"El Corrido de Anza"
by Los Cenzontles Touring Group
USA // 2021 // Music Video // LOS ESPECIALES
“El Corrido de Anza” is an ambitious music video. The ten-minute corrido (traditional Mexican narrative ballad), consists of 45, four-line stanzas, that tell a historically-accurate portrait of the Anza expedition from its start in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert to its final destination, the founding of the San Francisco Presidio.
The music video was created with support from the National Park Service to promote an understanding and appreciation of the story and legacy of the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition, and the National Historic Trail commemorating that expedition, through music and film.
The challenging music was recorded by Los Cenzontles Touring Group and features the band's vocal duo of Lucina Rodriguez and Fabiola Trujillo, violinist Shira Kammen, and harpist Leonel Mendoza. The music was written by Los Cenzontles founder and Director, Eugene Rodriguez and lyricist Gilberto Gutierrez Silva.
For the video, Lucina and Fabiola accompanied filmmaker Armando Aparicio along the entire 1,200 mile stretch of the Juan Bautista de Anza Historic Trail, capturing images of the natural wonders and historic Spanish missions and presidios along the trail. Map images and place names orient the viewer depicting the route taken by Anza and nearly 300 men, women, and children of diverse cultural origins.
Director: Armando Aparicio
Producer: Eugene Rodriguez, Los Cenzontles, National Park Service
Music Video
Suitable for all ages
Spanish with English subtitles
10 minutes
Screening as part of LOS ESPECIALES Program Block.
ARMANDO APARICIO is a Los Angeles based, Emmy-winning Salvadoran/American filmmaker and artist. After almost a decade living and working in Central America on commercials, music videos, and narrative films, he returned to Los Angeles where he now works as a Director, Cinematographer, and Editor on progressive, short-and-feature-length documentaries. His most recent work can be seen on such platforms Univision, The Intercept, KQED, The Nation, PBS NewsHour, CBS Originals, Bloomberg, and Time100.
Armando received his undergraduate degree in Character Animation from CalArts and studied visual art at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He has taught film and art at the university level and feels strongly that his background in the visual arts shapes the way he tells stories.