Canciones de mi padre

By at 21 June, 2009, 2:27 am



I’m borrowing the title of Linda Ronstadt’s 1987 tribute to her father’s favorite songs, guessing that this collection of Mexican rancheras shaped Ronstadt’s musical tastes as she was growing up. That’s what my father’s music did for me. How much are we influenced by our parent’s record collection? In my case, I grew up in a bilingual household, where Nat King Cole was as revered as Beny More. Like Ronstadt’s father, my dad was also passionate about Mexican folk music, and as a result I share his love for rancheras, which probably fueled my appreciation for most forms of roots music. My dad loved Agustin Lara and Pedro Flores, Tony Bennett

and Frank Sinatra, Trio Los Panchos and Duke Ellington, Pedro Vargas and Louie Armstrong. I’m just as bilingual in my tastes, going from blues and roots rock to classic salsa, from Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter to Tito Puente and Hector Lavoe. And like my dad, I greatly admire songwriters — in English and Spanish — and think that the best ones walk on water. So on this Father’s Day, I thank my papi for instilling in me, along with his values, his deep love for music. And I wish the best to all dads out there on this very special day.

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Canciones de mi padre

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