Mexicanity and lyricism of “Ojos Tapatíos”

Approximate reading time: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

That is the title of one of the many songs he popularized Jorge Negrete. He interpreted it in such a way that no one has done it like him. The duet version with Pedro Infante and another by Plácido Domingo deserve mention, although for me the one that “Charro Cantor” left captured in the film stands out. There in the big ranchfilmed in 1936 and later in 1953, in the film The Rapture.

In both productions it is possible to enjoy the song to which, with a ranchero air, Jorge Negrete added a touch of lyricism combined with the country spirit of the genre.

Few people take care to know – much less investigate – who conceived those musical works that have stood the test of time. Sometimes it seems to me that we are ungrateful for not doing so, because for a song to sound good and be liked it needs to have had a good author and then, the excellence of the person who interprets it.

In the case of Tapatio Eyes, The musical authorship is due to the Michoacan Fernando Méndez Velázquez, who was born in 1882. He first saw the light in a small town called Zamora, where a friend told me that they produce the best avocados in Mexico, ideal for preparing guacamole with a good dose of chili.

The lyrics were written by the journalist, playwright and poet José Francisco Elizondo Sagredo, born in Aguascalientes in 1880. Precisely Tapatio Eyes It’s part of the operetta The muses of the country, in which the libretto is by Elizondo and the music by Méndez Velázquez. So it was taken from there to become a separate piece of music. This is how it first made it to the cinema and later shone as one of the most popular recordings.

Jorge Negrete, known as the singing Charro.

The musician also added notes to the zarzuela The Rosary of Amozocwith a bookshelf by Humberto Galindo, in which once again his talent stood out.

Fernando Méndez Velázquez directed, in Mexico City, the orchestra of the Teatro Principal where the Spanish star María Conesa, very famous during the first half of the last century, sang.

He was an impetuous composer, passionate about countryside and nature themes. An individual of sentimental stature, he always manifested his love for his country, its traditions and at all times an admirer of the beautiful Mexican woman. He showed a special passion for those from Guadalajara, a city in which he began to live at the age of twenty. There he continued his music studies and in 1905 he joined the Esperanza Iris theater company, in which he met Sofía Haller, whom he married.

Something that perhaps few know is that in 1913 he had to leave Mexico, since his presence was uncomfortable for the military government headed by Victoriano Huerta.

It was here in Cuba where Fernando Méndez Velázquez was welcomed. He arrived in the company of none other than José Francisco Elizondo. He resided here until his death, which occurred in Havana in 1916.

It is said that one night in Havana, while conducting José Albisu’s orchestra, he vomited blood and, hospitalized, died shortly after. His remains remained in Cuba for forty-five years, until they were taken to Mexico in 1961, to rest in Zamora, the city where he was born.

Although Zamorano by birth, the city of Guadalajara has a gratitude for Fernando Méndez Velázquez that surpasses time. No one like him – before or after – had composed music so passionate and laudatory for the Guadalajara woman, as those born in the Pearl of the West are called. To honor him, in the acoustic shell of the Agua Azul park in Guadalajara there is a face of his forged in bronze that remembers him.

I think that in Cuba, mainly in Havana, part of his artistic and emotional memory remained. For almost three years he lived in Cuba, where he dedicated himself to music. In this land he had the admiration and affection of the public that continues to remember him through his best-known piece.

From the film premiere of Tapatio Eyes Eighty-eight years ago, the notes of that song and its lyrics remain, as I said, written by José Francisco Elizondo.

On “moonlit nights, the perfume of orange blossoms, stars in the sky and warm air,” even in the midst of the silence offered for a serenade, the verses of the “Charro Cantor” will resonate exclaiming that: