American Folklife

1992 ^{Festival of}

American ^Folklife

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

FOR CARMEN

Smithsonian Undersecretary Carmen lamer

greets Vice

President Dan Quayle

at the

1991 Festival of American

Folklife.

At home

in official

and unofficial

^roles.

Carmen enjoyed and supported

theFestival.

She

liked to visit

with her

family,

and

last year, as in

previous

years, she

brought her granddaughters.

Carmen's support continues

to

sustain

us.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

1992 ^{Festival of}

American ^Folklife

June 25-June 29

July 2-July 5

Complimentary Copy

Co-sponsored by the National Park Service

Contents

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS

Cultural Diversity

and Dialogue: The Role

of

Museums

4

Robert McC. Adams,

Secretary,

Smithsonian

Institution

The Quincentenary: Understanding America's

Cultural

Heritage

6

Manuel Lujan,

_Jr., Secretary oj the Interior

Festival <>l

American

Folklife:

Not

Just a Festival

Unkind Kurin

7

Thinking Back

a Bit IIiws

Lomax Halves

12

NEW MEXICO The Great Loom:

Weaving

the Cultural

Landscape

of

New Mexico Andrew Wiget

15

The Virgin

^<>l

Guadalupe Andrew Wiget

17

The Klobase

Festival

ofDeming, New Mexico:

A Time

to

Celebrate and Remember Stephan Moore 20 Blackdom Philippa Jackson

21

Seeking

Life Tito

Naranjo 23

The Sephardic Legac)

in

New ^Mexico:

The Story of the Cryptojews

Stanley

M. Hordes 25

El

gran

telar:

Tejiendo

el paisaje ⁽ultural

de Nuevo Mexico Translated

by Jose

Griego 29 The Indo-Hispano Legacy

oi

New Mexico Enrique

/>.

Lamadrid 30

La Music

a

de

los Viejitc^>s:

I

he Hispano

^Folk

Music

ol the

Rio Grande

del

Norte

//nl; Loeffler

33

Religion in

Communit) Celebration

Jose

Griego 37

La Vida Buena

)

Sana: Curanderas

_y

Curanderos Tomds Atencio 39 Adobe

Alberto 1).

Parra

4(1

Acequias

Patricia

D'Andrea 42 Mining Folklore

Patricia

Musi( 43 The

Folklore <>l the Oil

Industry Jim Harris 44

UFOs and Nuclear Folklore

Pete)

White 45

Preserving

Traditional

Culture

in

New Mexico Claude Stephenson 46 Pueblo

Pottery:

Continuing

a

Tradition

Tessie

Naranjo 48

Ganados:

Revitalization ol

Rural

Life in

Northern New Mexico Maria

Varela

49 The Santa

Fe

Railway and Tourism

in

New Mexico

Peter

White 50

Cultural

Tourism and Self-Representation Tedjojola 51

Language and

Storytelling Jose

Griego 53

MAROON CULTURE

IN

THE AMERICAS

Creativity

and

Resistance:

Maroon Culture

in the

Americas Kenneth

^Bill>\

and Diana Band N'Diaye 54 Maroons: Rebel

Slaves in the

Americas Richard

Price

62

The

Political

Organization of Maroon Communities

in

Suriname H.R.M.

Libretto

65

Arts

of the Suriname Maroons

Sally Price

67 Maroon

Societies

and Creole Languages Ian Hancock 70 The Maroons and Moore Town Colonel C.L.G. Harris 73

The Accompong Town Maroons:

Past

and Present Colonel M.L. Wright 74 Statement by Gaanman Joachim-Joseph Adochini,

Paramount Chief of the Aluku (Boni) People 75 Statement by Gaanman Gazon Matodja,

Paramount Chief of

the

Ndjuka (Aukaner) People 76 Statement by Gaama Songo,

Paramount Chief of the Saramaka People 77

Maroon Struggle

in

Colombia Gabino Hernandez Palomino 78 Texas Seminole Scouts

Charles

Emily Wilson 80

NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC

The Changing Soundscape

in

Indian Country Thomas Vennum,

_Jr.

81

A Hopi

in

Two Musical Worlds _{Jacob Coin} 93 Cherokee Hymn Singing

in

Oklahoma

Charlotte

Heth 95

WHITE HOUSE WORKERS

Making

the

White House Work Marjorie

A.

Hunt 98

Workers

atthe

White House

,4

Photo Essay

by

Roland Freeman 104

FestivalofAmericanFolklife

©

1992 bytheSmithsonianInstitution Editor:PeterSeitel

StyleEditor:Arlene Reiniger Coordinator:FrancesesMcLean

Designer:|oanWolbiei

AssnltiiiiDesigners:Rebecca Lepkowski,Aim ^Ilansen Typesetter:Harl<twe

Printer:Schneidereith&S.ins Typeface:NewBaskerville Paper.LOEDull

Frontcover photo: EachDecemberinmany

New

Mexicocom- munities,worshiperscelebratetheFeast ofOurLadyof Guadalupe.InTortugas, participantsgatheratthetinycap/7- lawherethe Virgin'simageiskept.Photo byRussellBamert Back cover photo:Friendsandkinof aNdjukaMaroon

woman

helppreparehergardenforplantingricenear Diitabiki,Suriname.Thegardenisina section ofAmazonian rainforest thathasbeen clearedbyburning.

PhotobyDianaBairdN'Diaye

Cultural Diversity and Dialogue:

The Role of Museums

Robert McC. Adams

Secretary,

Smithsonian

Institution

An

important challenge before

museums

today ^is to findways toaddress themselves to the increasing diversity,

and

at the

same

time the

growing interdependence and

vulnerability, <>I soiial life everywhere.

Museums need

^to be pub-

licly

in

ognized as important institutional

means

by

which groups

in ourverypluralistic so< iety<an define themselves

and

find

plans

within the

i

hanging dynamics

oi

contemporary

life.

