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.
Links:
University of California Frontera Website
Frontera Collection YouTube Channel
Discos Peerless Discography
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 Spanish Language Record Sleeves. 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...
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 search...
Read MoreFrontera Collection Mexican Lobby Cards
Music, especially the corrido, was an important component in many Mexican American and Mexican films. Many films were titled after or totally based on well-known corridos....
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