Salon México

After the armed struggle of the Revolution (1910–20), Mexican cinema, particularly during the época de oro (Golden Age, roughly 1930–52), had a profound impact on Mexican popular culture. One of the most intriguing elements was how the film industry captured Mexican music history, particularly the intimate practice of musical performances conducted within the salon. This essay moves through various points in Mexican history, as told by the film industry, to uncover a practice of representation and interpretation of the roles of women in the salon. Mexican musical history is a rich and vibrant narrative of cosmopolitanism and changing narratives of gender roles that the film industry manipulated and exploited on the big screen. Although functioning as a reinterpretation of historical periods, these films act as significant cultural texts to understanding the industry’s and the culture’s knowledge of women performers in the Mexican salon.