All

museum

^visitorsbenefit

from

carefully reseanlied

and

innovatively presented exhibi- ts his

m which

individual social

groups

definea\\i\

represent themselves

through

dialoguewith

siholars, e urators

and

the public ^.

Broad

educa- tional goals are served by dire(ting publicatten- tiontoconstituent

groups

ofthisculturally diveise Mil iety a\\<\ to die

complex

variet) ol ways they

combine

to< reateso<ial life.

Sua

esslnlexhi- bitionsol thissort should enable us to review, revise .aid

broaden

public discourse.

The festival ol

American

Folklife hasalways

been guided

bythis set of concerns and, indeed,

liaspioneered the type ol dialogue

now

ie<og- nized asbasic not onlytothe health ol out

muse- ums

bin also lothe health ol oursoeictv asa

whole.

And

ii isin thisperspei tive thai ^I find die constellation ol

groups assembled

ai thisFestival quite remarkable.

The Columbus Quincentenary we mark

^ihis

yeargivesus pause to reflect

on

the forcesthai ovei die past 500yearshave

shaped

today's social

lifein theAmericas.

The programs on New

Mexi-

c^ci. Marcic>ns in the

Americas and

the (Changing

Soundseape

in Indian

Country

illustrate impor- tant historical

and ongoing

processes

through

whie h c nullities establishcultural identities in

complex and dynamic

social circumstances.

Ihe

Spanish

Conquest

established [he West- ern

Hemisphere's European

presence

and

us most widely

spoken

language. While' the original conquerors' ^ciilturedid notvalue- the Native cul- turesitencountered, ovei the<enturies

segments

ol Ilispanic

and

Native

American and

later Eng- lish-speaking

and

othei populations have, ol neeessitv.

engaged one

another inways that have given ^rise- totoday's lieh arrav of cultural identi- ties.

New

Mexico'sdistinctive(ultural landsiape-

has taken shapein thisway,

and

today isc

om-

posed ol

some

peoples

who

sustain cultural iden- tities

through

centuries-old

combinations

^ol Indi- an

and European

formsof thought

and

a< lion,

and

ol others

whose

basisol identitylies in reaf- firming the

wisdom and

relevance ol ancestral ways, lint in all

New

Mexicans, as in people every- where, ^eultural ide-ntitv rellects the-c

hanges

^dial continue tobe

wrought from

the-varietiesof their SO< ialeneⁱninleis.

Nowhere

^isthe connection

between

ⁱnativity

and

self-definition

more

clear than in ihe- cultural identitiesol

contemporary Maroon

peoples,

whose

aneesiorsesc

aped

plantation slavery in the

Americas and founded independent

societies.

Faced

with the taskof constructing

and

defend- ing theirpositions.

Maroons

creativelydefined themselves

from

avarietyofsources.

While

their politicalinstitutions, expressivearts, religions

and

othersocial

forms were predominantly

Africanin origin, they

drew from

a

broad

range of African cultures,

and from European and

Native

Ameri-

can culturesas well.

Much

of theaesthetic

com- ponent

of

Maroon

cultures

—

^{theirvibrant tradi-}

tionsofverbal

and

visual arts

— encourages

the cohesivenessof their society

and

voices

themes

that

embody common

experience

and

interest.

"The Changing SoundScape

in Indian

Coun-

try,"

produced

jointlywith the National

Museum

ofthe

American

Indian, explores waysthat Indi- an musicians

and

their

communities

have cre- atively

adapted

elements

from

themusical tradi- tions

brought

to thiscontinent

from

Europe, Africa

and

elsewhere.

Although many

ofthe forms ofthisIndian

music

are non-Indianinori- gin, the

themes and performance

stylesclearly addressIndian experience

and

aestheticexpecta- tions. In their creativehands, external musical influences

become

part ofthe self-definitionof Indian identity

and

trenchant

commentary

of

what

has

been happening

in "Indian

Country"

overthe past

500

years.

This yearalso

marks

the 200th anniversary of the

White House,

^it tooa legacyof

our complex

past.

The White House

^is nota king'spalacebut rather "thepeople's house," at

once

national

symbol, executiveoffice

and

conferencecenter,

<

eremonial

setting,

museum,

tourist attraction

and

familyresidence. Atthe Festival

we

recognize the culture of

White House

workers,

who

have supported this

broad

arrayof functions overa span ofhistory

shaped

bv

remarkable

events, peo- ple

and

social change.

White House

workers have

been

part ofthishistory,

and

with theirlabor

and

dedication have

made

the

White House

work.

We

honor White House

workers

and

theirvenerable workplacewith a living exhibition thatpresents

some

ofthe skills, experiences

and

values

through which

they give

shape

totheiroccupa- tional identities

and

call ourattentiontoan important

human component

ol the

200

year institutional history

.

Pausing to

mark

these anniversaries,

muse- ums

should considerself-representationsofcul- ture such asthese for

what

theytell theiraudi- ences

about our changing

sociallife,for

what

theycan leach us

about

creativeadaptation

and

self-definition,

and

especiallyfor

what

theycon- tribute tothe role of

museums

as

forums

for cul- tural dialogues. If

museums,

likethe Festival,can provide

models

forpublic discourse, raise cultur- alissues to national

and

international conscious- ness,

and

enablecross-cultural

communication

and

understanding,ifnotrespect, theywill then have helped in guidingallofusforward tothe next century.

The Quincentenary:

Understanding ^{America's Cultural Heritage}

Man ^{uel Lujan,} Jr.

Secretary

of

the Interior

Thisyear isa speci.il

one throughout

the

Americas and

indeed,

throughout

the world.

The Columbus Quinc

entenar) givesus

an

opportunity tu

examine

oui histor)

and

theways the world has

changed

ovei the past

500

years. Hiese

changes

have

been momentous and

have pro- foundlyeffe(ted the natural

em

ironment, annual

and

plant species, the

movements

^of populations,

and

the

development

^i>l ideas

and

forms^{<>l sc><} ial

organization

and

^cultural expression.

