The corrido (Spanish pronunciation: [koˈrið̞o]) is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. Songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics.[1] Corridos were widely popular during the Mexican Revolution and in the Southwestern American frontier as it was also a part of the development of Tejano music and New Mexico music, which later influenced Western music. The corrido derives largely from the romance, and in its most known form consists of a salutation from the singer and a prologue to the story, the story itself, and a moral and farewell from the singer. It is still a popular genre today in Mexico. Outside Mexico, corridos are popular in Chilean national celebrations of Fiestas Patrias.[2][3] History An example of a corrido song sheet or sheet music, this one from 1915 at the height of the Mexican Revolution. Corridos play an important part in Mexican and Mexican American culture. The name comes from the Spanish word correr ("to run"). The formula of a standard corrido is eight quatrains that have four to six lines that contain eight syllables.[4] Corridos have a long history in Mexico, starting from the Mexican War of Independence in 1810 and throughout the Mexican Revolution.[5] Until the arrival and success of electronic mass media (mid-20th century), the corrido served in Mexico as the main informational and educational outlet, even with subversive purposes, due to an apparent linguistic and musical simplicity that lent itself to oral transmission. After the spread of radio and television, the genre evolved into a new stage and is still in the process of maturation. Some scholars, however, consider the corrido to be dead or moribund in more recent times (see e.g. Vicente T. Mendoza, El corrido mexicano, 1954). In more rural areas where Spanish and Mexican cultures have been preserved because of isolation, the romance has taken on other forms related to the corridor as well. In New Mexico, for example, a story-song emerged during the colonial period that was known as an Indita, which loosely follows the format of a corrido, but is chanted rather than sung, similar to a Native American chant, hence the name Indita. The earliest living specimens of corrido are adapted versions of Spanish romances or European tales, mainly about disgraced or idealized love, or religious topics. These, which include (among others) "La Martina" (an