LOS COMANCHES

An Excerpt Translated by Enrique Lamadrid The

followingexcerpt ^is

from

Los Comanches

ili'Castillo, aplay in popularvet se

om

e per-

formed

all over

New Mexico

hut

now

onl) in Alcalde.

Enacted on

horseback. with frenzied harangues, the play is structurally similai to the Spanish folk

drama. "Moot

s

and

(Christians"

and

is based

on

colonial

campaigns

againstthe

Comanches

that

occurred

in 177I

and

1779. In thisspeech. (aiernc^>Verde, ^"(<\ecu 1lorn." the

(

Comanche

chiel declaies Ins ieadiness ^{lot battle.}

From

the sunrise to the sunset.

From

^the south to the frigid north,

It sounds,

my

shiningtrumpet.

It reigns, this steel ol mine.

I

campaign

fearless

and

bold,

And

great is the valor That reigns in

my

breast...

1 restrain the boldest.

I devian the miist audai ^ions.

In

my

bravery ^I

admire The

most arrogant hear.

The fierce

mountain

lion ^{1 dele.it.}

And

onlythe Spaniards Restrain

m\

valoi

.

But todaytherewill (low

Blood Irom

thevengeful heart.

Memory reminds me

( )l a hiave Spaniard

Who pioudh and

with valor

And

withgreat, fearless spirit

Dressed the

body

in floweis

With blood

for their colors.

OI the

dead

stretching into the distance

—

Men. women and

children

—

There

^is

no

ciamting,

Mor numbering

ol the <aptives.

Hcv. noble ⁱapt.ims.

\ahaous Janissaries.

1,el nivedict be proc laimed:

That

^{I as(},eneial will he ⁱe.iih Let the

drum and

flute In-

sounded!

To

tin- dance, to the forward point ol wai

'

FranciscoGonzales,Jr.celebrateshisgenizaro,(Hispani- cized Plains Indian)heritageinComanchedanceson

New

Years Day.Photoby Enrique Lamadrid hiillni Readings

Campa,

ArthurLeon. 1979. Hispanit Culturein the Southwest. Norman: University "I

Oklahoma

Press.

. 1942. l-osComanches:

A New

Mexican Folk Drama. ^''nwersityi>lNewMexicoBulletin

Whole

\n

376, 1 anguageSeries 7(1).

Champe,

Flavia Waters, ^ins:;. TheMatachinesDanceoj theI'ppei Rio Grande: History,

Minn

^. amiChoreogra- phy. Lincoln: Universit) ^ol Nebraska Press.

Gutierrez,

Ramon

A. 1991. Wlien Jesus Came, the ('inn Mothers WentAway: Marriage, Sexuality,andPowe>in

WewMexico, 15001846.Stanford: Stanford Univer-

sll\ Puss

Hurt, Wesle) R. 1966. ["heSpanish-American

Comanche

Dance. JournalojtheFolkloreInstituted

(2): ¹16-132.

Lamadrid, EnriqueR. andJackLoeffler. 1989. Tesoros del espiritu Treasures <</1In'Spirit:A SonmlPortraitoj Hispanit NewMexico. SantaFe:

Museum

^ol Interna- tional Folk Aii.

Lucero While Lea,Aurora. 1953. Literary Folklore"/ the Hispanit Southwest. San Antonio: NaylorCompany.

Robb, fohn ^{l> 1961.}

The

MatachinesDance

-A

Ritual FolkDance. WesternFolklore20: 87-101.

La Musica de los Viejitos:

The Hispano Folk Music of the Rio Grande del Norte

Jack Loeffler

Spanish culture

came

tonorthern

New

Mexi- co with amusicalheritage

whose

wellspringslie in

European

antiquity. Its traditions

continued

toevolveasdescendants ofthe Spanishcolonists

melded

into the mestizajeof

La

Raza.

The mountains around

the Rio

Grande

del

Norte

still ringwith echoes of songs

sung

ⁱⁿ Spain

hundreds

ofyears

ago

in narrative ballads called romances.This musical

form branched

off asearlyasthe 12th century

from

the traditionof epicpoetry

and bloomed

in the 13thcentury

when

juglares

— wandering

acrobats, jugglers, poets,dancers

and

musicians

— performed

in public squares

and noblemen's

houses. Passed

down through

generations, these balladsgener-

allyexaltedthe

deeds

ofwarriors, kings

and

the gentiy.

They were

eagerly listenedtobyeveryone includingchroniclers

and

historians,

who

regarded the

romances

as

popular

accounts of significantevents.

