“El Corrido de Tateposco” by Martín Rodríguez is a rich evocation of place, identity, and generational migration. Rooted in the small town of San José Tateposco, Jalisco, the corrido traces a deeply personal and familial journey from Mexico to the Central Valley of California. The song is at once a celebration of home and an acknowledgment of the difficult, often permanent, displacements that migration entails.

The narrative begins with loving attention to the life and community in Tateposco. Rodríguez recalls fiestas, religious rituals, school, street corners, and figures like Don Alfredo, constructing a local archive through song. The references to mojigangas, reinas del pueblo, and concursos de trajes típicos evoke the emotional and communal life of a rural town. This specificity transforms the corrido into a portable homeland—a sonic space where the past is celebrated even when physical return is not possible.

As the song progresses, it recounts the journey from Jalisco to the fields of Gonzales, Chualar, and Salinas. These names are as present in the lyrics as those from Tateposco, reflecting the dual geography of many migrants’ lives. The corrido affirms the dignity of agricultural labor while honoring the intergenerational knowledge that travels with migrant families—from father to son, from old land to new.

By singing Tateposco into the landscape of the Central Valley, Martín Rodríguez honors the town, his father, and the tradition that taught him to turn lived experience into lyric. The result is a corrido that does more than tell a story—it keeps a community alive through song.