Cantemos a la Tarde: A Few Favorites, 2019, is a compilation of classic songs reflecting cultural diversity, selected and performed for this CD album by folk musician and fine artist Frank McCulloch. This collection reflects a cultural milieu that precedes the age of digital social media, an earlier time when the human heart was laid bare in music. These songs were recorded by Jack Loeffler, during two recording sessions in early 2019, in the Albuquerque fine art studio of Frank McCulloch. Frank McCullock, vocals and guitar., 2015-2017
File — Box: 1, CD: 19
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
Beginning in 2015, Frank McCulloch, Jr. began donating CDs with his recordings to the Center for Southwest Research, UNM Library. Included also is a copy of Frank’s personal notebook of over 200 songs and their lyrics collected from 1959-2015. These CDs have some of his favorites. He has added his own Bilingual lyrics to some of them. The CDs have songs recorded live in his studio, with Frank singing solo or Frank accompanied by his musical companions. Several are commercial albums put out by McCulloch and Sus Amigos, from Albuquerque. The amigos are McCulloch, on guitar, Luis Campos, on guitar, and Melody Mock, on violin. Jack Loeffler taped the trio in Frank’s art studio between 2006 and 2015. The trio performs annually at Nuestra Musica concerts at the Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe, Casa San Ysidro in Corrales, at numerous university and museum functions around New Mexico, and at local cafes.
The collection also contains articles about McCulloch’s teaching years, music events, landscape painting shows and his views and philosophy. Included also are examples of his contributions to other regional publications. It also has articles and a book that his father wrote, background on the family’s history, and photographs of his ancestors, Frank and his own family, and his musical associates.
McCulloch’s multicultural heritage - Hispanic, French, Irish - has influenced his choice of music. Like his paintings and poetry, many of his songs also reflect New Mexico’s history, culture and land. As a child he heard the Spanish folk music of New Mexico and Mexico. He also learned of Irish and American tunes through his father. He also studied and lived in Mexico. McCulloch wants to preserve and teach la musica de la gente, the music of the people, so it won’t be lost. Playing and singing since the 1950s, he prefers songs with emotion and meaning for the everyday man, be they about love, work or injustice. Some of the pieces in the collection date to sixteenth century Spain. He sings them like the old settlers of New Mexico would have done them.
The range of music that Frank and the group sing and play is varied. Among them are a New Mexico lullaby from Los Pastores; a tragic love song from Mexico; an Irish war protest tune; and stanzas about homeless bums and hobos suffering during the American Great Depression of the 1930s. The group also added some more contemporary renditions, such as Borderline, about Mexican immigration and Dance Me to the End of Love, in honor of Jewish musicians forced to play for their Nazi German persecutors during the Holocaust. There are also tunes about injustice and racism toward African Americans in the United States and Frank’s tribute to Martin Luther King. Another tract features Lola, composed by E. A. Tony Mares, with music by Cipriano Vigil. It was Mares' recollection of a madam from Old Town Albuquerque and her nostalgia for the community of the past. Frank also composed a corrido about an incident that happened in the history of his family and a memory song about a friend. He also wrote a song based on a poem by A.E. Housman.
It is interesting that McCulloch, Jr. also crossed paths with John Donald Robb. By the early 1960s McCulloch was playing with music groups in Albuquerque, as an early newspaper clipping in the collection attests. John Donald Robb, Dean of the College of Arts, UNM, was taping music across the state in those years. He met young McCulloch in Albuquerque and recorded about forty five of his folk songs in 1964-1965, which are in the Robb Collection at the CSWR. These can be heard on the New Mexico Digital Collection (econtent.unm.edu) under the CSWR section for John Donald Robb Field Recordings. Also included there are the melodies and the words to McCulloch’s songs, as transcribed by Robb and his students. These McCulloch songs recorded by Robb are mostly in Spanish but others are in English. Some of these same songs reappear in the CDs McCulloch gave the CSWR in 2015 and 2016. He is likely the only musician still living that Robb interviewed in his day. Today McCulloch works with the Robb Musical Trust on various projects to promote New Mexico music and the Robb archive.
