“Emilia Pérez”: the history of the hymn of Mexican junction behind Jacques Audiard’s film

“We buy mattresses, batteries, refrigerators …” intriguing words, but well known to Mexicans. Since the early 2000s, the song “Fierro Viejo”, “old scrap” in French, has resounded cars and motorcycles from itinerant junctions. So much so that the air, baptized “hymn of second -hand dealers”, has become emblematic of the country. But, with the success of the French musical film “Emilia Pérez”, the song took an international turn.

Born in 2004 in Mexico, the “Fierro Viejo” comes from a Mexican second -hand dealer, Marco Antonio, who was looking for a solution to stop exhausting the vocal cords to shout in the streets the list of goods he wanted to buy. One evening, he made a list of electronic objects and devices to his daughter, aged 9 at the time. He then lets the recording speak in his place in the speaker fixed on his truck and, very quickly, several second-hand dealers buy him a copy of his cassette. A year later, the song is fully part of the daily life of itinerant junctions and the inhabitants.

From the streets of Mexico, the anthem has risen to the Hollywood ears, and in particular Jacques Audiard. For the soundtrack of the latest film by the French director, “Emilia Pérez”, telling the story of a transgender woman ex-Cartel, the singer Camille took over the song in two versions: a sung by the main actresses, a another with a choir.

By Editor

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