The

U.S.

Department

of the Interior

and

the Smithsonian Institution think^{it is}important that Americ ans undeistand their historical

and

⁽ultui- al heritage. This heritage is

complex,

involving centurieso( i reativity, conflict, cooperatii>n .\\u\

cultural interchangeacrosscontinents.

Under-

standing^i>ni heritage isan important a<^{t <>l <} nl- tural citizenship, not onlyfor

Americ

ans. but foi

people theworld over.

The Department

ol the Interior, through ^its

many

bureaus sik h as the National Park

Sen

ice,

and

theSmithsonian, through itsvarious

museums and

programs, have

planned

^sioresol activitiesto

encourage

public education so that in understanding out past

we might more

wiseh chartourfuture.

The

Smithsonian'sFestival ol

American

Folk-

life, <i>-spi

msored

b) the National Park Service, provides adramatic

venue

forexploringout ^li\- ing cultural heritage.

Here on

the Nation'sIronl lawn, millionsol

Americans

can participate in cultural traditionsthat reach back centuiies

and

yet still provide

meaning

to

contemporary com-

munities

and

individuals. Visitorscan talk to lolks

from my

state,

New

Mexico,

and

discover

how

in the ^si

mthwestern

U.S., NativeAmericans, early Hispanic settlers

and

latter

immigrants

c1eateda robustregional culture.Visitorscan

meet and

speakwithAfrican-American

Maroons who

resist-

ed plantation slavery

and

maintained free, sell- reliant

communities

for

hundreds

olyeais. ()ne can hear

how

<

ontemporary

Native Americ an musicians

from

across the continent have adapt-

ed

nontraditional instruments

and

styles in creat- ing

and

re-creating their

musu

al culture.

And

hereat the Festival, you can alsolearn aboutthe

11iltureol theW(irkei^sat the

White House who

serve,maintain

and

protect that historic land- mark, instrument

and symbol

ol

government. You

can, in short,

meet

with, speakto

and

be

engaged

by exemplar) ^leilow

Americans who

forge the links

between

out iultural history

and our

cultur- al futiii e.

I

would

also

em ourage

you to

go beyond

the Mall,to the plai es,

communities and

national sitesol these people

and

theirlorebearers. See the

White

^1Iimse, \isit historic Santa Fe, ⁽diato Culture National Historic Park

and

Fort

Union

National

Monument

in

New

Mexico, learn about African-American Seminoles,

and

experiencethe richness

and

varietyof

American

Indian tradi- tionsthrough the

numerous

^tribal

museums and

culturalcentersacnissthiscountry.

Festival of American ^Folklife:

Not Just a Festival

Richard Kurin

The

video beginswith elderly

and

lanky farmers

from

the U.S. Midwest, plucking their stringedinstrumentsina

way

suggesting the strangenessoftheirmusic.

Next on

the screen

women from

Iowa puff

on

brasstrumpets; the

camera

angle

and sound mix

again suggeststhe exotic qualityoftheirperformance.

Next come

images of

monumental Washington

seennotso

much

aslandmarks, butasevidence ofthe pres-

ence

ofvisitors

from

Chiapas,

Mexico —

the sub- jectsofthe video. Deliberately, astoryofthe

1991 Festival of

American

Folklife unfolds

through

the eyesofavideocrew that

accompa-

niedadelegation ofnative

Mayan and Lacandon

people

from

the southern

Mexican

provinceof Chiapas

and documented

theirparticipation in theFestival.

Iwassittingin an auditorium inTuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas.

The

auditori-

um

was overflowingwith

hundreds

oi people

—

the ten

Chiapanecos who had

participated inthe Festival, theirrelatives,

government

officials, scholars

and

local citizens. Itwas

December,

six

months

aftertheFestival

on

the Mall in

Washing-

ton

had

featured,

among

otherprograms,

"Land

inNative

American

Cultures."

which

included people

from

Chiapas.

Other

staff

and

I

had

writ- ten

our

reports

and

reviewed thepresscoverage

and our own

video

documentation, and now

I

was seeing

how

others

had

seen theFestival,

how members

ofthe participants'

communities had

construed

and

represented theirparticipation to folksback

home.

Also exhibitedin thatauditorium was a jour- nalwritten bya

Mayan

storyteller,

Xun

Gallo, in

"Richard.Kurin isDirector«/ theSmithsonianInstitution CenterforFolklifePrograms andCulturalStudiesanda Pro- fessorialLectureratThefohns Hopkins_{School of}Advanced

International Studies.HereceivedthePh.D. in cultural anthropology/rowthe University<>/Chicagoandfirstworked on theFestivalojAmericanFolklife in 1976.

hisnativeTzotzil, publishedwith Spanish transla- tion

and

illustrations.

The

journal, entitled Mis

qjos vieron, mi corazon losabe

(My

eves saw,

my

heart

knows)

wasawonderful, serious,poetic

.md humorous account

ofhisvisit to

Washington and

participation in the Festival.

He had

dis-

cussedhis

work

with the audience,

academic

scholars

and Smithsonian program

curator OliviaCadaval before thevideobegan.

He and

othersspokeof the

importance

ofthe Festival in reaffirming cultural identity

and

raisingcon- sciousnessaboutcultural issuesthatcrossethnic, national

and

international boundaries.

This

theme

was

echoed

in the video docu-

mentary

that proceeds

from

theexoticized fami-

lyfarmerstothe Chiapas group,

and from them

to

widening

circlesofinclusiveness. First the other Indian

groups

at the 1991 Festival,

from

Mexico,Peru

and

Boliviaare includedin the

Chiapaneco

Indian world.

Then

Alaskan groups, the

Hopi and Ecuadorian Shuar

are included.