The collection also contains various awards given to McCulloch for his outstanding art and music, posters for programs he starred in or participated in, and articles about him. For example, in 1981 he exhibited his paintings in the New Mexico Governor’s Gallery in the State capital. The show catalog is in the collection. He also exhibited there in 2001. That same year the Dartmouth Street Gallery, in Albuquerque, featured his work and that of twenty of his students. His life and career are portrayed well in a 2002 New Mexico Highlands University tribute to him as their distinguished alumnus. Adams State University, Alamosa, Colorado, awarded him the Premio Hilos Culturales during his folk song concert there in 2015. The award is in the collection. In addition, Frank donated a book with his thoughts and poetry assembled over the years. There is also a new edition of the book his father, Frank McCulloch, Sr., wrote on Governor Albino Perez and the 1837 Revolt in New Mexico, based on material from a descendant of Perez. This is truly an interesting and priceless collection and is but a small part of the wonderful life of this New Mexico Renaissance man.
Forms part of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music.
The collection also contains articles about McCulloch’s teaching years, music events, landscape painting shows and his views and philosophy. Included also are examples of his contributions to other regional publications. It also has articles and a book that his father wrote, background on the family’s history, and photographs of his ancestors, Frank and his own family, and his musical associates.
McCulloch’s multicultural heritage - Hispanic, French, Irish - has influenced his choice of music. Like his paintings and poetry, many of his songs also reflect New Mexico’s history, culture and land. As a child he heard the Spanish folk music of New Mexico and Mexico. He also learned of Irish and American tunes through his father. He also studied and lived in Mexico. McCulloch wants to preserve and teach la musica de la gente, the music of the people, so it won’t be lost. Playing and singing since the 1950s, he prefers songs with emotion and meaning for the everyday man, be they about love, work or injustice. Some of the pieces in the collection date to sixteenth century Spain. He sings them like the old settlers of New Mexico would have done them.
The range of music that Frank and the group sing and play is varied. Among them are a New Mexico lullaby from Los Pastores; a tragic love song from Mexico; an Irish war protest tune; and stanzas about homeless bums and hobos suffering during the American Great Depression of the 1930s. The group also added some more contemporary renditions, such as Borderline, about Mexican immigration and Dance Me to the End of Love, in honor of Jewish musicians forced to play for their Nazi German persecutors during the Holocaust. There are also tunes about injustice and racism toward African Americans in the United States and Frank’s tribute to Martin Luther King. Another tract features Lola, composed by E. A. Tony Mares, with music by Cipriano Vigil. It was Mares' recollection of a madam from Old Town Albuquerque and her nostalgia for the community of the past. Frank also composed a corrido about an incident that happened in the history of his family and a memory song about a friend. He also wrote a song based on a poem by A.E. Housman.
It is interesting that McCulloch, Jr. also crossed paths with John Donald Robb. By the early 1960s McCulloch was playing with music groups in Albuquerque, as an early newspaper clipping in the collection attests. John Donald Robb, Dean of the College of Arts, UNM, was taping music across the state in those years. He met young McCulloch in Albuquerque and recorded about forty five of his folk songs in 1964-1965, which are in the Robb Collection at the CSWR. These can be heard on the New Mexico Digital Collection (econtent.unm.edu) under the CSWR section for John Donald Robb Field Recordings. Also included there are the melodies and the words to McCulloch’s songs, as transcribed by Robb and his students. These McCulloch songs recorded by Robb are mostly in Spanish but others are in English. Some of these same songs reappear in the CDs McCulloch gave the CSWR in 2015 and 2016. He is likely the only musician still living that Robb interviewed in his day. Today McCulloch works with the Robb Musical Trust on various projects to promote New Mexico music and the Robb archive.
