I. Introduction (Hopes and Premonitions) 

II. First Crossing 

III. In Transit 1 (Anxiety as the Train Approaches) 

IV. La Bestia 

V. Nocturne Atop a Train 

VI. In Transit 2 (Waking Up) 

VII. Fuga 

VIII. Rain Outside the Church 

IX. Running Again 

X. Las Chepas: Ghost Town 

XI. Second Crossing 

XII. Elegy for the Nameless 

XIII. Dreams of Flight

The Way North depicts the journey of a Central American migrant through Mexico and his eventual arrival in the United States. The work consists of a series of short vignettes that capture the emotional, physical, and psychological struggles of the unnamed narrator as he makes his way north in search of a better life.

The journey is flanked by two crossings: the first is the southern border of Mexico, and the second is into the United States near Laredo, Texas. The first crossing is easier, as though the migrant is unaware of the perils to come. The second crossing is treacherous, as he makes his way across the dangerously strong waters of the Rio Grande. Shortly after crossing into Mexico, he boards La Bestia (The Beast), one of a network of trains that migrants take to make the journey. Many people fall, are pushed off, or are dismembered while trying to climb on or off the train. Our migrant rides this train, falls asleep (during which we hear the Nocturne), and is then awakened and forced to run to avoid being caught by immigration officials.

Fuga is a play on words: in Latin, fuga means "to flee." Additionally, a fugue is one of the main musical metaphors for struggle and conflict. However, since life is weirder than musical exercises and metaphors, the fugue keeps getting interrupted. My thinking is that the fugue metaphor breaks because the reality of immigration is darker and grimmer than what an academic fugue can portray. As the fugue eventually runs out of steam and evaporates, it becomes clear that metaphors—even musical ones—cannot grasp this reality.

Rain Outside the Church refers to a quiet stop at a sanctuary church. Las Chepas: Ghost Town refers to one of many towns along the U.S.–Mexico border that have become deserted because migrants no longer choose to cross there, usually because the U.S. government or drug cartels have closed off that particular spot. The economy of these towns depends upon migrants crossing; when migrants go elsewhere, the towns become virtually uninhabited.

This movement quotes from the song "José Pérez León" by the norteño group Los Tigres del Norte, a ballad about a migrant making his way across Mexico who dies aboard La Bestia after running out of oxygen inside a container. As I was composing this movement, I had a vision of our protagonist walking around the deserted town, hearing this song on a distant radio. As he gets closer, the song becomes louder before disappearing again. This ballad also shares a motive from the opening of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, an elegiac song cycle about a wanderer seeking meaning in a convoluted world. Thus, Las Chepas: Ghost Town brings together three converging stories of journeymen and the pathos associated with their difficult travels.

Elegy for the Nameless refers to a passage from the book The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez, which describes the tracks along La Bestia as a "cemetery for the nameless" because of the many people who have fallen and perished there. I thought that honoring these nameless victims would be a suitable ending for the cycle. Dreams of Flight finds the elegy taking flight. I wanted the ending to provide a ray of hope: to allow our migrant to fly away like a bird—free, easily eclipsing the political borders that cause grief and struggle.