battle of Juárez in 1911, and Alfredo Pacheco’s El Paso performances in 1916—reveals how band music was used by political and military factions as a form of “soft power.” It was also used as entertainment and artistic edification, as well as to heighten the rituals of daily life at public and private events, such as concerts, serenades, political rallies, bullfights, battles, and executions.