ARHOOLIE FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS:The Frontera Collection
The Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection is the largest repository of commercially produced vernacular recordings of Mexican, Mexican American, and other Latin American music in existence. Although originally focused on the border music of the United State and Mexico, it now contains music from all of Latin America. The nearly 170,000 recordings in the collection were made primarily in the United States and Mexico, and were issued on 78 rpm, 45 rpm, and 33⅓ rpm (long-playing, or LP) phonograph records, cassettes and some un-issued reel to reel master tapes. The earliest recording was made around 1905, and the most recent recordings were released in the 1990s. The Frontera Collection is unique because of the depth and breadth of each section, and because many of the recordings are irreplaceable. This archive was collected by Chris Strachwitz over the past 60 years. He has donated the entire collection along with thousands of photographs and other related material to the Arhoolie Foundation.
Los Pingüinos del Norte
Chris Strachwitz Remembers Los Pingüinos Del Norte I believe when I first heard Mexican music on the radio, there was a little station in Santa Paula,...
Read MoreCancioneros
Cancioneros are song books produced by record companies or other businesses to promote and advertise their product. As well as offering lyrics to current and classic...
Read MoreStrachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican American and Mexican Recordings
Visit the UCLA Frontera Website. Listen to the recordings, view the record labels and album covers, read the blog, read the biographies, add to the knowledge, leave...
Read MoreStrachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican American and Mexican Recordings Catalog
This is a catalog of all of the recordings in the Frontera Collection, currently over 175,000 songs from 78s, 45s, LPs, Cassettes, original master tapes and...
Read MoreFrontera Image Archive
The Frontera Image Archive contains historical vintage photos and images associated with the Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Collection of Mexican American and Mexican Recordings. This collection was...
Read MoreLos Alegres de Terán Gallery
Los Alegres de Terán were one of the earliest Mexican Norteño bands started by Eugenio Abrego and Tomas Ortiz in the mid 1940’s. These images were...
Read MoreRepertorio Musical Mexicano – Mauricio Calderón
Repertorio Musical Mexicano (also known as La Casa de Musica, and La Casa de Musica de Mauricio Calderón) located at 408 North Main St., Los Angeles,...
Read MoreDiscos Peerless, S.A.
To view the Peerless Discography click here. Discos Peerless, S.A.: A Label Discography Introduction by Chris Strachwitz Discos Peerless S.A. was Mexico’s first major record producing and...
Read MoreFrontera 78-rpm Record Sleeve Gallery
78-rpm record sleeves not only provided space for record labels to advertise their other artists and releases, but were occasionally beautiful works of art . Here’s a selection of Spanish language,...
Read MorePeerless 78s Discography
Click on the “+” symbol next to the catalog number for more information about the recording. Search globally in the search box, or specifically in the...
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