WEBVTT 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:13.820 Hey buddies, welcome back to the semi seminarian 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:18.839 our theology in music series and today We're 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:22.339 diving deep into the one. I keep coming back 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:27.640 to one that's stitched into my bones And no matter 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.120 how many times I've heard it still finds ways 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.159 To surprise me now what this one lacks in biblical 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:39.070 references. It more than makes up in the emotion 00:00:39.070 --> 00:00:42.649 of the human condition, exposing what life is 00:00:42.649 --> 00:00:47.090 really like. And in a way, hey, that's a universal 00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:51.009 truth, right? Now, this isn't just a folk song. 00:00:51.130 --> 00:00:54.649 This is a myth in three chords. It's a border 00:00:54.649 --> 00:00:57.829 ballad, a lamentation. It's a fight song. It's 00:00:57.829 --> 00:01:02.820 the story of Carlos Cedrigosa. Man who walked 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:06.480 into exile with $27 of gold -framed memory in 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.060 a rooster they say Was born in heaven written 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:15.120 by Tom Russell. That bird is Gaio de Cielo He 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.819 ain't just feathers and fury. He's a sermon a 00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:22.620 stand -in for everything the world took and everything 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:27.079 one man tried to claw back broken -winged wild 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:32.659 -eyed and holy in a way only the desperate can 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:37.939 truly understand. And yeah, this one means more 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:40.980 to me than most, because some songs don't just 00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:46.140 speak to you, they speak for you. They remember 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:50.799 things you forgot to grieve. Support yourself 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.159 something strong, light a candle, hey, maybe 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:57.239 a cigarette. Come sit with me in the dust. We're 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.019 heading into the heart of a song that doesn't 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:02.439 flinch when it hurts. It's a gospel of memory, 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:07.060 exile, and a rooster that just wouldn't quit. 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:17.800 I'll see you on the other side. So, we start 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:21.860 in the area of Porfirio Diaz, the Porfiriatto. 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:27.180 A time between 1876 and 1911, When Mexico underwent 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:30.539 an aggressive campaign of so -called modernization. 00:02:31.219 --> 00:02:34.620 Well, that word modernization, it covered a multitude 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:38.599 of sins. Railroads were laid, cities electrified, 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.139 and foreign capital flooded in. But behind the 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:49.400 headlines, rule Mexico bled. Nearly all communal 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.490 land holdings. that had supported indigenous 00:02:53.490 --> 00:02:56.110 and peasant communities for generations was abolished 00:02:56.110 --> 00:03:00.150 or stolen. Legal reforms allowed wealthy elites 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:05.349 and foreign investors to enclose what had at 00:03:05.349 --> 00:03:09.469 one time been common ground. So, for families 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:12.889 like the Ceragosis and Casas Grandis, this wasn't 00:03:12.889 --> 00:03:17.830 progress. This was stealing their home and their 00:03:17.830 --> 00:03:22.919 land dressed up as reform. Land was taken from 00:03:22.919 --> 00:03:26.340 nearly 90 % of rural villagers through all kinds 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:29.020 of dubious legal deeds, barbed wire enclosures, 00:03:29.099 --> 00:03:33.039 and foreign leases. Casas Grandes is a farming 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.840 community near Chihuahua and Casas Grandes wasn't 00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:41.039 exempt. The Zaragoza family may have lost land 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.900 inherited through generations, lands that once 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:48.159 fed their ancestors. And here, if you know the 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:51.879 song, this is where Pancho Villa enters the history, 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:58.219 the Centaur of the North. Born José Orango in 00:03:58.219 --> 00:04:01.939 Durango in 1878, he rode in on the chaos, leading 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:05.219 the División del Norte under the banner of revolution. 00:04:06.419 --> 00:04:09.080 Villa confiscated lands and cattle from wealthy 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:13.199 landowners early in his campaign, including redistribution 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:17.279 for veterans, dispossessed villagers. And, for 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.019 a moment, it looked like the Zaragoza fields 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:26.759 might be returned. Pancho Villa rose from outlaw 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:29.439 to general, rallying the poor with promises of 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:31.740 justice and land, and for a while, it looked 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:36.579 like Villa might deliver. His forces surged across 00:04:36.579 --> 00:04:38.939 northern Mexico, winning battles, redistributing 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:45.060 land, and stirring up real hope. In 1915, Villa's 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:48.060 