Ana Gabriel singing “Valentin de la Sierra.” Tom Russell posted this on his Facebook page and it blew me away. Such passion!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldR8ybbu4cE
According to the University of Texas, the story depicts the sad fate of a Cristero rebel. The Cristero Rebellion was a bloody spasm of religious conflict, an aftershock of the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s. The left-wing, anti-clerical revolutionary government went after the Catholic Church pretty hard, and sparked a savage guerrilla war fought by passionate men and women who felt their faith was under mortal threat. The recent movie “For Greater Glory,” starring Andy Garcia, depicts this conflict.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKeOHZ9NWao
The University of Texas’ wonderful resource on corridos notes that:
Most scholars seem to agree that Valentín Avila Ramírez was a Cristero from Huejuquilla el Alto, Jalisco, who fell into the hands of the agraristas in the nearby region of Valparaíso, Zacatecas. He was interrogated regarding the movements of the Cristero forces, and was later executed by the federal troops.
Translated to English, the lyrics are:
Let me sing you a song,
About a friend from my country,
The valiant Valentín
Who was gunned down
And hanged in the mountains.
I hate to look back,
On that wintry afternoon,
When his luck ran out,
And Valentín fell into
The government’s clutches.
In Fresno Gulch
Valentín was discovered
By the agraristas from the valley
They questioned him
And took him away.
So they went on toward Huejuquilla
There…. They found him.
Poor Valentín
He was very sad
And feeling hopeless.
They went to an inn,
To eat all together,
All of the big guys,
Epimenio, Chon Salas,
Valentín, too.
They sat at a table
Together with the General,
An old lady ratted him out,
That he was one
Of Quintanar’s guys.
The general asked him:
”Who is in your band?”
-“They’re all holed up,
Fifteen soldiers from
The Holland Ranch.”
The general asked him:
”How big is your company?”
-“Eight hundred soldiers in all,
Led through the mountains,
By Mariano Mejía.”
The general then said:
”Look, Valentín, tell me the truth,
If what you have told me is true
I’ll give you two thousand pesos
And your freedom.”
The general then said:
”I will pardon you everything
But, you must tell me this,
Where is the secret place of worship
And the house of Father Justo?”
Valentín answered,
”That I cannot say.
I’d rather die,
I can’t betray a friend,
Kill me instead.”
They took him to the mountain,
To carry out the execution,
”I leave with the men of the valley,
Farewell all my friends,
Farewell, I am gone.”
Before they got to the summit,
Valentín wanted to cry,
”My Holy Mother of Guadalupe,
For your religion,
They are going to kill me.”
As they got to Charco Largo,
They asked him again:
”Who are those who have taken up arms,
With Higinio Madera
And Pedro Quintanar?”
But for poor Valentín,
The captain felt pity,
As he put him on a stallion,
And took him away
Where he would die.
As Valentín approached his death,
”Good God! How can this happen!”
Chon Salas answered,
”If you’re ready to go,
I’ll lend you my horse.”
They placed a cross on him,
That he could gaze upon,
And so they could have a souvenir
Such dear friends,
Those agraristas.
Fly, fly away little dove,
To the tower in the fortress,
Here I finish singing,
The song of Chon Salas
And of Valentín.
Valentín Avila Ramírez. Engraving by Alfonso Huerta.
Ernest Miller IV says
Heartbreaking is this tail. The communists of the synagogue of Satan are always looking to slaughter believers of any religion that isn’t their hateful dribble. The aong is a beautiful remembrance of a just man.
E Alvarez Gibson says
Unfortunately, the song as we know it now was re-written mockingly. Valentín was actually a traitor who named names and was executed anyway.