The illusion of the future

Abstract

Salvador Flores Rivera (1920-1987) was considered “an indefatigable chronicler of the urban agglomeration… a traditional composer” (Colmenares: 1995: iii). For more than three decades, his songs gave an account of the daily life of Mexico City. With them, he was able to “collect the resigned good humor and the ladino mischief of our people” (Garrido: 1995: i). The number of recordings and recreations of his legacy, as well as its continuity through other artists, are indicators of the importance and the musical, social and academic interest that it has aroused to this day. His musical career ran together with the acetate record, radio, film, television and publishing industries, so we can expect that the values ​​of his work are conditioned by the demands, controls and parameters of these. But the migration of listening to his work from one audience to another for more than sixty years could be the subject of reflections that I will try to address here.