El Chupacabra

Today's musical tangent is into the world of a Mexican fabeled goat killing machine, El Chupacabra. How did I jump from a legendary goat slaughterer to border music? Well, I'll tell you.

It has always been the case that writers write what they know and singers sing what they feel. Culture is a large portion of what we know, think, and feel because it effects every action and perspective of a person in a particular cohort. So, it stands to reason that an integral part of a musician's culture would undoubtedly end up in a song or two, just as an important portion of a writer's life would lead to a vignette.

El Chupacabra is a long told fable that has stretched across continents to haunt children's dreams worldwide. It is the legend of a creature that has been reported to live in the jungles and forests of either Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Chile, or oddly enough...Miami. Though the reported environments are drastically different, the story is always the same: the carcasses of goats are found strewn about, seemingly sucked dry with strange, inexplicable bite marks on their necks.

Whether or not you believe in El Chupacabra, it joins the ranks of other animals in the cryptozoology category such as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. The basis of their infamy relies heavily on folklore and circumstantial evidence from those who identify themselves as "true believers."

There you have it: a deeply ingrained portion of border culture. So, in my infinite wisdom (or stupidity - the jury's still out on that one) I put in a search for songs involving El Chupacabra. What happened next would be anyone's guess.

A woman from Long Island, New York, Imani Coppola turned up. Undoubtedly top of the list because of her recent contribution to the hot new show Grey's Anatomy, Coppola had released an album called "Chupacabra."

Confused and almost annoyed that my brilliant plan had failed me, I clicked on the next link. This time the band's name was Chupacabra. They were from Colordado, but this HAD to be it. They were even cited in The Onion. I read on.

"[Chupacabra has] such a unique sound, rooted in the music of Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, West Africa, Europe and the U.S.A."

YEESSSSSSS. It worked! What a fascinating blend. I needed to hear it...but sadly all the links attached were dead ends.

No worries...it worked once, it can work again, I thought. But the next link wasn't as promising. To my utter disappointement I found the following video with the tag "Hungarian Ska" at the bottom.



Colorado. New York. Hungary. What did they all have in common? What was the fabled Mexican goat sucker so fashionable? Then it hit me. As people begin to interact with one another throughout the world using Myspace, Facebook, AIM, etc. they become part of a larger culture. Slowly but surely, assimilating fables like El Chupacabra will become almost second nature until the Internet isn't the only place full of crossing cultures. Maybe, just maybe, the unique hybrid of dueling cultures we have here in Tucson will start to become a cross-pollination technique that musicians all over the world will model. Who knows.