The

video treatment then

embraces

the Indone- sians

—

^Javanese,

Dayak from Kalimantan and

people

from

Sulawesi,alsoat the Festivallast year

— and

finds theytooare Indian ofasort.

Then

the bluesmen.Yes, theytoo are Indian.

Finally,byvideo'send. the formerlystrange fami-

lyfarmersreappear

and

are included

—

they loo are Indian; theytooare

humans

with culture

and

value.

A

^{few davslater,}

Smithsonian

Assistant Secre- tary

James

Early, Dr. Cadaval

and

I

were

ina small

Chiapan pueblo

^visitinga family.

One

of the daughters, anexcellentweaver,

had been

inspired bv oilierweaversat the Festival, especial- lybythe economicallysuccessful

and

well-orga- nizedPeruvian weavers.

She

was

determined

lo startaweaving cooperative withothervillage

women.

This experience in Chiapasisa

reminder

thatthe Festivaldoes not

end on

the Mallin

Washington when

visitors

go home and

the staff

AIlS OjOS VlERON...

Xun Gallo

All Corazon Lo Sabe

packs

up

the tents.

The

Festival has always

been

designed to have an impa<i

beyond

itspublic education function with visitors.

The

Festival fre-

quentlyplays a⁽aiahiu role for tradition bear- ers,scholars,officials

and

othersto illinkabout the practice,continuity,viability

and

creatixitv <>l giassroots <ulture. Ii extends "bai k

home,"

cer- tainlyin the

minds

ol participants, but often also in the institutions

and

piilit iesol <<immunities winisc

members

have

come

tosec

and

be seen.

And

the Festival,

though

ephemeral, leavesdocu-

mentary

trails, images, ideas

and

experiences,

which

live

beyond

the ten days or so

on

the Mall.

The

dissemination oi the Festival

through

time

and

space isbroad,

and

often outstrips the ability ol ourstall to

keep

fully

engaged

with its

numerous

developments. Nonetheless,

we

feel a

c 01iimiln lent tothose

who

have milkedwith its io ⁱⁱeatc theFestival,

and

in

mam

cases,

we

con- tinue

our

(ooperativeeffi>its.

Thisscar, resultsol such collaborations

were

seen in the II.S.Virgin Islands,

whose

folklife tra-

ditions

were

featured at the 1990 Festival. As a direct resultofthat successful research, organizational

and

presentationaleffort, the U.S.V.I,

undertook

several initia- tivesto

examine

the present state

and

possibilitiesoflocal cultural resources, foiningwith the newly

formed and

^locallybased Friends ofVirgin Islands Culture, the Festi- valwas

remounted on

the islandof

St.Croix in October, 1991.This

first Virgin IslandsFolklife Festival reassured residents

and

especially voting people ol the powci ol local- ly produceiI (nhtnal representa- tions. Hall the population ofthe tenitoryattended.

The

Festival

became

an arena

and

an idiom for discussing issues^<>! Itital tulture.

Alsoparticipating in the Festival were Senegalese artists

and

the

Freedom

Singers,

who had been

featured alongwith the U.S.V.I,

on

the Mall at the Smithsonian's 1990 Festival.

The)

offered local audi- entesan important comparative peispective

on

their

own

culture.

The

poignanc) oi the historical passage

from

West

Ah

ita tothe

Caribbean

tothe U.S.

mainland

was apparent ^ti»

man)

^.

and

was

tintleistored

when

Senegalese slo- ryteller BigueN'Doye, joyful in her reunion with Virgin Islanders, spokeas il

among

lamilv. "I

am

happv to be here. ^I walk without niv shoes, soI

can ^Ieel the land

upon which mv

11aptured|

giandfathers walked."

For

many,

asin theVirgin Islands, the Festi- val is

no mere show

or passing entertainment;

no mere

tanvas for the drawings offolkloristsor ^cul- tural marketeers. It was

and

has

been

a

means

of raisingpublic const iousness about tultural issues

and

the society's future.

The

effort to

remount

theFestival

on

St. (Jroixwas

preceded

bv atul- tural conference, "(io

Back and

Fetch It," held

on

St.

Thomas. The

^tonference

brought

togeth- er disparate

groups

^ol people

and

interests

—

government

officials,scholars,

community

spokespeople, tradition bearers, educators, busi- ness leaders,

members

ol the tourism industry

and

others.

They examined

strategies lorcon- serving Virgin Islandstulture

and

for using it to revitalizeeducation,

and promote

sustainable

economic development and

environmental

preservation. Inaddition to

work

with thecon- ference, theSmithsonian's

Center

forFolklife

Programs and

Cultural Studiesiscollaborating with the U.S.V.I.

Department

of

Education and

the

Humanities

Council todevelopa curriculum unit

on

local

and

comparative culture, so that studentswillhave betteraccessto their

own

tra- ditions, their

own

history

and

the

means

for interpreting

and

representingthem.

Most

dramatically, theFestival

program on

the Mallin

Washington

furthered debate

and

discussionwithin theVirginIslandsaboutpublic policiesrelating tocultural issues.

The

intellectu- al

engagement

ofthe

Smithsonian

Center'sstaff.

Festivalparticipants

and

associated scholars with each other

and

with

government

officials

and

policy

makers

wasaserious,

sometimes

con- tentious

one —

with strongdebate

and

public

commentary

about

how

toaddresssalientcultur- alissues in theVirginIslands. In

March

the U.S.

Virgin Islands Cultural Heritage PreservationAct was passed bythe 19th Legislature

and

signed by

Governor Alexander

Farrelly.Thislaw, adirect

outgrowth

ofthe Festival,establishes a cultural institute dedicated tothe research,

documenta-

tion, preservation

and

presentation oflocal cul- tures.

Other

states

and

regions ofthe UnitedStates have

remounted

the Festival

—

Michigan. Massa- chusetts, Hawai'i,

most

recently

— and

have tried,

sometimes

quite successfully, tousethe projectsas catalysts for research

and

educational

LeonaWatson(right)engageselder MissEttain intenserecollectionof Virgin Islandscommunity

attheVirgin Islands Festivalon St.Croix.