Traditionally, themelodies ofthe

romances

are 32 noteslong.This

conforms

with poetic stanzas

comprised

oftwo

rhymed

or assonated linesof 16syllables.

A

^{few ofthese}old

romances

aie^still tobe

heard

in

New Mexico and

southern

Colorado.

One

of thebest

known

is"Delgadina,"

atragicballadofincest

and

death.

Delagadina

sepaseaba

de

lasalaa lacocina

Con

vestidotransparente

que

se

cuerpo

le ilumina.

Romances

can alsobe extremely

humorous

asis

thecaseof

Don

Goto, "Mr. Cat,"

who

was chasing abeautiful

Moorish

pussycat

when he

leapt

and

fell, mortally injuringhimself

much

tothe

fackLoeffler^isawriter, oralhistorianamiradioproducer whoseareaofinterest nullities theAmericanSouthwestand

Mexico.Herecentlycompleted a bookentitledLa Musicade

los ViejitostobepublishedbytheUniversityojNewMexico Pressin 1993.

delightoflocalmice.

A form

related tothe

romance

isthe relation, a

humorous

narrative balladstill popular.

One

ofthe best relacionesis

entitled ^/•,'/C.uriito Paseniln.

which

waswritten in the 1920s

and

^tells the taleof

an

old,broken-

down

jalopy.

Tengo un

carrito

paseado

Que

^el

que no

lo

ha experimentado

No

lo

puedo

hacer

andar Tiene

rotoel radiador

Descompuesto

el

generador

Sele

quebro

latransmision.

A form

^ol narrative ballad that hasevolved

from

the

romance

^is the corrido.Vicente

Men-

doza, the late,

eminent Mexican

ethnomusicolo-

giststated,

"The Mexican

corrido, acompletely popular form.^..isan expression ofthe sensibility of

our

people,

and

itsdirectancestor,both liter- ary

and

musical, isthe Spanish

romance." Where

the

romance

mostlytreats the exploitsofthe gently,the corridodescribes events,often tragic

and

violent, in thelives of

common

people. This

form

achievedgreatstatusin the

New World

dur- ing thelastcentury,

when

Spanish-speaking peo- plestruggledfor collective survival ina social

environment

far distant

from

the Iberian penin- sula.

When

the corrido

came

into currency, the international

boundary between Mexico and

the

United

Stateswas

drawn

further north,

and

pre- sent-day

New Mexico

laysouth ofthat boundary.

Music,like the

wind which

carriesit, isstirredby a

myriad

offorces.

Corridosusuallyinclude the date

and

time ofthe event described

and

often the

name

ofthe

composer. Sometimes

^they

end

ina despedidaoi

concluding

refrain with the

words

"Vuela, vuela, palomita... ""Fly,fly, littleclove..."

The

corrido is

generally

composed

in stanzas,

comprised

of fourlinesofeightsyllableseach.

During

the

many

decades ofconflict that culminated in the

Mexican

Revolution, thecorri-

PedroCasiasteaches thedance musicoftheNorthern RioGrandeValleytohisgrandson,William Pacheco.PhotobyJack Loeffler

do

bri

ame something

ofa journalistic device

whereby

the people learned of recent events

and

popular opinions about them. It has

been

said that the historyof

Mexico from

1845

ma\

be traced

horn

the texts ofcorridos. Recentlyin northern

New

Mexico,corridos have

been

writ- ten about a soldier in Vietnam, thecourthouse raid in TierraAmarilla in thelate 1960s,

and

the great prisonriot neat Santa Fe in theearl) 1980s.

The

author of

some

of theseis

Roberto

Mai tnuv,

one

of

New

Mexico's most celebrated folkmusicians,

who

performswith Los Reyes de

Albuquerque.

Another form

ofnarrativeballad, <>l

gnat importance

in thepast but

now

raich heard, ^is the indita, a

form

that

combines

Hispanic

and

Indian elements.

While

the indita isthought to have originatedin Mexico, it

tame

into promi-

nence

in

New Mexico

in the 19th century,

when

Hispanic

and

Indian cultures

contended

for ter- titon in the hinterland

beyond pueblo and

vil- lage.

Some

ofthe inditas told sad storiesof Ilis-

panos

captured bythe Indians,

wrenched from

then families never to bereturned.

I he rancion isvetanother musical

form

that

is still populai

among

lagenteoi the Rio

Grande

delNorte.

