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Marginality and narratives of success: the Jenni Rivera story

2014; Routledge; Volume: 5; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19392397.2014.919868

1939-2400

Marietta Morrissey,

Music History and Culture

AbstractJenni Rivera was a singer, radio and television personality, whose sudden death at the age of 43 made her the subject of intense coverage in both Spanish and English-language media. This paper explores her rise from the southern California Mexican-American working class to growing cross-national celebrity in terms of a success narrative valorising Rivera’s struggles as a poor, minority single mother and victim of male violence and infidelity. Like other celebrities before her, Rivera presented the friendships, language and symbols of her background as the bases of her character and of her critique of the very market-driven social networks and values that she embraced in her quest for fame. The work of Sennett and Cobb, Bourdieu and Granovetter and studies of working-class celebrity narratives are examined to understand the ways in which Rivera and others have created and managed this complex and often contradictory story of success.Keywords: marginalitynarrativegendermobilitynorteño music Notes1. Latin music has exploded throughout the world as a result both of international migration from Latin America and the Caribbean and the growing global reach of all musical styles and trends. Other Latina singers, that is women of Hispanic origin in the United States and including Selena, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, have appealed to youthful Latino audiences and have sung to varying degrees in Spanish (although none of the singers mentioned have spoken Spanish fluently). They have not represented the poor, marginalised population that made up Rivera’s audience or presented her musical and discursive messages of cultural pride and social critique. Prominent Latin American commentators have criticised the US English-language media for their comparison of Rivera on the occasion of her death with other Latina singers, notably Selena, arguing that the musical traditions and cultural backgrounds of these singers differ greatly, consistent with the vast cultural and artistic experiences of Latinos (ColorLines Citation2012).2. Ragland (Citation2009, p. 7) writes: ‘The traditional Mexican corrido is a topical narrative ballad sung, without a refrain, to a basic melody in waltz time (3/4); many contemporary corridos are played in a fast polka rhythm (2/4) more appropriate for a two–step type dance popular in northern Mexico and Texas. The corrido consists of eight-syllable lines organized in stanzas of four (quatrains) and maintains an abcd rhyme pattern, though this can vary at times. As a popular narrative form, the corrido was the primary vehicle for the exploits of prerevolutionary and revolutionary bandit heroes from the mid-1800s to the early 1920s, and song topics range from stories about revolutionary heroes to US–Mexico border conflicts to illegal border crossing and drug smuggling.’3. In 2007 Rivera released the song Mariposa del Barrio (Butterfly of the Hood) from an all-banda album, Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life). It was reissued by Pedro Rivera’s Cintas Acuario label in January 2013, soon after Rivera’s death.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMarietta MorrisseyMarietta Morrissey is a professor of Sociology at Montclair State University, NJ, USA. She has written extensively about gender, labour and economic development in Central America and the Caribbean and Latino labour migration to the United States.