PhotobyJoan Wolbier

history

EctorRoebuckofSt.Thomasdelightslocalchildrenwithanansistories attheremountingoftheVirgin Islands Festival

program atEstateLoveonSt.Croix.PhotobyJoan Wolbier

Anaerialviewof 'Aina

Moana

RecreationalArea (MagicIsland),a stateparkjuttingoutintothe PacificOceanfrom

downtown

Honolulu,showsthesiteofthe 1990restaging ofthe FestivalofAmerican FolklifePrograminHawai'i.

PhotobyCarlHeffner

Christine

Won

teaches childrenKoreandrummingat

"FolklifeHawai'i,"a restaging of the1989 Festivalof AmericanFolklifeprogram inHawai'i.Thesechildren were

among

the 10,000 school studentsfromHawai'i

who

participatedinspecial Festivalprograms organized bylocalteacherswiththe assistance ofSmithsonian

staff.Photoby RayTanaka

activities,public service

and

polic) debate.

So

too haveothei nations,

perhaps

mosl dramatically India, used their Festival experienceto

mount

similar presentations.

Sometimes

Festival

programs

have built insti- tutional relationships

and em ouraged

govern- ment.il attention

and

even policyshifts, aswith the former Soviet Union'sMinistry ol Culture,

some

ol

whose

collaborative proje<tswith us have continued afterthe

demise

ofthe U.S.S.R.

The

Soviet music

program

at the 1988 Festival for example,led to scholarly ties

and commit- ments

lot joint reseatch

on

the transformation

ol Russian,

Old

Believer,

Bukharan

Jewish, Ukrainian

and

Native traditions in the U.S.

and

the U.S.S.R. Despite recent events, this joint research continues.

Under

Smithsonian aus- pices.Dr.

Ted

Levin, an ethnomusi<ologisl

bom

Dartmouth and

Dr.

Otanazar Matyakubov bom

Tashkent

StateConservatory have

been

doing fieldwork

among Bukharan

fewsⁱⁿ Uzbekistan

and among

those

who

haveemigrated to

New

York

and New

[ersey.

They

have

produced

schol- arly articles

and

Smithsonian Folkways record- ings,e.g.,

Shashmaqam:

Music<>jBukharanJews ⁱⁿ Brooklyn

and

Bukhara: MiismilCrossroads ofAsia.

*pl

w

UzbekfolkloristOtanazarMatyakubovtakes

down

asongtextfromKholmurodMirzozonovinthe Valley ofYagnob, Tajikistan,June 1991 duringa Smithsonian-sponsoredfieldworktrip. Prof.Matyakubovsubsequentlydid fieldworkin

Uzbekcommunitiesin

New

Yorkand

New

JerseywithAmericancounterpartProf.TheodoreLevin ofDartmouthCollege.

PhotobyTheodoreLevin

Other

such teamswith rootsinthe 1988 Festival alsocontinuetheirresearchcollaboration to

understand

cultural continuities

and

transforma- tions

among

cognate peoplesin the context of largersocial

and economic

systems.

We

^{trust this}

researchwillresult in a Festival

program

in 1994 or 1995.

Discussionsalsocontinueat the levels«>l

communities and

individuals

brought

together

through

theFestival. Peruvian

and

Bolivian Indi- an

groups who met

atthe Smithsonian's 1991 Festivalhave

continued

to talkwitheach other aboutculturalsurvival

and

its

economic

strate- giessince returning

home. Perhaps

the

most

dra- maticcaseofindividual coiu.k t oi⁽urred aftei the 1986Festival.

That

Festival included pro-

grams on

the folklifeof

Japan and

^Tennessee.

A

cooper from Tennessee

wasintriguedby the techniques ofa

Japanese

craftsman

who makes

casksfor ricewine.

Though

theycould not speak eachother'slanguage, they

were

able to

commu-

nicate because ofa

mutual

familiarityofthe

hand

skills

needed

for theirrespective crafts.

Taken

with the desire tolearn

more,

the

Ten-

nessee

cooper

traveledtoJapan,

worked

with his counterpart,

and brought

his

new-found

knowl-

edge back home — no doubt much

tothe iha- grinoffuture archaeologists

who might

have to puzzle overthe confluence of

bourbon and

sake- relatedcraft traditions.

The

catalytic role the Festival playscan be seen in the

many media

products

— documen-

tary films,educationalvideos, audiorecordings,

books and

articles

—

that result

from

itsresearch

and documentation. The

Italian-American stone carvers

working

at the National Cathedral partic- ipated in several Festivals.

A documentan

film about I

hem

In stall folklorist Marjorie

Hunt and

film

maker

Paul

Wagner won Academy and

Emmy Awards

in 1985.

We

^arejust finishing a film to

supplement

a

monograph on Onggi

pot- tery,aproject that

grew from

Festival research in 1982fora

program on

Korea.

And we

continue to

work on

others

— from one on

Salvadorian

immigrant

lifein D.C.,

growing

out ofthe 1987 Metropolitan

Washington program,

to

one on

presentational techniques, filmedat the Festival lastyear.

And —

asin thecase with the

Chiapan-

tmii page

THINKING BACK A ^BIT

Bess Lomax Hawes

Ilistorianswilleventually look in wonder,^I think,at thefarreachingeffectsol the 1976Festival ol

American

Folklife. In away, ⁱⁱdidwh.it all festi- vals

do —

interruptingtin- passingol ordinar) time,providinglandmarks^lorLiterrecollection

and

^Inul iespite-s ^Iloin tin- dav-to-dav

dm

^{nit;whit h}

energies

and

ideas lortin- future ^<an liesorted^out.

