Cuéntame cómo pasó
I heard Cuéntame cómo pasó — one of the great Spanish language songs, or of any language. on on a Radio Oye (98.6 FM) the on-line Mexican pop hits station, while I was surfing.
Cuéntame cóma pasó was the theme music for a Spanish TV “family drama/comedy” of the same name, that had a faithful following from the Alps to the Andes. While I’ve always said that Mexico is not Argentina or Spain and you can’t generalize, there is something common — besides the language — about family life. And, for anyone who grew up in the late 60s and early 70s could relate.
What kept it from being sappy, a “Wonder Years” was the location. Francisco Franco was a very real, and very scary reality. The draft (there was a funny episode when Toni, the teenaged slacker son, turns to Republican granny for assistance getting out of his military service — and something real about a smart kid who recognizes Fascism for the bullshit it is, still doing well as a soldier), the secret police, the exiled relations, bitterness from the civil war, the petty annoyances of a heavy-handed State (something we’d do well to learn about in the U.S.) can wear even on the most functional of families.
Even with the daily indignities and stupidity, a family like los Alcantára were as normal as they could be.
Nothing much to do with Mexico (though about 7 and a 1/2 minutes into the second clip, you’ll hear — and see — the effect Mexico has had on Hispanic culture), but something different for a Friday night.
The car theft, only peripherally involves the family. The son, Toni, is ALSO a white boy with an Afro… and it’ll get resolved (sort of), but this is not the world of Wally and the Beve:
