# Music by Genre > Old-Time, Roots, Early Country, Cajun, Tex-Mex >  Songs for Cinco de Mayo??

## HayAnne

Anybody know of any good Mexican songs to learn for Cinco de Mayo? (and don't ask me when it is!) I'm having a celebration in my classroom, and I'd like to take my mandolin as part of the entertainment.

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## Gary S

I would reccomend "El Rancho Grande". There are lots of great recorded Mariachi versions. Western Swing bands also got hold of it and you can find nice recordings by Bob Wills and others.

I also like Besa Me Mucho. This is slower and in a minor key. It may not sound as festive but it is an outstanding song.

The Buckhanon brothers have some nice south of the border instrumentals on mandolin anf guitar including  "Mi Suegra Aprieta Mis Botas (My Mother-In-Law Has Tightened My Boots) and "Old Madera Waltz".

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## Pete Hicks

"Adelita" is one of the best. More: El Rey, Caminos de Guanajuato, De Colores, Cancion Mixteca are some more.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Malaguena, Cielito Lindo, La Cucaracha, and Deguello - the tune the Mexican Army played each night at the Alamo...

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## brunello97

"I Heard It on the X"-particularly with Los Super 7's take on the ZZ Top riff.  

Mick

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## jefflester

Take Five. :-)

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## mandroid

De Colores , it would be a good one for the class to sing .. it's about Colors.

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## Jon Hall

I play a medley of "Jalisco" and "La Bamba".

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## harper

Also Chiapanecas, the hand clapping song.

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## Andy Alexander

El Cumbanchero is a great tune.  Check out versions by Jesse McReynolds, Frank Wakefield, and David Grisman.

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## Jon Hall

I appreciate all of these titles, most of which I've never heard. Another tune our band plays is "La Partida". It's from Venezula...not Mexico.

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## Capt. E

Cinco de Mayo is, of course, a Mexican holiday.  Check out this one designed for teachers.   http://www.songsforteaching.com/holiday/cincodemayo.htm

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## Roland Sturm

Cielito Lindo is hard to beat, most people (who speak Spanish at least) know the words. Great melody. If you are looking beyond singing songs, I teach students some Southwest Fiddle tunes, usually 7-8 tunes the month before the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta and they perform there (in our elementary and middle schools, Hispanics are the biggest group, so this is the major event of the year). Always a big success. For a bit of background and sheet music for two tunes, look at my folkworks column (scroll down to part 2 at the bottom for the Cinco de Mayo special, part 1 is about Celtic tunes)
http://www.folkworks.org/content/viewcategorycur/131/

This year I had about 25 students, mainly elementary schoolers, and they performed for about 40 minutes (same set twice). If you are on facebook, look for the Southwest Fiddle group, you can see a video of how this comes out at a school festival.
 It's a bit cheating as it sounds Mexican, but it really is a bit north of the border (Arizona, New Mexico). With high schoolers I sometimes do real Mariachi stuff, but that is so much harder that it takes very strong players, not something that is manageable with elementary or middle schoolers.

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## Roland Sturm

Facebook group for SW fiddle is here: 
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...2241395&v=wall

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## Greg Stec

Ask your friends, amigos or compadres if any of them has a copy of the Los Lobos box set called "El Cancionero mas y mas."
The first disc if full of their versions of old Mexican songs.  
Or perhaps some Jimmy Buffett.  He's done a few with a south-of-the-border feel.
Banana Republics come to mind, immediately.
Enjoy the hunt.

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## mandroid

Are we losing track that its a grade school class that the original poster is teaching the songs?

I assume it's not AZ  :Disbelief:   just asking..   :Popcorn:

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## fred d

How about I  want (you) to go home and Back home in old mexico

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## fred d

And another on AS here I come

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## Martin Jonas

> Are we losing track that its a grade school class that the original poster is teaching the songs?
> 
> I assume it's not AZ   just asking..


Well, she did say it wanted to play the songs to the kids on mandolin, not teach the kids to sing (or play) the songs.

Cielito Lindo is great on mandolin, but another one that is very much associated with Mexico (although written by a Spaniad influenced by Cuban habanera) is La Paloma, which I like very much to play on mandolin.  I uploaded the sheet music a while ago for the Song-of-the-week social group (link), and here is my attempt at a solo mandolin rendition (works better with a guitar, but fun anyway).

Martin

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## Roland Sturm

Jamming at  Cinco de Mayo weekend, you can see, plenty of kids under 10 as well. Old-time fiddle tunes from the Southwest, i.e. Arizona, New Mexico, and maybe a bit south of the border. Not Mariachi material, of course,  but then Cinco de Mayo is a much bigger event in the US than in Mexico (at least outside Puebla). But that is no different from Oktoberfest or St. Patricks day.

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