ButthisFestivalwassobig,

and

it involved so

many

people, that itsslue] sizeaffectedinmajoi ways the steady progressionol work that hadalready been goingon ^lordecades in support ol thearts

and

cul- tureot all theworld's people. Afterall.another thingfestivals traditional!)

do

isto bringpeople togethei and thisone brought togetherfora peri-

od ol seriousworka seriousgioupol people.

Almost everyperson ]

know who

isactive today in theareaol public folklore parti<ipatedat least in

some

small fashion in the 1976 Festival.

B) now, it isimpossible todetermine justwhat

ideas, whoseenergies,which

programs

grew outol that extraordinary

summer,

but

when

^I leftin 1977 todevelop the FolkAi^ts Pi.igram at the National

Endowment

^lot the Aiis, 1

know

^I approaclied ni\

new job with an impuichasablewealth ol experi- ence. Fillecu \e.uslater,with a lotot bureaucrath victoriesbehind us

—

theestablishment ol state lolk cultural programsin almost everystate

and

ter- ritory, the initiation ol the National 1leiilage Fel- lowships honoringindividual traditional^artists,

and

thefunding ol nation-spanninglolkaits lours

and

radioseries, featurefilms, innercity multic ultural festivals, artistsconferences

and hundreds

ol other ingeniouswaystofurther the variedartsofthevar- ied At net^ic,\n people

—

the FolkArts

Program

^has an honorablehistory

and

afuture ol

enormous

potential. In itscontinual attemptstobeconsistent, clear,fair-minded, foe ussed ,i\\(\forward-moving, the

Program

has always

depended

heavily

upon

the experiences of the

man)

artists in thisbusiness; and the sunmiei ol 1976broughttogethei an unprece- dented

number

ol ai listsfrom

whom

to learn.

( )neafternoon al the 1976 Festival 1 heardthat a

young

^Scots

woman

was goingto

do

a ballad pro-

gram on

the

main

stage. I

knev

^bet primary Festi- val role wasto work ⁱⁿ the< Inkhen's Area, teac h- inghei extensivelepeiloneol British traditional singinggames,but ^I had alsi^> heardshe sanga great

manv

^triilv unusual British

and

Scottishbal-

lads, ll occulted to

me

that the prospect ofoccupy- ing the big baremain stage foranhourallb) her- selfmight bea bitdaunting, soI

dropped

bv foi a chat backstagebefore shewent on.

And

shesaid something that

seemed

to

me

to

sum up one

ol the most

unremarked

butmost remarkable featuresol ih,ii never-to-be-forgotten

summer.

She-said to me.

You

know

^I

came

here with

my

little-

packot S(ots sinigscin

mv

back.

and

then the nexttlav

when

1 walked

up and down

the Mall listening totheglorious

Ah

ican

drums and

the gorgeousreligions ^clionises andthe iniiediblestung bands

and

all the

niiisii that'shere from all

round

the world, I thought to mvsell. whv will anv- bodv want to listen tothe little-old tunes that arc-all ^I

know? And

^I hit really fright-

ened,

and

^I almostwished 1 hadn't come.

But

do

you know, every time^I a< ui.illv sing them, 1 just

know deep down

that they icallv are

—

the) re.illv ahsolutclv ale

—

the prettiest ol .mv thing'

And

^shewalkedout on the

huge

^stage- all

alone,

and

hei clearvoice rangout with confi- dence,

and

indeed I hadto thinkthat pelhaps¹1le-

velv song that she-wassingingal thai exact

moment

i oiild trulv be- the prettiest ol all.

Somehow

everybody alwaysfelt that wax.all

summer

long. Every ^singe-i. musician,storyteller, craftsworkei participating ⁱⁿ every

one

ol the twelveweeks^ol that solittle- heralded Festival lluilled to theexi itemenl

and

^{glory ol the-vast clil-}

feieiuesbeingdisplayed all

around

them.

And

everybod) wasalso thrilledto have itc|iiictlv

and

unostentatiously establishedlorthemselves, foi all time-,

deep

clown inside,

how

equallv (il not indeed

more

equallv⁾ wonderfulthen

own

paniciilarail was. Ibishassinec- become- lorme- a lest lorthe- sueiess ot any multicultural presentation. Ifevery- one (privatel)⁾ u^ulv thinksthat theirswasthe-great- est while everybod) else'swaspe-rle-itlv wonderful too. llie-n

we

^shall have together

made

the kindol a le-stival

— and

^Ihe ^kindol smallwinId loo

—

that

we all

dream

can ^one-dav prevail.

Iinlirilln\ year, Bess Lomax HawesretiredasDirectoi ofthe

Folk \.rtsProgramatthe WationalEndowmentfen the Arts,

film lastyear

and documentaries made

byfilm crews

from

Senegal,the Virgin Islands

and Hawaii —

others

from back home

use the Festi- val asafieldfor their

own

examinations

and

interpretationsofcultural issues.

With our

acquisition of Folkways

Records

in 1987,

we

have integratedresearch

and

produc- tion of

new

recordingswith the Festival.

The

1989Hawai'i

program

at the Festival

produced

research

and documentation

thatledtothree

Smithsonian/Folkways

albums, copies of

which were

distributedtoeveryschoolin that stateso thatchildrencould learnabout theircultural heritage

through contemporary

media.

The

1990 Musics of Struggle

program

at the Festival resulted inajointly-producedrecordingwith

Sony

Records. Curators ofthe 1991

Rhythm and

Blues

program, Ralph

Rinzler

and Worth Long,

are inthe finalstageofproduction for

another Sony album

that,with

documentary

notes, will

provide an interpretative musical view ofAfrican-

American

cultural history.Indeveloping the Indonesia

program

at lastyear's Festival,

and

with the collaborationofthe Masvarakat

MusikologiIndonesia (Indonesian

Ethnomusico-

logical Society)

and

agrant

from

the

Ford Foun-

dation,

we produced

thefirst three

albums

ofa

Smithsonian/Folkways

multi-volume setof Indonesianverbal arts

and

music.

