A corrido is a traditional Mexican song style that has evolved over the past 200 years in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It is a narrative ballad usually sung or spoken to music. Corridos are all about storytelling and often provide an eyewitness to historic events in Mexico and the United States. They tell of battles, oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. The songs capture Mexican values and ideals through the actions of the genre’s epic protagonists: bandits and folk heroes, traitors and patriots, iconic revolutionaries and lowly recruits. The corrido may have begun as recited poems or verse, an oral history to be memorized and told along trails and around campfires. The musical style gained popularity in the 19th century and, when the Mexican Revolution tipped the balance of power in the early 20th century, the corrido became king. The structure of a typical corridos formula is eight quatrains with four to six lines containing eight syllables. The singer addresses the audience, then introduces the location, time, and name of the main character of the story. The importance of the character is sung, followed by the main piece of the song devoted to the story. Finally, the main character’s farewell is followed by the composer and/or singer’s farewell. Corridos have a long history in Mexico, starting from the Mexican War of Independence in 1810 and throughout the Mexican Revolution. Today, the corrido is still a popular genre in Mexico and is a trans-national art form.