Amid the noisy bustle of Mexico City, there is one iconic sound echoing on repeat in the background. A recording that blares from trucks looking to buy old household items and appliances, either to fix and resell or to sell for scrap. The crews inside these trucks are essentially scrap metal haulers and the recording is their pitch to prospective sellers. It lists out all the household castoffs they’re looking to purchase (mattresses, bed frames…) and then crescendos gloriously with this line: “…o algo de fierro viejo que vendan!” which basically means “…or any old metal thing you’re selling!” This last bit has become the recording’s namesake: fierro viejo, literally “old iron.”

The recording started popping up in neighborhoods surrounding the capital city in the early 2000’s. One of Mexico’s major newspapers referred to it as the most popular sound in all of Mexico. However, fierro viejo is just one voice in a cacophony of street selling in Mexico City. To grab customers’ attention in the middle of all the commotion street vendors use pregones.

Pregones have an element of performance to them. They draw attention to the vendor’s products by utilizing distinctive intonations, cadences, and often clever turns of phrase. It’s not an accident that time and again pregones have found their way into popular culture. While the fierro viejo recording fits squarely into Mexico’s rich tradition of pregones, it’s also a stark departure from it. That has everything to do with the voice that delivers it.

To get the story behind this iconic recording, producer Ted Siefer met Marco Antonio Terron and his family on the outskirts of Mexico City. When Marco first started collecting scrap metal he would beckon sellers by shouting through a cardboard megaphone. One day, Marco had an idea: He would make a recording of his pitch, that way he wouldn’t have to strain his vocal cords for hours on end. But Marco felt his own voice was too low and gravely, and so he turned to his nine-year-old daughter for help.

Marimar Terron Martinez, who’s now 28, is known as the original voice of fierro viejo. She’s active on social media, under the names “la voz del fierro viejo” and “niña del hierro” – literally girl of iron. Social media has helped Marimar and fierro viejo gain international fame. Versions of the pregon have been posted in other languages on TikTok and Instagram.[…]

Continue reading: The Siren of Scrap Metal – 99% Invisible