The

next

group

of

albums

is

due

outshortly.

Producing them

servesasa vehicle for training Indonesian studentsin fieldwork, archivalprocesses

and sound

engineering.

The

Indonesian language edition ofthese

albums

will be distributedto Indonesianschools.

Other

publications

engendered

by theFesti- valare

numerous. Some,

like the recently released SmithsonianFolklifeCookbook (Kirlin

and

Kirlin 1991)

may

reach tensofthousands of peo- ple

through

print

and

inspire participationin

and

appreciationof regionalcuisine

and

eco- nomics. Others, likescholarly

and

museological analysesofthe Festival

(Bauman and

Sawin 1991, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1991, Kurin 1991) in ExhibitingCultures: ThePoetics

and

Politics ojMuse-

um

Display (Karp

and

Lavine 1991)

and

other

volumes and

journals

(McCarl

1988. Cantwell 1991, Seitel 1991, Kurin 1992,Stanton 1992) reach specialized professional audiences

and

contributetothe

knowledge

of cultural repre- sentation.

To

besure notallthe impacts of the Festival areserious,

profound

oreven praiseworthy.But

many

of

them

are.

And

they are partoflarger effortsof

communities and

theirculturestoper-

severe. I just returned

from

India,

where

Iwas gratified tohear

about

the

importance

ofpartici- pation in the 1985Festival

Mela program and

the relatedAditi exhibitiontothe artistsof Shadipur, a

ramshackle

Delhi squatters' slum.

They

well

remember

theirexperience

on

the Mall

and

theirstunningeffect

on

the

American

public.

Laws

curtailingtheirartisticpractice

were changed, and

theygained organizational

strength

and

civic recognition. Yet their

main

goal

—

togain rights topurchase landso they candevelop their

own community and

livelihood

—

has not

been

realized, despite promises

from

officials

and

even the

former Prime

Minister.For them, forcollaborator RajeevSethi

and

for

me,

thatFestival projectstillcontinues.

The

Festival,asa colleagueof

mine

says,

"never ends."

Mined,

transformed

and

analyzed,

itcontinuestobe a richmulti-purposevehicle forresearching, representing,expressing

and making

culture.

And though

it

may

be

guided

by Smithsonian stall

and

fueled byfederal,trust

and

privatedollars, thereare

many

diverseindi- viduals,

communities,

artists, scholars,officials

and

others

who

build, shape,repair

and improve on

it

and

give it alife of its

own.

Thisis true thisyearas well.

The White House program

has

helped

reuniteworkers

who

share in 20th centurypresidential history; their experiencewill, alterthe Festival, takethe

form

ofan exhibit

and

video

documentary

tobe pro-

duced

inPresidential Libraries.

The New Mexico program

^is

accompanied

bythe firsttwo ofsever- al

Smithsonian

'Folkwaysrecordings,

and

discus- sionsare

underway

forbringingthe Festival ba<k

home. "The Changing Soundscape

in Indian

Country"

is first to be

mounted on

theMall asa Festival

program, and

then to be followed bythe production of

Smithsonian/Folkways

recordings

and

the

mounting

of a 1994exhibition

and

per-

formance program

at the

new George

Gustav

Heve Center

ol the National

Museum

of the

American

Indian in

New

York.

And

the

Maroon program

will enableleaders

and

people

from

dis-

persed

communities,

both joined

and

separated by

500

yearsofhistory, to

meet

each othei lor thefirsttime

and

address

common

concerns.

The

^Festivalgenerally implicates

and

accen- tuatesideas about

community and

personal iden-

tity,cultural values

and

policies held bythose

who

participate. Participation in the Festival can be

informed

bythe diverseconcerns oftradition bearers,s(holars,officials

and

others.

The

Festi- val

may

provide

memorable means

toworthy, even justends;

and

asthe followingaccount of

an incident lastyear illustrates, the Festival

may

provide

moments

that unify people

and

ideas.

It

had been

a long, hotdayat the Festival.

The

^partiiipants

^were

^{ba< k at}

the hotel relaxingoverafter-dinner con- versation.

An

older Indonesian

woman from Kalimantan

(Borneo) wasconvers- ingwith a

man from North Dakota —

a participant in the Family

Farm program

—

with tin' help ol a translator.

The

older

woman

was delighted to learn that the

man knew

about

growing

food,she

alsii grew irops.

An animated

exi

hange ensued

aboutthe vagariesof weather, peskyinsects,

good

years,

bad

years

and

other topicsot universal

concern

to farmers.

Finallythe

woman

shylyasked the question she

had wanted

toask

from

the beginning.

"Why

areyoualways in that chair with wheels?"

The man

spoke about the

an

ident that

had

taken his legs.

Her

response

moved

her

new

friend totears. "You aie ^si> lu( k\^."she said. "All ol uslose

something

ol ourselvesin lite.

I

know main

people

who

have lost piecesoftheirsoul.

You

^{haveonl) lost} your leers."

Kirlin, [Catherineand

rhomas

Kirlin. 1991.Smithson- ianFolklifeCookbook. Washington: Smithsonian ^Insti- tution Press.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 1991. Objectsol Ethnography. In ExhibitingCultures:PoetiismidPoli-

tics<>/

Museum

Display,eds. Ivan Karpand Stephen

Lavine.Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Km

in. Ri(hard. 1991^-(Cultural(ionservation

Through

Representation: Festival ol IndiaFolklife Exhibi- tionsat theSmithsonian Institution. In Exhibiting Cultures: ThePoetics umlPolitics oj

Museum

Display, eds. [van Karpand Stephen Lavine. Washington:

Smithsonian Institution Piess.

. 1992. Presenting Folklife ina Soviet-

Ameiican Cultural

Km

hange: Publii Prat ine Dur- ing Perestroika. In I'nhliiFolklore,eds. Robert Baron andNitholasSpitzer. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Mi(ail.Robert. I9SS.Occupational Folklife in the Pnhiii Sector:

A

CaseStudy. In The Conservationoj Culture:FolklorislsandthePublii Sectored. Burt Fein- tin h. Lexington: I niversitt Pressoi Kentucky.