The collection also contains various awards given to McCulloch for his outstanding art and music, posters for programs he starred in or participated in, and articles about him. For example, in 1981 he exhibited his paintings in the New Mexico Governor’s Gallery in the State capital. The show catalog is in the collection. He also exhibited there in 2001. That same year the Dartmouth Street Gallery, in Albuquerque, featured his work and that of twenty of his students. His life and career are portrayed well in a 2002 New Mexico Highlands University tribute to him as their distinguished alumnus. Adams State University, Alamosa, Colorado, awarded him the Premio Hilos Culturales during his folk song concert there in 2015. The award is in the collection. In addition, Frank donated a book with his thoughts and poetry assembled over the years. There is also a new edition of the book his father, Frank McCulloch, Sr., wrote on Governor Albino Perez and the 1837 Revolt in New Mexico, based on material from a descendant of Perez. This is truly an interesting and priceless collection and is but a small part of the wonderful life of this New Mexico Renaissance man.
Forms part of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music.
Dates
- 2015-2017
Language of Materials
From the Collection:
English Spanish
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 1 box, 20 CDS
General
- 1. Cancion Mixteca. In 1912, Jose Alavez wrote this great cancion that expresses homesickness for his beloved Oaxaca. It is often sung in the Mixtec language of Mexico.
- 2. Sierra de Luna is a rousing song of place describing locations in northwestern Spain, particularly Zaragoza.
- 3. Voz de mi Madre and Yo Me Vine de Mi Tierra comprise a medley of two lyrical songs of Sonora, Mexico, performed by Pedro J. Gonzales, with his group, “Los Madrugadores” in Los Angeles, during the 1930s.
- 4. Cucurucucu Paloma. This plaintive canción is a great lament for lost love.
- 5. El Dia que Me Dijiste was performed by the great singer and composer Cuco Sanchez, who sings of “mistakes of the night, mistakes of the heavens.” Mexico
- 6.Los Nubes became a theme song for the United Farm Workers’ of America Association in California, during the 1980s. Labor, unions, protest, Southwest.
- 7. Volver, Volver. “We parted once, but I’m dying to return,” was written by Fernando Maldonado, in the 1970s. He was assassinated in Mexico City.
- 8. La Paloma is only infrequently sung in central Mexico out of respect for the ill-fated Empress Carlotta whose husband, Emperor Maximilian, was executed before a firing squad in 1867, thus ending the French reign and restoring the Mexican Republic. French intervention 1860s, Mexico, lament.
- 9. Fallaste Corazon. “Don’t come back to bet again, you failed me, my heart.” This wonderful cancion was written by Cuco Sanchez in the 1930s. Mexico, love song .
- 10. Soy Soldado de Levita was sung during the 1910 Mexican Revolution. It is a light-hearted cavalry song with touches of racy humor, performed in the Huasteca style. Mexico, women.
- 11. Que Si Te Quiero, Juralo, is also written by Cuco Sanchez, and is a cancion of lost love made famous by the Spanish cancionera or singer, Maria Dolores Pradera.
- 12. Lonesome Rider is a powerful country lament written and performed by Carter and Ralph Stanley. Country Western song, cowboy.
- 13. Blue Eyes was written in 1945 by Fred Rose, and thereafter became Willie Nelson’s signature song of the 1970s.
- 14. I Will Never Marry. Here is a two-part version of this song written by A. P. Carter in the 1930s.
- 15. When I Get My Rewards is a country chant, composed by Paul Kennerley and performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, during the late 1980s.
- 16. No Volvere. “On a train of absence I go, and I go without a return ticket.” Frank learned this wonderful song from Rosenda Vera, his friend in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in the 1960s.
- 17. Tu Recuerdo y Yo – “ya no vamos a la cantina,” with Jose Alfredo Jimenez, a great composer of “borracheras” and other songs, Mexico.
- 18. El Ultimo Tango is another song composed by Jose Alfredo Jimenez, a favorite of the fabled Chavela Vargas, Mexico.
- 19. Juan Charrasqueado - a classic corrido of the macho caballero with a tragic ending, from the 1940s, Mexico. It is also a film.
Creator
- From the Collection: McCulloch, Frank E., 1930- (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451