The

cancion is not restricted toa par- ticularmeter, a

freedom

not availablein the forms

mentioned

earlier. A<^<ordingto Arthur

(iampa,

"The

subjei tive quality ofthe cancion reveals

more

readily the fine

nuances

offolksen- sibility in outpouringsoi the lovelorn, in candid denunciationsol unrequited lovers, in sincere expressionsol

undying

affection,

and

in melan- choly

mm mm

^{ingsol the} introvert."

Almost

any

theme

can

become

the subjectofa cancion.

One

ofthe

most

popularol the

cam

iones isentitled

"Don Simon" and

^isan elder's lament

on

the

conduit

ofthe youngei generation.

Even though

this

song appeared

in print asearlyas 1888, ^{it is}

still

sung

today

—

several

younger

generations

later!

Many

oi the vocal formsthat

were

^still

popu-

lar at thebeginning <>l

World War

IIare

now moribund. There

was the decima: traceable to

15th ienturySpain, the

form

ordinarilyhas introductory plantaoflour o<tosyllabic lines fol-

lowedby four stanzasoi tenoctosyllabic lines

—

hence

the

word

decima. Aurelio Espinosa

once

regarded the

decima

"as

one

of the outstanding

examples

ofthe persistenceof Spanishtradition in

New

Mexico."

The

trovois a poetic contestin

which

two or

more

poetssing alternateverses. In thisdialogueawide range of

themes may

be addressed,

from

philosophical to insulting.

Ruben Cobos

regardsthe trovoasa poeticjoust.

Few

recall theselatter musical forms,butCipri-

ano

Vigil

— one

of

New

^{Mexico'sgreat folk}

musicians

and one

ofthe greatest traditionkeep- ersofhistime

—

includesfine

examples

of

each

oftheseforgotten formsin his

enormous

^reper-

toire.

The

brothers ofthe

Hermandad

de Nuestro PadreJesus Nazareno,popularly

known

asthe Pen- itentes,are ereatly

misunderstood

bv those

who

liveoutside their religiouspractice. It

was

the hermanos

who helped

sustain the Christian tradi- tion in the Hispanicvillages ofnorthern

New

Mexico and

southern

Colorado through

their long period ofisolation

from

trainedclerics.

The hermanos perform

functionsvitaltothewell- being oftheirrespective

communities

through- out theyear,althoughthey are

most commonly

associatedwith theritestheyobserveevery Lent.

The hermanos conduct

funerals, aid those in

need, ministertothe distressed

and

ingeneral

assume

responsibilityforthe

good

ofthe

commu-

nity.

They

maintain a

web

of

mutual

aid that helps the

community

endure.

The

alabadosisamusical

form sung

bythe

hermanos and some

^laypeople.

The

alabados are

sung

toa veryslow,

mournful tempo, and

the

modal

structure oftheir

melody

linessuggest ^.1 medievalinfluence.

The

only musical instrument played whilesinging thealabadosis thepito, a

wind

instrumentsimilarto the

soprano

recorder.

Two

musicalinstrumentshave

come

topre- vailatthe bailes, or dances,in thevillagesof northern

New Mexico and

southern

Colorado —

theviolin

and

theguitar. At thetime of the Spanish Conquest, neitherthe violin

nor

thegui- tar

had assumed

itscurrent form.

The modern

violin

came

intocurrencyin

Europe

in the

open-

ingyearsofthe

Baroque

era,

which spanned

the period

from

1600 to 1750.

The modern

^guitar took shape nearlytwo centurieslater.

However,

the

conquistador^ and

earlycolonists

were accustomed

to viols

and

vihuelas

and

to tradi- tionsof

dance

that

extended deep

into Euro-

pean

antiquity.

Dance music

ofthe Renaissance has long since disappeared

from

the collective

memory

of

lagente of northern

New

Mexico.

However, one

active

and

rich

dance

traditionextendsback at leasttothe

beginning

ofthe 19th century.

La

Varsoviana,

one

ofthe

most

popular

dances

in the Rio

Grande

del

Norte

region,

evoked from

the

mazurka, which

originatedin the plainsof

Mazowsze,

thearea

where Warsaw

islocated.It

was apparently introducedinthesalonsofParis by the

dance

master. Desire, in 1853

and

ispur- ported tohave gainedgreat favor with the

Empress

Eugenie,wifeof

Napoleon

III. It is

known among

English-speaking people as"Put

Your

Little Fool."

Napoleon's

agent.

Archduke

Maximilian, briefly presidedas

Emperor

of

Mexico from

1863 to 1867

when Mexico

was

under French

domination.