Seitel, Peter. 1991. Magic, Knowledge,and Irom in Sihoi. nh

Km

hange:

A Comment

mi Robeii (lantwell'sObservationson theFestival "I Ameri- can Folklife.JoumaloJ ^{UnericanFolklore 104 (414):}

495.

Stanton, Garv. 1992. the 1991 FestivalofAmerican

Folklife. Exhibition review, JournalojAmericanFolk- lore 105(416):235-37.

('.ItaliansumlFurthe) ^/.'

Bauman,Ri<hard andPalm

m

Sawm. 1991.

The

^Poli-

ticsofParticipationin Folklife Festivals. In Exhibit- ingCultures:PoeticsandPolitiisoj

Museum

Display, eds. Ivan Kaipand Stephen Lavine. Washington:

Smithsonian Institutii >n Pi ess.

(

am

well, Robert. 1991^.ConjuringCulture: Ideolog) ami Magii in die Festival ^>>l American Folklife.

Journal ofAmericanFolklore104 (412):^I 18-163.

Karp.

han

and Stephen Lavine,eds. 1991. / xhibiling Cultures: ThePoeticsand^Politicsoj

Museum

^lhsjil,i\

Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Levin,

Ted

and OtanazarMatyakubov. Bukhara:Musi- calCrossroadsofAsia.Smithsonian Folkways RecordingsSF 10050.

1 i\ni. Iidand⁽>iana/arMatyakubov. Shashmaqam:

Music _{"I the}Bukharan JewishEnsemble. Smithson- ian FolkwaysRecordingsSF 10054

Yampolsky, Phillip. Music <>/IndonesiaSeries.Smithson- ian Folkways RecordingsSF 10055,SF 10056,SF

10057.

NEW MEXICO

The Great Loom:

Weaving the Cultural Landscape

of New Mexico

Andrew Wiget

Before the peopletherewas the land.

High mountains

innorthern

New Mexico

forksouth- ward,

forming

arms.

One

curlswestward to

embrace

the high

mesa and

plateau land,while the other thrustsdirectlysouth toseparate the drygrasslandsoftheeast

from

the fertilevalley carved bythe Rio

Grande.

Stories tellthat the FirstPeople

found

this land

when

they

emerged onto

itssurface,

born from

the

womb

of

Mother

Earth.

The

Spanish

and

later the

Mexicans

also

found

thisland, as they

wound

their

way

north

on

horseback or in carretas, followingthe course ofthe long, wild river,

and

establishing a

permanent

connection

—

the

Camino

Real

— between northern New

Mexico and

Mexico.

Then, from

Texas, (lalifor- nia,

Oklahoma, came

stillothers,

who were determined

totransform the land

and tame

the river.

And

todaypeople still

come, on

family odysseys that

began

in Italy,

Lebanon.

Iran.

Czechoslovakia.India, Poland,

Japan

or Ger-

many.

^In

one

shortstretch,the Rio

Grande

recountsthis historyasitpasses nearold

commu-

nities like

San

Juan

Pueblo and Embudo,

then the

new

atomiccity, Los

Alamos, and

then Albu- querque, acityofa half-million people.

Since the

beginning

of thiscentury,

New

Mexico,

now

advertisedas the

Land

ofEnchant- ment, has lured touristswith the beauty of broad,dramatically

punctuated

spaces, avastsky

and

the

promise

of viewingculturesfro/en in time. But an

empty

land

and

peoples out of time arefalsedreams. Societiesuseland in

main

ways, notall of

them

visible to rankoutsiders.

And

liv-

TheNewMexicoprogramhas beenmadepossible AytheSlatei>/

NewMexico, withthecollaborationof^theDepartmentof Tourism,theOfjirr<>/CulturalAffairs, theNewMexicoArts Division, theMuseumi>IInternational Folk Artanilwiththe assistance»/theTourismAssociation»/NewMexico.

ing cultures are neverat rest.Thisstoried land is

rathera great

loom

of space

and

time

on

whiili

the

complex

social

and

cultural tapestry

now

called

New Mexico

isstill being woven.

The

rich fabric that lakesshape

on

the

loom

isnot

smooth and

seamless, butknotted in places with contest

and

conflict. Itsdesign hasnot

been

fixed

beforehand

but isstill emerging,

and

strains to

accommodate

resistingelements into patterns of precarious

harmony.

Ithas

been

that

\va\ for a long time.

Contesting

Visions:

Resistance

and Accommodation

Nearl) 15,000 years ago, thefirst

human

eyes tolook

on

thislandscape searchedthe grassy plainsfordark clouds of the

now

extinctherds

<>l great bison.

Much

later, but ^still three millen- nia beforethe Christianera.

maize

agriculture was

brought

tothe area, enablinga settledwayol life.

The permanent

settlementslater articulated with thevast

Mesoamerican

networks oftrade

and

influence,

and culminated

inthe Great

Pueblo urban

centers,probablymultilingual

and

multiethnic, at

Chaco Canyon and Mesa

Verde.

Internal socialconflict in thecontextofclimatic

change

later

brought down

thissystem,

and

the population dispersed

from

the

San Juan

Basin to establish the main' pueblosscattered

throughout

northern

New Mexico

that are today inhabited bytheirdescendants. Later still

came

the Navajo

and Apache,

the

Ute and

the

Comanche.

Marching under

across

and earning

a sword,

Coronado

entered the landin 1540in his search forgold.

He found

villagesofmultistory

dwellings clustered

around

acentralplaza,

and

villagers

who

resisted histhreats

and would

not

bow

to hisauthority. <oionado's forayinauguiat-

eda half-centuryof expeditions that laid the foundation forSpanish colonization. In 1598