The corrido is a popular narrative song and poetry form, a ballad, of Mexico. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for peasants, and other socially important information. It is still a popular form today, and was widely popular during the Mexican Revolution and Nicaraguan Revolutions of the 20th century. It derives largely from the 15th century Spanish romance, and in its most known form consists of 1) a salutation from the singer and prologue to the story; 2) the story itself; 3) a moral and farewell from the singer.
Various themes are featured in Mexican corridos, and corrido lyrics are often old legends and ballads about a famed criminal or hero in the rural frontier areas of Mexico. Some corridos may also be love stories. Also, there are corridos about women (La Venganza de Maria, Laurita Garza, and La tragedia de Rosita) and couples, not just about men. Contemporary corridos written within the past few decades feature more modern themes such as drug trafficking (narcocorridos), immigration, migrant labor and even the Chupacabra.
Corridos, like rancheras, have introductory instrumental music and adornos interrupting the stanzas of the lyrics. Both can be played by mariachi, norteño, banda, duranguense, Tejano, and grupero bands; the instruments used to play the song differ with the type of band that plays the corrido. However, unlike rancheras, the rhythm of a corrido remains fairly consistent. The corrido has a rhythm similar to that of the European waltz or occasionally polka; rancheras can be played to a variety of rhythms. Corridos often tell stories, while rancheras are for dancing.
In the mestizo-Mexican cultural area the three variants of corrido (romance, revolutionary, and modern) are both alive and sung, along with sister narrative-popular genres, such as the "valona" of Michoacán state, the "son arribeño" of the Sierra Gorda (Guanajuato, Hidalgo, and Querétaro states), and others. Its vitality and flexibility allow original corrido lyrics to be built on non-Mexican musical genres, such as blues and ska, and even non-Spanish lyrics, like the ones composed or translated by Mexican indigenous communities or by the "Chicano" people in USA, in English or "Spanglish". The corrido was, for example, a favorite device employed by the Teatro Campesino led by Luis Valdez in mobilizing largely Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers in California during the 1960s. .
