From the iron cage to ‘La Jaula de Oro’: Music as a cultural object

Abstract

The norteño band Los Tigres del Norte (LTDN) are widely known as the ‘voice’ of the undocumented community for using their music as a vehicle to create and raise social consciousness on pressing issues of immigration. Utilizing Griswold's cultural diamond approach to analysing culture, I examine the culture/society relationship that emerges from their musical repertoire. Using this sociological model of culture, I argue that the wide receptiveness of their music is based on the constructed phenomenon that more than just a celebration of dance rhythms and entertainment their music poses itself as a cultural object attached with ideologies. By appropriating the dominant national discourse that has traditionally belittled, discriminated and dehumanized immigrants in the United States, in particular immigrants of Latin American descent, the music of LTDN markets itself less as a product and more as a cultural component of identity empowering marginalized communities by not only telling their stories but also nurturing a sense of pride. Analysing 56 songs within the musical repertoire of LTDN from 1970 to 2022, I demonstrate how their music on immigrant-related struggles serves to reinforce a Latina/o collective identity by fostering solidarity, educating the public and instilling pride.