strength began to falter. He had begun losing 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:51.100 key battles, his army had splintered, and the 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:55.079 vision of true land reform faded, and the revolution 00:04:55.079 --> 00:04:58.620 moved on without him. And, for families like 00:04:58.620 --> 00:05:01.879 the Ceragosas, that meant their land, taken decades 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:07.980 earlier, was never coming back. The dream of 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:10.480 return died in the same dust that buried the 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:15.920 last of Villa's victories. So let's set the stakes 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:20.079 and look at the song. Carlos Ceregoza left his 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.360 home in Casas Grandes. Carlos is a man shaped 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.040 by what has been taken from he and his family. 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:29.560 The first line names his loss and his origin. 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.379 He's from a place tied to the soil. A place whose 00:05:33.379 --> 00:05:37.839 very name means big houses, yet he leaves with 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.819 almost nothing. His journey begins not an ambition, 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:45.839 but in memory in the ache of exile. Gaudé Cielo 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.939 was a rooster born in heaven, so the legends 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:52.480 say. First line doesn't just describe a rooster, 00:05:52.899 --> 00:05:56.779 it anoints him. Born in heaven, not hatched in 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:00.240 some dusty pen, from the start this bird carries 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:05.139 a myth in his feathers. He's holy and haunted, 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.759 chosen and scarred. His wings? They'd been broken. 00:06:09.779 --> 00:06:13.500 He had one eye rolling crazy in his head. He's 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:18.540 no pristine symbol His body remembers violence 00:06:18.540 --> 00:06:22.279 and shows it a broken winged Wild -eyed fighter 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:26.879 who's already seen the pit a bunch, but he's 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:31.680 still standing and that's the point The madness 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.740 in his eye, maybe it's trauma Maybe it's focus 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:39.740 And he'd fought a hundred fights and the legends 00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:42.740 say a hundred fights. That's not just a record. 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:47.180 That's a life That's endurance turned into folklore 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:52.420 That one night near El sueco They fought. They 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:56.240 see yellow seven times and seven times he'd left 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:01.050 brave roosters Dead, seven rounds, not just victory, 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:05.310 domination. In the Bible, seven is completeness, 00:07:05.470 --> 00:07:10.490 perfection. Here, it's blood perfection. Hola, 00:07:10.529 --> 00:07:13.889 my Teresa. I'm thinking of you now in San Antonio. 00:07:14.189 --> 00:07:17.509 Carlos is far from home. Emotionally, physically, 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:20.310 spiritually, San Antonio isn't just geography, 00:07:20.670 --> 00:07:26.250 it's exile. He speaks her name like a liturgy, 00:07:26.430 --> 00:07:30.250 a tether back. to something still pure. I have 00:07:30.250 --> 00:07:34.209 $27 and the good luck of your picture framed 00:07:34.209 --> 00:07:38.610 in gold. What does a man carry when he has nothing 00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:45.110 left? $27 and a photograph. That gold frame isn't 00:07:45.110 --> 00:07:49.089 decoration, it's a sacrament. And tonight I'll 00:07:49.089 --> 00:07:52.009 put it all on the fighting spurs of Gaude Cielo. 00:07:52.029 --> 00:07:54.370 He's not just placing a bet, he's lighting a 00:07:54.370 --> 00:08:00.129 match. And then, He says, I'll return to buy 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:04.149 the land via stole from father long ago. Here 00:08:04.149 --> 00:08:10.730 it is. The dream, the ache, the impossible hope. 00:08:11.709 --> 00:08:16.870 Carlos isn't after money. He's after restoration, 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:24.899 justice, something old made right. Each line 00:08:24.899 --> 00:08:28.519 is a wound wrapped in rhythm, and together they 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:33.039 name a man betting his soul on one last round. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:39.639 Now picture it. A dusty arena at the edge of 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.840 town, lanterns swinging, men shoulder to shoulder, 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:46.980 cigarettes glowing, the weight of old stories 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:51.019 hangs in the air, Carlos crouches by the pit. 00:08:52.139 --> 00:08:56.200 Gaio de Cielo trembles not from fear, but from 00:08:56.200 --> 00:09:00.980 readiness. His one wild eye scans the ring like 00:09:00.980 --> 00:09:04.879 a prophet reading the signs. The bell clangs, 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:09.200 dust rises, spurs flash. The pit becomes a whirlwind 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:16.590 of fury and feathers 37 rounds again. Each crow 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:19.950 from DeCielo cuts like a psalm. Each strike is 00:09:19.950 --> 00:09:23.710 a sermon. He fights like he knows. Carlos needs 00:09:23.710 --> 00:09:27.990 more than money. He needs the past to breathe 00:09:27.990 --> 00:09:35.950 again. And in the tumult of this fighting ring, 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:41.029 Carlos doesn't hear the crowd. He sees the morning 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:46.470 dew on his father's corn. He sees Teresa's photo 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:51.110 catching the sun. He sees the dust of Villa's 00:09:51.110 --> 00:09:55.850 riders on the horizon. And through it all, De 00:09:55.850 --> 00:09:58.350 Cielo fights not to win, not to survive, but 00:09:58.350 --> 00:10:02.429 to testify. He fights like memory, fights forgetting. 