Brazil’s music is undoubtedly more mellow and less apologetic of death and violence (one can hardly imagine, even in Antonio Carlos Jobim’s world-renowned melancholy score for “Black Orpheus” from the 1950s, a phrase like the proverbial Mexican “la vida no vale nada”—life is worthless—from José Alfredo Jiménez), but the South American giant and home of the bossa nova is a more violent place than Mexico, mariachis and all.
— Jorge G. Castañeda. the jiménez song he refers to, “caminos de guanajuato,” is the only mariachi joint i’ve ever enjoyed
