MEXICO: Mobile Music

Valentino, Valentino, I throw myself at your feet. If I am to die tomorrow, Let them kill me right away.

The revolutionary armies of Zapata marched into Mexico City singing such songs as Valentina. Today's Mexicans still hear Valentina, as well as more modern ballads, as they bounce to work in battered buses over the capital's paved and cobbled streets. Sometimes the music is from the driver's radio. More often it is strummed by a wandering guitar player who has hopped aboard to travel free. As he plays, he croons; passengers sing with him. When he has finished, he passes...

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