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Hispanic Folklore Is Subject Of UNM Publication by RobbFolklore music, sometimes called the voice and traditional history of a people, is the subject of a new volume just off the press at the University of New Mexico,The author of the volume in the UNM Publications in Fine Arts is John D, Robb, dean of the College of Fine Arts.Dean Robb’* new book, entitled Hispanic Folk Songs of New Mexico,” discusses the types, origins end charaeteris-tich of a selected list of the state’s Spanish folk songs and transcribes a few typical examples of the songs ‘hemselves.Working 'under John N. Durrie, general editor of the University Publications, Dean Robb gives credit to an outstanding list of southwestern linguists folklorists and musicians for aid and advice in preparing the text. ■Outstanding LiftAmong these are: Arthur L, Campa, Ruben Cobos, Robert M. Duncan, Vicente T. Mendoza, Joaquin Ortega, Prospero Baca, Leonora Curtin, Lolita Pooler, Mela Sedillo Kosher. Basilio Castenda, Marshall R, Nason, Hugh M. Miller and Stitb Thompson.The songs themselves are from the some 1300 that Dean Robb has found and transcribed on tape recordings in some of New Mexico’s most remote villages. In places where no electricity was available, the author made use of a rotary converter looked to his automobile battery In operating the recorder.Because of its universal use, the piano accompaniment is printed with the words of the songs instead of the guitar music which is generally «m-plcycd by folklore singers.An added 'feature of the volume is the absence of technical language in describing the growth of the Spanish songs.The book is, according to the author, a . publication for. the layman, and the amateur musician who ehjoys folk music.Included are songs telling the stories of eaxly-day Spanish, Mexicans’ Indians, frontier settlers, and church festivals and religious celebrations.One song, Dean Robb points out, may have hundreds of variant*. A singer may sometimes have a faulty memory or he may think that he can improve the folk tune or words by mak ing his own changes. ComparisonThe job of the folklore collector is to collect and compare the variant*. It therefore require* not only musicianship but a working knowledge of the language to preserve the meter and original intent of the anonymous, author.la many cases, Dean Robb says, the singer chants without accompaniment and the collec tor then has to write out the melody and harmonize it in order to preserve it for poster' ity.Everybody has tried to define folk music, the author says, and this present volume gives its composite definition.Dean Robb says: Polk music is music which bears tha characteristic imprint not of any single individual but rather of the thoughts and emotion* of a people united by such ties as language, religion, nationality and residence.”The new book can bo purchased at the local bookstores or at tha University, Durrie said.Folk Art Museum Is FeaturedMagazine articles featuring the Museum of International Folk Art, a section of the Museum at New Mexico in Santa Fe, were carried in three leading magazines during the month of August.Buick Magazine, • national trade publication, carries a two-page spread, complete with photographs of most of the personnel and aspect* of the museum buildings, with pictures taken by Lou Jacobs.New Mexico Magazine Includes, in its August issue, a feature story by Ina Sizer Cassidy on the woodcarvings of Georg* Lop e x, at Cordova, which seeks to bring the international aspect* of the museum to the attention of readers of'the magazine.Children’s PhotographsThe Catholic Art Assn. ha* published a Catholic Elemen tary Art Guide, Vol. 7, 1954-55, on Redeeming Used and Discarded Materials,” edited by Sister Marie Pierre, of the Diocese of St Paul, Minru In reply to her request for photographs of children with objects of art, such as those made of gourds, clay, tin, rope, straw, etc., a picture of three children of Santa Fe is carried In the magazine. They are Matilda Turkles, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Brinkton Turkles, and Terry and Rickey Riley, sons of Mr. and Mrs, James K. Riley, admiring a decorated gourd from Chichicastenango, Guatemala, part of the museum’s collection.Sister Mari* Pierre alio received photographs of Maria of San Ildefonso Pueblo, making her famous pottery, and of Indian dancers, showing the Pueblo Indians use of feathers, cloth, beads, and weaving, in body decoration, sent to her by the New Mexico Tourist Bureau.Fiesta Coelome*Fiesta at the Folk Art Museum will take the form of a costume grouping in the Museum Lounge. This will be a gay, light-hearted exhibition, in which costumes of many lands will be mounted and posed, a* well as those of the Southwestern section of our own country. .The Fiesta exhibition opens Monday, at 7 p. ra. Coffee will be served from 7 to 9 p. m. in the lounge of the museum. Ther* is no admission charge, and visitors are cordially invited to attend, Tha exhibition will remain on view throughout the Fiesta season.//■fLamicaiKiDllasRa:sonIseeEn,SircisinSaiPnPawiSonny Rum WildDOUGLAS, Ariz. (AV-'While hi* elderly parents were vacationing in California, a 35-year-old Douglas man; Cashed his father’s $15 pension check; sold two of their blankets for $22; cashed hk father’s $85 social *e»
Newspaper Details
Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Sun, Aug 29, 1954
Page 46
Full Page
Clipped by
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