Frontera, Frontera Internacional

In the songs of Los Tigres it is apparent that, despite the relatively familiar nature of el norte, Mexicans experience a disturbing encounter with social injustice upon arrival at la frontera, the international border shared by Mexico and the United States. In fact, the reality of the border begins to define the immigrants' relationship to the United States. According to the songs of Los Tigres, at this gateway there is no Statue of Liberty welcoming Mexican immigrants, only a border guarded by the hated migra (Immigration and Naturalization Service). To Mexicans intent on crossing into this country, the

border represents an artificial sociopolitical trench which divides human beings along national and racial lines; it must be defied, whether to seek work, unify the family, or carry out other activities, including the smuggling of contraband.

Many Tigres del Norte songs focus on this space in which social and political frontiers coexist. In fact, the group members owe their rise in popularity to a mid-seventies recording, "Contrabando y Traición," a love and drug smuggling corrido (ballad) featuring the adventures of Emilio Varela and Camelia la texana, two fictional characters who are now as deeply ingrained in Mexican popular culture as the fabled corrido figures Juan Charrasqueado, Gabino Barrera, Simon Blanco, Valentina, Adelita, and Rosita Alvírez.

The principal virtue of Los Tigres del Norte is that in the years following their commercial success based on drug smuggling corridos they managed to distinguish themselves from competitors by recording dozens of songs that directly explored distinct aspects of the Mexican immigrant experience. This was most successfully carried out during the phase of their career when they established an artistic partnership with Enrique Franco. When Los Tigres and Franco joined forces in the late seventies and he became the group's principal composer, the content of the group's songs shifted from drug smuggling and crime to a direction characterized by an exceptional social awareness mirroring the concern of Mexican immigrants with the often hostile immigration debate that was engulfing the nation. The character of the songs and their accelerated production and commercialization during the first years of the decade of the eighties reflected in a unique manner the increasing anxieties found among Mexicans in the United States, particularly as the dates for the approval and implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 approached. A clear pattern emerged in the artistic production of Los Tigres, linking the immigrant experience, specifically the concerns over immigration policies, and the thematic evolution of their songs.

By the mid-eighties, Los Tigres had already established themselves as exceptional articulators of the Mexican immigrant experience, with dozens of serious, insightful, and predominantly denunciatory songs on U.S. immigration policy. In this collective autobiography composed of largely original compositions, one finds a consistent defense of Mexican immigrants. The songs criticize the imposition of political borders which divide Mexicans and other peoples, espouse Latin American and universal brotherhood, and celebrate the Mexican racial miscegenation known as mestizaje.

From a broader perspective, the songs may be considered surprisingly consistent with the ideology of revolutionary nationalism that has prevailed in Mexico during the post-revolutionary era. As Roger Bartra has indicated, it is an official ideology which has been imposed on Mexican society by the

state-party system first created by Plutarco Elias Calles in 1929.^[9] It is an ideology that is also espoused and transmitted to the Mexican masses on a daily basis by Televisa, the media conglomerate which had a virtual monopoly over Mexican television for decades. Fonovisa, the group's recording label since the mid-eighties, is affiliated with Televisa. Thus, it is possible to argue that the artistic work of Los Tigres del Norte is simultaneously conventional, within the Mexican cultural discourse, and oppositional, or at least denunciatory, with respect to the United States. In the case of Los Tigres, popular music reproduces the dual roles individuals play once they begin participation in the process of transnational migration.

An important quality of the songs recorded by Los Tigres del Norte during the decade of the eighties is their refreshing and innovative approach to issues which are linked to a historical phenomenon a century old. An awareness of this context is essential to appreciate the significance of the songs. They are fully understood only if one associates them with the migratory experiences of the composer, musicians, and a consumer market which exists on both sides of the international border.

An extraordinary exposition of these ideas is presented in "Frontera Internacional," a melancholic appeal directed at the international border itself by a Mexican who lost a brother in an attempt to cross into the United States. The individual returns to the scene of the tragedy, driven by the same forces which have perpetuated migration from the traditional sending regions of Mexico. This time, he intends to cross the river with his loved woman, notwithstanding the potential risks involved.

"Frontera Internacional" informs us of the social repercussions of successful and unsuccessful migration, acknowledges the economic origins of this process, calls attention to the unfair social divisions found by Mexicans in the United States, and affirms the need for the receiving society to consider more tolerant and humane immigration policies.

In the songs of Los Tigres one finds danger permeating the border region. As reports by human rights organizations repeatedly indicate, death is not an entirely unfamiliar occurrence at the border. It can be the result of an accident, an inability to swim, suffocation in a sealed railroad car, a robbery or rape, a high-speed automobile persecution, or the aggression of a U.S. border patrol agent.