The Archduke's

wifewas caught withinthe sway ofthe

Empress Eugenie and

was anxioustoenliven the salonsof

Mexico

Citywith the latest Parisianfashion, soshe

imported dances and

melodieswith aswiftgrace.

Many

of these

dances found

their

way northward

to

become

partofthe evolving traditionofthe His- panic Rio

Grande

^del Norte.

The

waltz,

which

originated asan erotic spring

dance

inthe BavarianAlps, lentitselfto several graceful

dance forms

in

New Mexico

including the redondo

and

the valsedelaspanos.

Both

ofthese are

danced

notincouples,but in small groups.

The

chotizisatwo-stepderived

from

theschottishe, itselfthought tobea Ger-

man

trasmogrification ol aScottish folkdance.

The

polka entered

New Mexico from

both the south

and

thee.isi duringthe presidency of

James Knox

Polk,

and

polka jokesare saidto

have

run

rampant.

La

Camila

came

straight

from

Paris,

and

las cuadrillasaredirectly

descended from

the

French

quadrille,a

form

ofsquare dance. Eltalean^isalsoa

form

of square dance, butits

name

suggestsItalianprovenance.

Some dances

actuallyoriginated in

New

Mexico. El vaquero implies thepresence ofthe

cowboy whose

historylong precedesthatofhis

Anglo

counterpart.

Some

saythat lacuna, the cradledance, originatedin

New

Mexico, asdid

laindita.

One

ofthe

most

interesting

dance

traditions in the

New World

isLos Mutachines, a

dance drama which

^I believe

combines

characteristics of

both European and

Indian origins. ^{It is}

danced

both in Indian

and

Hispanicvillages to music

performed on

theviolin

and

guitar.

Musical

forms appear and become

aligned with a prevailing culture

and

then

wane

with the passage oftheirseason. Thislossdoes notneces- sarilyimpoverisha tradition thatcontinuesto evolve, asdoes the musical heritageof Hispanic America.

The

advent ofelectronicinstruments

and modern media may

well hasten the pa< e oi

change, but the tradition continuesto build

upon

itself, chronicling thespirit oi its time in

new

ballads,

accommodating

the frenzy oi the late20th centurywith differentfiances,

and

even challenging the politicalsystem

and

itsbureau- cracy ina recentlycreated musical

form known

as nueva cancion.

The

musical heritageofthe Hispanic Rio

Grande

del Norte has asdistinguishedan

am

es- tryas the culture liasoi

which

it is part. This music isan expression ofa people

from whose

soul poursforth

song

with passion

and poignance —

it isthe music oi lagente.

Iinlhri Readings

Cutter,Charles R. 1986.

The WPA

Federal

Musk

Pro- ject in

New

Mexico. NewMexicoHistoricalReview 61:203-16.

Griego) Maestas, |ose,andRudolfoA. Anaya. 1980.

Cuentos: TalesfromtheHispanit Southwest. SantaFe:

Museum

^ol Nev\ MexicoPress.

Lamadrid, Enrique^R. 1986.(iipiianoVigil^\ la Nueva Cancion nuevomexicana. LatinAmerican Musi<

Review7(11:1 19-222.

Loeffler, fack.1983. LaMiisicadelosviejitos. New

\hKicoMagazine.

Mendoza,VicenteT.,andVirginia R.R.deMendoza, 1986 /sia¹1nⁱ vⁱInsi

Inⁱⁿurn deIn mxisicatradicional hispdnicadeNuevoMexico. Mexico: Universidad

Vu

ional

Autonoma

^de Mexiio.

Rohh, |olm I) 1954, HispanitFolkSongsoj VeivMexico Albuquerque: Universit) oi

New

Mexico Press.

. 1980. HispanicFolkMusicojNewMexico andtheSouthwest:ASeljPortraitn/nPeople. Norman:

Univeisity^{<>l (})klahomaPress.

Stark, Richard P.. 1969. Music of^theSpanish Folk Playsin

NewMexico.Santa Fe:

Museum

of

New

Mexico

Press.

[Yevino, Adrian. 1986. Traditional SayingsandExpres sumsa/ll/s/iiiniiFolkMusicians in theSouthwestern

I nitedStatesandNortheastern Mexico. Vols. I. II, III.

Albuquerque: ^IrellisPublishing⁽lompany.

Weigle, Marta. 1976. BrothersofLight, Brothersof^Blood:

tin-Penitentes ojtheSouthwest. SantaFe:

Am

ient( u\

Press.

SuggestedListening

Martinez,Roberto Ius Reyesde \lbuquerque. Hurricane Re< ..ids HS-10002.

