Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeo

In Sounds of Crossing Alex E. Chvez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the sounds and poetics of huapango arribeo, a musical genre originating from north-central Mexico. Following the resonance of huapango's improvisational performance within the lives of audiences, musicians, and himself-from New Year's festivities in the highlands of Guanajuato, Mexico, to backyard get-togethers along the back roads of central Texas-Chvez shows how Mexicans living on both sides of the border use expressive culture to construct meaningful communities amid the United States' often vitriolic immigration politics. Through Chvez's writing, we gain an intimate look at the experience of migration and how huapango carries the voices of those in Mexico, those undertaking the dangerous trek across the border, and those living in the United States. Illuminating how huapango arribeo's performance refigures the sociopolitical and economic terms of migration through aesthetic means, Chvez adds fresh and compelling insights into the ways transnational music-making is at the center of everyday Mexican migrant life.