00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:08.870 Like land fights erosion. And in that sacred 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:11.690 blur of past and present, Gallo de Cielo becomes 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:15.210 more than a rooster. In comes proof the earth 00:10:15.210 --> 00:10:22.990 still knows their name. Then the screams of Saragossa 00:10:22.990 --> 00:10:25.669 fill the night outside of the town of Santa Clara. 00:10:25.750 --> 00:10:31.070 This is the final scene. Carlos kneels in the 00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:33.350 center of the ring, cradling what's left of Gaude 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:36.710 Cielo. The beak is shattered. He's not just holding 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:38.809 a bird, he's holding the broken body of everything 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:43.700 he tried to reclaim. Carlos lifts his face and 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:46.159 curses the bones of Pancho Villa, not just the 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:52.139 man, the myth, the unkept promise, the betrayal. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:59.480 And Zorro rises, one last blow, and Gaio de Cielo 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:06.500 is driven down, not defeated, martyred. No bell 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:12.779 rings, no cheer. Just Carlos, still in the ring, 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:21.139 still remembering. But we don't forget why this 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:27.080 matters. The narrator continues, do the rivers 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:30.980 still run muddy outside of my beloved Casas Grandes? 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.179 Does the scar upon my brother's face turn red 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:39.980 when he hears mention of my name? The people 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:44.340 of Esueco curse the theft of Gallo del Cielo. 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:49.480 Tell my family not to worry. I will not return 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:55.940 to cause them shame. These questions by Saragossa 00:11:55.940 --> 00:12:01.000 aren't questions, they're ghost stories. Carlos 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.279 isn't asking because he doesn't know. He asks 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:10.580 because he can't stop remembering. And he chooses 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:13.980 not to return, not out of guilt, but out of grace. 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:19.000 Carlos' fight wasn't just for the land, it was 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.620 for dignity, for remembrance, for the right to 00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:27.440 say, I was here, I mattered, and I tried. Sometimes 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:32.059 the only way to come home is not to, because 00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:37.919 even then, the rivers remember your name. Hope 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:40.580 can be as fragile as a rooster's wing, but it 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:45.980 still flies. And we bear memory because we bear 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:51.940 loss. Carlos fight wasn't for 50 acres. It was 00:12:51.940 --> 00:12:59.519 for 50 names, 50 prayers, 50 dawns. A generation 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:06.039 of people whose lives mattered. despite their 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:11.559 circumstance. And while there's no happy ending 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:21.539 here, it's sacred because it's true. It's like 00:13:21.539 --> 00:13:24.980 seeing something tragic we just can't look away 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:33.399 from because we see the trueness in it. And in 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:39.299 a world full of the artificial. When we come 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.460 across the true man, we can't help but connect. 00:13:44.659 --> 00:13:57.139 And I think this song does it right here. So 00:13:57.139 --> 00:14:00.779 what are we left with? Not a victory, not a monument. 00:14:01.719 --> 00:14:04.000 Just a grave dug in the dirt by a man who tried 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.259 to bat back his past with a bird and a prayer. 00:14:08.299 --> 00:14:10.299 Gaudí Cielo isn't my favorite song just because 00:14:10.299 --> 00:14:12.580 it's beautiful, though Lord knows it is. It's 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:17.299 my favorite because it dares to be tragic. He 00:14:17.299 --> 00:14:20.059 lays the weight of history on a feathered back 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:25.080 and says, here, carry this. Carlos Zaragoza will 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.679 never ride home a hero, but in that pit, in that 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:32.230 dust, he became a witness. A man who risked everything 00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:38.049 to proclaim the past still matters. If you ever 00:14:38.049 --> 00:14:40.169 loved something that couldn't be saved, then 00:14:40.169 --> 00:14:44.730 you know this story. You are this story. And 00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:46.789 if the world forgot you, may this song remember 00:14:46.789 --> 00:14:52.090 you. Thanks for walking with me. Thanks for sitting 00:14:52.090 --> 00:14:56.009 in the dust with me. This has been the Semi Seminary 00:14:56.009 --> 00:14:59.190 in our Theology in Music series. And this one... 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:05.080 This one was for Carlos, for De Cielo, for the 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.600 fight that ended but never really let go, and 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.480 for every exile out there still praying in the 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:14.340 dirt. I'll see you next time.