As expected, Los Tigres have captured the essence of this dangerous passage into the unknown in another song in which la frontera becomes "La Tumba del Mojado." This composition is a first-person account of the difficulties associated with border crossing, subsequent persecutions and arrest, and the national-origin-based discrimination experienced by Mexicans without documents.

The initiation of conflictive relations with U.S. authorities begins as soon as la frontera internacional is crossed and the immigrants encounter the gatekeepers of a nation which may offer economic opportunities but is nevertheless perceived as unfair and discriminatory. This is illustrated in an eloquent manner in "Los Hijos de Hernández," a composition which examines and describes a confrontation between a legal immigrant and a border official. The conflict is the consequence of anti-Mexican remarks made by the official while inspecting the Mexican's immigration documents. Charges that Mexican immigrants steal jobs from American citizens, an accusation frequently made by contemporary politicians, intellectuals, and nativist groups, does not go unanswered. The immigration official is startled to see "the Other" talking back, transmitting in a heartfelt and reasoned manner the ire Mexicans feel upon hearing offensive statements.

In "Los Hijos de Hernández" the common immigrant assumes a position of power and moral authority, based on the use of reason, to chastise the official for holding prejudicial views against Mexicans. The representative of the State is criticized by the apparently passive Mexican for dismissing the immigrants' economic and social contributions to the United States, and for not acknowledging the many military sacrifices generations of Mexican Americans have made on behalf of this country. A common immigrant questions the lack of respect for others like himself as well as their U.S.-born youth who, ignoring prejudice and discrimination, take up arms to defend their country, serve courageously, and even lose their lives or remain missing in action.

Despite the conflictive nature of the song, reason finally prevails at the end with the repentance of the authority figure, the recognition of legal permission to enter American territory, and the validation of the male immigrant's once questioned manhood. Vindication is achieved with the change in attitude of the authority figure.

"Sin Fronteras" reaffirms pride in the Mexican's national origin, way of life, cultural values, male world view, and mestizo heritage. However, it de-

parts from other Mexican nationalist songs in a number of ways. In particular, it offers an interpretation of the immigrant identity that embraces the universality of life and liberty. The immigrant experience is compared to the life of an eagle in order to impress upon the audience the natural origin of freedom and the artificiality of earthly divisions.

Such expressions of universal ideals placed Los Tigres del Norte at a considerable distance from their competitors in Mexican popular music. Their uncommon exploration of these themes is found in works such as "Tres Veces Mojado," a well received composition that extends the scope of the group's subject matter (and potential market) by presenting a song dealing with Central American migration to the United States. This extension of the collective autobiography is the account of a Salvadoran who flees the violence and poverty of his country, crosses three international borders with respective rivers, and encounters hardships in the three foreign countries (Guatemala, Mexico, the United States) before obtaining legalization in this country and achieving a satisfying lifestyle that more than makes up for the suffering previously undergone.

In two other recordings, "América" and "El Sueño de Bolívar," composed by Franco, Los Tigres present songs which further examine identity terms that become particularly relevant to a Mexican only when the international border is crossed into the United States. "América" manifests a strong attachment to the migrant's Latin American heritage. It defies conventional wisdom in the United States by seeking to reappropriate a term, "American," which this country has sought to monopolize.

In turn, "El Sueño de Bolívar" appears to adopt a more conformist, perhaps assimilationist, position by suggesting that liberator Simón Bolívar's nineteenth-century dream of a united America could be materializing, of all places, in the United States, due to migration and the development of ties between the different national origin groups established here. Moreover, it calls for the acceptance of the "Hispanic" identity label, a term generally preferred by the more conservative sectors of the Mexican origin community and repudiated by others who view it as a governmental and corporate imposition. In an interview, Franco declared the song was primarily an

idealistic call for unity among the Latin Americans who immigrate to the United States.^[10]

Franco has also indicated the most important song produced during his association with Los Tigres del Norte was "Jaula de Oro." This 1985 song was released in an interesting historical period: at the height of the restrictionist anti-immigrant debate which culminated in the approval of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. "Jaula de Oro" presents the plight of an undocumented immigrant parent, alienated from society at large, haunted by the fear of persecution by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and growing increasingly detached from children undergoing a process of socialization which makes them ashamed of their Mexican heritage. To individuals such as the principal character of the song, the United States constitutes a gold cage; salvation, as well as the restoration of his humanity, can only be obtained in the idealized home country. The land of the mythical American dream has become dystopia. The song has a predictable but nevertheless disturbing climax, as the U.S.-raised child refuses to return to Mexico and leaves the parent in a state of despair and frustration.