La Musica De Los Viejitos: the Hispano Folk Music of the Rio Grande Del Norte
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La MUsica de los Viejitos: The Hispano Folk Music of the Rio Grande del Norte Jack Loeffler Spanish culture came to northern New Mexi delight of local mice. A form related to the co with a musical heritage whose wellsprings lie romance is the relaci6n, a humorous narrative in European antiquity. Its traditions continued ballad still popular. One of the best relaciones is to evolve as descendants of the Spanish colonists entitled El Carrito Paseado, which was written in melded into the mestizaje of La Raza. the 1920s and tells the tale of an old, broken The mountains around the Rio Grande del down jalopy, Norte still ring with echoes of songs sung in Tengo un carrito paseado Spain hundreds of years ago in narrative ballads Que el que no lo ha experimentado called romances. This musical form branched off Nolo puedo hacer andar as early as the 12th century from the tradition of epic poetry and bloomed in the 13th century Tiene roto el radiador when juglares- wandering acrobats, jugglers, Descompuesto el generador poets, dancers and musicians - performed in Se le quebr6 la transmisi6n. public squares and noblemen's houses. Passed A form of narrative ballad that has evolved down through generations, these ballads gener from the romance is the corrido. Vicente Men ally exalted the deeds of warriors, kings and the doza, the late, eminent Mexican ethnomusicolo gentry. They were eagerly listened to by everyone gist stated, "The Mexican corrido, a completely including chroniclers and historians, who popular form .. .is an expression of the sensibility regarded the romances as popular accounts of of our people, and its direct ancestor, both liter significant events. ary and musical, is the Spanish romance." Where Traditionally, the melodies of the romances the romance mostly treats the exploits of the are 32 notes long. This conforms with poetic gentry, the corrido describes events, often tragic stanzas comprised of two rhymed or assonated and violent, in the lives of common people. This lines of 16 syllables. A few of these old romances form achieved great status in the New World dur are still to be heard in New Mexico and southern ing the last century, when Spanish-speaking peo Colorado. One of the best known is "Delgadina," ple struggled for collective survival in a social a tragic ballad of incest and death, environment far distant from the Iberian penin Delagadina se paseaba sula. When the corrido came into currency, the de la sala a la cocina international boundary between Mexico and the Con vestido transparente United States was drawn further north, and pre que se cuerpo le ilumina. sent-day New Mexico lay south of that boundary. Music, like the wind which carries it, is stirred by Romances can also be extremely humorous as is a myriad of forces. the case of Don Gato, "Mr. Cat," who was chasing Corridos usually include the date and time a beautiful Moorish pussycat when he leapt and of the event described and often the name of the fell, mortally injuring himself much to the composer. Sometimes they end in a despedida or concluding refrain with the words "Vuela, vuela, Jack Loejjler is a writer, oral historian and radio producer palomita ... ""Fly, fly, little dove ... " The corrido is whose area of interest includes the American Southwest and generally composed in stanzas, comprised of Mexico. He recently completed a book entitled La Musica de four lines of eight syllables each. los Viejitos to be published by the University of New Mexico During the many decades of conflict that Press in 1993. culminated in the Mexican Revolution, the corri- NEW MEXICO 33 Pedro Casias teaches the dance music of the Northern Rio Grande Valley to his grandson, William Pacheco. Photo by Jack Loeffler do became something of a journalistic device is still popular among la gente of the Rio Grande whereby the people learned of recent events and del Norte. The canci6n is not restricted to a par popular opinions about them. It has been said ticular meter, a freedom not available in the that the history of Mexico from 1845 may be forms mentioned earlier. According to Arthur traced from the texts of corridos. Recently in Campa, "The subjective quality of the canci6n northern New Mexico, corridos have been writ reveals more readily the fine nuances of folk sen ten about a soldier in Vietnam, the courthouse sibility in outpourings of the lovelorn, in candid raid in Tierra Amarilla in the late 1960s, and the denunciations of unrequited lovers, in sincere great prison riot near Santa Fe in the early 1980s. expressions of undying affection, and in melan The author of some of these is Roberto choly murmurings of the introvert." Almost