“La Llorana” is a Mexican folk song and a story set to many different compositions with the same words or general story. Mexican composer Andres Henestrosa 1940 popularized the song and made it popular with a resurgence of love for this song with the Disney Pixar movie COCO in 2017. The story is the Mexican legend of La Llorana, a weeping woman who is suffering from the death of her children, whom she murdered, and is cursed to cry out to them at night, hoping for their return with love. The song I have shared is an interpretation and composition of “La Llorana” by singer-songwriter Daniel Robledo. Throughout the song, you can hear the emotions of suffering and sorrow but with an undertone of love and weeping out for love. You can hear guitar and violin playing arco and pizzicato throughout the song. The song has changes of pitch and volume to seem like a bellow or cry out instead of just singing high or screaming. Female voices are also used as a harmonizing background to Robledo. I chose this example because, as someone who has studied the Spanish culture and language and has dealt a lot with the story of La Llorana, I have a deep understanding and love of the story, and knowing that so many versions of this song exist excites me. I chose this one, in particular, because the background violins and guitar are a nice touch compared to the mariachi band most settings of “La Llorana” are set to.

“La Llorona” – Daniel Robledo