Valens 'Known Music In The Film La Bamba'

Originally composed score can bring a sense of authenticity to the film, they allow the audience to create fresh memories associated with the new soundtracks. However, using known music throughout the film can also bring a unique flavor to the film. The known music can be used cleverly to invoke nostalgic memories for the audience, or introduce the audience to a different style of music that fits the setting of the film. This was evident in the film, “La Bamba”, where the directors used mostly classic rock ’n’ roll hits from the 50s to portray the life of Ritchie Valens. The director, Luis Valdez, had artists like Los Lobos record covers of Valens’ hits so a higher recorded quality of the songs could be used in the movie. The use of known music in the movie “La Bamba” was effective because not only did it successfully immersed the audience into the time of the story Valdez was trying to portray, but it also allowed the audience to get a glimpse of the cultural impact of

The film’s portrayal of Valens’ passion for music, accompanied by the classic hits, greatly inspired me to put more effort into my guitar. Throughout the film, you can see the correlation of Valens’ attitude and also hear it from his energetic upbeat music. For me, the songs “Goodnight my Love” performed by Los Lobos and “Lonely Teardrops” performed by Howard Huntsberry, brings back memories of my father showing me his list of essential tracks which inspired me to become the musician I am today. Therefore, I would argue that the known music in “La Bamba” was effective because it invoked a positive reaction from me because I was already familiar with the music and I had good memories from it. Furthermore, there are some known music throughout the film that I haven’t heard before, however, I did not find them distracting from the story. On the contrary, I find them to be fitting to the story of “La