any Martinez, one of New Mexico's most celebrated theme can become the subject of a canci6n. One folk musicians, who performs with Los Reyes de of the most popular of the canciones is entitled Albuquerque. "Don Simon" and is an elder's lament on the Another form of narrative ballad, of great conduct of the younger generation. Even though importance in the past but now rarely heard, is this song appeared in print as early as 1888, it is the indita, a form that combines Hispanic and still sung today - several younger generations Indian elements. While the indita is thought to later! have originated in Mexico, it came into promi Many of the vocal forms that were still popu nence in New Mexico in the 19th century, when lar at the beginning of World War II are now Hispanic and Indian cultures contended for ter moribund. There was the decima: traceable to ritory in the hinterland beyond pueblo and vil 15th century Spain, the form ordinarily has lage. Some of the inditas told sad stories of His introductory planta of four octosyllabic lines fol panos captured by the Indians, wrenched from lowed by four stanzas of ten octosyllabic lines - their families never to be returned. hence the word decima. Aurelio Espinosa once The canci6n is yet another musical form that regarded the decima "as one of the outstanding 34 N EW MEXICO examples of the persistence of Spanish tradition Varsoviana, one of the most popular dances in in New Mexico." The trovo is a poetic contest in the Rio Grande del Norte region, evolved from which two or more poets sing alternate verses. In the mazurka, which originated in the plains of this dialogue a wide range of themes may be Mazowsze, the area where Warsaw is located. It addressed, from philosophical to insulting. was apparently introduced in the salons of Paris Ruben Cobos regards the trovo as a poetic joust. by the dance master, Desire, in 1853 and is pur Few recall these latter musical forms, but Cipri ported to have gained great favor with the ano Vigil- one of New Mexico's great folk Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. It is musicians and one of the greatest tradition keep known among English-speaking people as "Put ers of his time - includes fine examples of each Your Little Foot." of these forgotten forms in his enormous reper Napoleon's agent, Archduke Maximilian, toire. briefly presided as Emperor of Mexico from The brothers of the Hermandad de Nuestro 1863 to 1867 when Mexico was under French Padre Jesus Nazareno, popularly known as the Pen domination. The Archduke's wife was caught itentes, are greatly misunderstood by those who within the sway of the Empress Eugenie and was live outside their religious practice. It was the anxious to enliven the salons of Mexico City with hermanos who helped sustain the Christian tradi the latest Parisian fashion, so she imported tion in the Hispanic villages of northern New dances and melodies with a swift grace. Many of Mexico and southern Colorado through their these dances found their way northward to long period of isolation from trained clerics. The become part of the evolving tradition of the His hermanos perform functions vital to the well panic Rio Grande del Norte. being of their respective communities through The waltz, which originated as an erotic out the year, although they are most commonly spring dance in the Bavarian Alps, lent itself to associated with the rites they observe every Lent. several graceful dance forms in New Mexico The hermanos conduct funerals, aid those in including the redondo and the valse de los paiios. need, minister to the distressed and in general Both of these are danced not in couples, but in assume responsibility for the good of the commu small groups. The chotiz is a two-step derived nity. They maintain a web of mutual aid that from the schottishe, itself thought to be a Ger helps the community endure. man trasmogrification of a Scottish folk dance. The alabados is a musical form sung by the The polka entered New Mexico from both the hermanos and some lay people. The alabados south and the east during the presidency of are sung to a very slow, mournful tempo, and the James Knox Polk, and polka jokes are said to modal structure of their melody lines suggest a have run rampant. La Camila came straight from medieval influence. The only musical instrument Paris, and las cuadrillas are directly descended played while singing the alabados is the pito, a from the French quadrille, a form of square wind instrument similar to the soprano recorder. dance. El talean is also a form of square dance, Two musical instruments have come to pre but its name suggests Italian provenance. vail at the baiZes, or dances, in the villages of Some dances actually originated in New northern New Mexico and southern Colorado Mexico.