Ortiz,Cleofes. ViolinistadeNuevoMexico. Ubik Sound, 1986 (<assette).

Robb, [<¹1111 I). SpanishandMexicanFolkMusii of

New

Mexico FolkwaysFA2204.

Vigil,Cipriano. Ciprianocon InNueva Cancion Nuevomexicana. ^<lompaniade Produiciones Musi- c.llrs. 1985.

Suggested \iru'itif>

"Losalegres," 1977.30minute documentary.Produc- ers |.Kk Loefflei and Karl Kernbei<_;ei

.

"La music,ide I"-,viejos."30minute documentary,

Pre id uccis|.uk LoefflerandJackPai sons.

Religion in Community

Celebration

Jose Griego

Religion in the traditional culturesof

New Mexico

has played

an

important nurturingrole, aspeople struggledtosurvivein a veryharsh land over the course of

many

centuries.

New

Mexican communities

^{celebrate together}

on

reli-

giousfeastdayswithintricate rituals

from

age- old traditions.Traditionaldance, folk

drama and

musicare

common modes

ofreligiousexpres- sion that

embrace

celebrants

and

valorize spaces.

Some Pueblo dances

such asthe Rain

Dance

ofthe Keres

and

the

Hopi Snake Dance

have

become

closedtooutsiders,

due

totheirsacred- ness.

But

othersare sharedwith

whoever

congre- gatesatthe

Pueblo

plaza

on

designated feast days,

which sometimes

coincidewith Catholic holidays.

Pueblo communities combine

Christian

and

Nativereligious practices

and perform

social

dances

such asthe

Deer Dance,

Buffalo

Dance, Hen Dance and many

othersin particularcycles oratcertain seasonsoftheyear.

hike

many

ofthe

Pueblo

dances,the Mat- achinesdances,

which

areshared bv both

Pueblo and

Hispanicvillages, are

performed

publically

and

are consideredsocialin nature although theyhave religiousthemes.

The

mestizo (Indo- Hispanic) prayerdance,

San

^Luis

Conzaga, which

containsversesin the medieval

romance

form, isevidence ofashared culturecreatedby centuriesofco-existence.

The

Kith centuryplay,

Las aparicionesde NuestraSenora de Guadalupe

(The

Apparitions of

Our Lady

of

Guadalupe),

is

handed down

in certain families

and communi-

foseGriegoisco-curatorof^theNew

Mxim

programat the FestivalofAmerica))Folklife. Heis theauthor, withRudolfo A.Anaya,ofCuentos, Talesfrom tin-Hispanic South- west.

ties.

The

Indian Virgin hasspecialspiritual sig- nificance forboth Indian

and

Hispaniccultures.

For some

^Hispanics, the Christmas seasonis

not

complete

without attending the

humorous

yet didacticfolk

drama,

LosPastores

(The

Shep- herds),of medieval Spanishorigin.

The

impres- sionofthisplayissostrongthat itsidiomsair repeated

throughout

theyear.Franciscan priests used the didactic

themes

in itsdramatic dia- logue,

dance and music

toteach their

message

to Native

American and

Hispanic communities. In thevillageof Santa Cruz, the medieval

drama

that reenactsthe re-conquestof Spain

from

the Moors, Los moros_ycristianos, is

performed on horseback

annually forthe feastday of the

Holy

Cross.

The

Penitente

brotherhood,

alayorgani- zation that kept^the faith alivefor

decades

in

main

rural

communities where

apriestonlyvisit-

ed once

ayear,usesthe public dramatization of the passion of NuestroPadreJesus

(Our

Father Jesus)

and

the

performance

of

hundreds

of

medieval alabados(hymns),to maintain thefaith.

Religious pilgrimsofseveralfaithsin

New

Mexico converge on

sacredplacessuchasthe

Taos

Blue Lake, the Santuario

de Chimayo,

^the four sacred peaks oftheNavajo

and Chaco Canyon. The unique ambience

createdbyisolat-

ed

high desert,

snow-capped

^mountains,ancient Anasaziruins

and

thevarietyofreligioustradi- tions in

New Mexico

has

drawn new

religious

communities

tothe state,such asSikhs,Tibetan Buddhists

and

Muslims.

A

^newly

formed monas-

tic

community

of Benedictine

monks

pray

and

contemplate

atthe Christin the Desert

Monastery

in northern

New

Mexico, following the ancienttradition of

monks who

flee tothe deserttopray

and contemplate

the Spiritof

God.