Migra

Like 'Smooth', it is based on a characteristic Latin-American rhythm, in this case the Bo Diddley beat, named after the musician who developed it. This is, essentially, a clave rhythm with five accents. Bo Diddley (1928-2008) was a rhythm and blues musician; he introduced and popularised this rhythm which is now regularly found in rock and pop music as well as pieces influenced by Latin-American music. It was first used in a song released in 1955, which was called simply the 'Bo Diddley Beat'. He was the first to bring together what is really a 3-2 clave rhythm with a rock and roll beat. It can be notated as here and is often played on tom toms:


Another song which used this beat was 'Not Fade Away' by Buddy Holly, covered later by the Rolling Stones. This is how the rhythm (using rhythmic augmentation) was notated in the version by the Rolling Stones:


Now listen to 'Migra' by Santana all the way through. Listen carefully to the use of Bo Diddley beat, and think about the similarities and differences it has with the other two tracks from the 'Supernatural' album we have studied:

Most of the lyrics to 'Migra' are in Spanish, and the song deals with the policies of the USA towards Latin American immigration. The only lines sung in English are:


People, people, let's start together, let's do it right;

People, people let's love one another, I know we know how.

It opens with a dominant drum beat, establishing the underlying rhythm of the song. It is a fleshed-out version of a 3 2 clave rhythm and a development of the Bo Diddly beat.


Santana's guitar enters, soaring ever higher, before the first entry of the voice. The guitar uses distortion and rapid note alteration – a clear characteristic of his guitar playing. The timbre changes throughout due to the distortion. It is an instrumental introduction.


In the introduction;

Establishes the Bo Diddly beat

Establishes the instrumentation

Establishes the guitar techniques


Starts with a spanish verse.

Note that, despite the key signature, Santana treats this piece as being in F major, with the majority of the song being played over an F (tonic) pedal bass. But the melody is in F minor. The use of A flat and E flat in the melody, the flattened third and seventh respectively, gives a slightly bluesy feel to the melody. They underlay is treated as if it is in F major. Throughout the first section, the voice and guitar engage in a call-and-response dialogue.

Short phrases

Simple melody

Distortion and pitch bends for the guitar

Then an extended version of the previous few phrases with the guitar solo repeating small parts of the phrases.


The verse is followed by the chorus, though the underlying beat and basic open fifth harmony on F remains, the voice and guitar dialogue continuing:


There are two quavers accented in the percussion in every bar, beginning with the two quaver rests in the excerpt above. A short instrumental follows, playing a two-bar pattern four times. (repetition) The guitar is more in the background here and cannot really be called call and response. A clap is added to emphasise the last two beats of the Bo Diddly.

Then there is an instrumental break. The sound of the accordion can also be detected at this point. The guitar has been distorted to sound like the accordian and the melody is now major which adds to the tonal ambiguity.

The English words follow, sung to the same melody as the opening verse. Voice and guitar call and response. Back to a minor melody with major underlay. Nothing new from the spanish verse apart from the English words.

Now a long instrumental break. After this, the horn section is featured, though with the underlying Bo Diddley beat still very prominent. The horn section consists of four trumpets and two trombones, playing homophonically at this point, as summarised in this example, the balancing phrase ending on the high F. The brass uses a mute and the guitar is distorted to sound like them. Tonal ambiguity again.


A bass riff follows over a more straightforward backbeat. Beat not syncopated anymore (quavers in the snare and four-to-the-floor bass drum only) and much simpler with just the bass over the top.

The guitar enters with an extended solo, featuring clear rock guitar techniques, including pitch bend, glissando, vibrato, distortion and some use of the 'wah wah' or 'cry baby' effect.


The 'wah wah' effects pedal is used to create a distinctive tone quality that seeks to mimic the human voice. The technique originated in the 1920s when trumpet and trombone players found that, by opening and closing a mute in the bell of the instrument, they could produce a 'crying' effect.

Later, electronics enabled the effect to be applied to guitars, with the country artist Chet Atkins probably being among the first to achieve this with a self-designed pedal. A similar pedal was engineered by Vox in the 1960s, with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix being among the first to use it on commercially released numbers. Because of the sound it produces, the 'wah wah' pedal is also known as the 'cry baby' pedal.


Structurally, the chorus is repeated


Then there is another verse with both the Spanish and English words. There is nothing new here.


It is then followed again by the horn section before the coda is reached.


The coda consists of some more advanced chords, including F9 (F, A, C, E flat, G) and F#9 (F#, A#, C#, E, G#). The coda is the "tail" of the piece. The song ends with the opening guitar melody, which was first played from bar 5. All of the previous guitar techniques are used.