Georgia Ayala, Sylvia Ortiz, Linda Witt, Bert de Lara, Frank Snell, Elizardo Romero, recorders, 1971
File — Box: 4, CD: 326A
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
The collection consists of 591 recordings of folk songs, folklore and local histories collected by Ruben Cobos from 1944-1974 in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Also included in the collection are about 270 additional recordings of selected music - a few from New Mexico, many from Mexico and Latin America, and others from Spain, Europe and the U.S. The recordings vary in quality between good, fair, and poor. They contain both musical and spoken content. Most recordings are in Spanish, however, a few are in English. Others are Bilingual or represent the use of Spanglish.
The informants are mainly from New Mexico and Colorado, with a few from California, Texas and Mexico. The collections focuses heavily on spoken Spanish, with examples of poetry, riddles, proverbs, legends, anecdotes, folk tales, mysteries, prayers, nursery rhymes, games, jokes, language use, tricky words, tongue twisters, memories, local history and family history. The Spanish songs include alabados, entriegas for weddings and baptisms, inditas, corridos and ballads, pastores, posadas, love songs, folk dance music, etc. Traditions of Los Juanes and Los Manueles, Penitente morada practices, including women Penitentes, Holy Week songs and activities and the role of the church, santos and fiestas in the lives of the people are also included. There are also several lectures on folklore, music and culture by Cobos and other scholars, including Fray Angelico Chavez, Charles Briggs, Alfonso Ortiz, Arthur Leon Campa, Marta Weigle, Guadalupe Baca Vaughn, Anita Thomas and others. Included also are autobiographical accounts by Ruben Cobos and his wife Elvira.
Songs and stories about and for children, their health and education are included. Although the majority of the information is about Spanish and Hispanic traditions, the collection also provides some materials by and about non-Hispanics and the relationship between the races. A small amount of stories and songs relate to Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos, Mexicanos, African Americans, and Anglos (gringos).
Songs and stories by or about males show them in every walk of life, as rich and poor, old and young, as husbands, widowers, fathers, sons, relatives, compadres, friends, orphans, opponents, collaborators, kings, princes, commoners, giants, ranchers, cowboys, shepherds, farmers, woodcutters, shoemakers, vendors, railroaders, hunters, priests, doctors, teachers, politicians, attorneys, meteorologists, soldiers, witches, simpletons, gamblers, murderers, drunks, adulturers and thieves.
Recordings by and about women add value and perspective to the collection. Females are rich and poor, old and young, girl friends, lovers, adulteresses, wives, widows, mothers, comadres, church attendees, housekeepers for priests, nuns, princesses, queens, teachers, curanderas, cooks and witches. Some of the characters found in the collection are Cinderella, Genoveva de Brabanate, Goldilocks, Delgadina, La Llorona, Doña Cebolla, Dona Fortuna and the Virgin Mary, as well as San Antonio, San Pedro, Bartoldo, Don Cacahuate, Juan Charrasqueado, Pedro and Juan de Urdemalas, Ali Baba, Don Dinero, Tio Botitas and others.
The collection contains descriptions, traditions, local history and songs for New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Mexico. There are references to the Civil War in New Mexico, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Stories tell of superstitions, supernatural, unexplained phenomenon, balls of fire and light, lightening, a comet, the sun, moon, finding treasure, ghosts, devils and magic. Additional topics include traditional food and cooking, health and home remedies. Included also are stories and references to insects, animals, birds, fish and snakes, as well as floods and storms, and automobiles and airplanes.
The informants are mainly from New Mexico and Colorado, with a few from California, Texas and Mexico. The collections focuses heavily on spoken Spanish, with examples of poetry, riddles, proverbs, legends, anecdotes, folk tales, mysteries, prayers, nursery rhymes, games, jokes, language use, tricky words, tongue twisters, memories, local history and family history. The Spanish songs include alabados, entriegas for weddings and baptisms, inditas, corridos and ballads, pastores, posadas, love songs, folk dance music, etc. Traditions of Los Juanes and Los Manueles, Penitente morada practices, including women Penitentes, Holy Week songs and activities and the role of the church, santos and fiestas in the lives of the people are also included. There are also several lectures on folklore, music and culture by Cobos and other scholars, including Fray Angelico Chavez, Charles Briggs, Alfonso Ortiz, Arthur Leon Campa, Marta Weigle, Guadalupe Baca Vaughn, Anita Thomas and others. Included also are autobiographical accounts by Ruben Cobos and his wife Elvira.
Songs and stories about and for children, their health and education are included. Although the majority of the information is about Spanish and Hispanic traditions, the collection also provides some materials by and about non-Hispanics and the relationship between the races. A small amount of stories and songs relate to Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos, Mexicanos, African Americans, and Anglos (gringos).
Songs and stories by or about males show them in every walk of life, as rich and poor, old and young, as husbands, widowers, fathers, sons, relatives, compadres, friends, orphans, opponents, collaborators, kings, princes, commoners, giants, ranchers, cowboys, shepherds, farmers, woodcutters, shoemakers, vendors, railroaders, hunters, priests, doctors, teachers, politicians, attorneys, meteorologists, soldiers, witches, simpletons, gamblers, murderers, drunks, adulturers and thieves.
Recordings by and about women add value and perspective to the collection. Females are rich and poor, old and young, girl friends, lovers, adulteresses, wives, widows, mothers, comadres, church attendees, housekeepers for priests, nuns, princesses, queens, teachers, curanderas, cooks and witches. Some of the characters found in the collection are Cinderella, Genoveva de Brabanate, Goldilocks, Delgadina, La Llorona, Doña Cebolla, Dona Fortuna and the Virgin Mary, as well as San Antonio, San Pedro, Bartoldo, Don Cacahuate, Juan Charrasqueado, Pedro and Juan de Urdemalas, Ali Baba, Don Dinero, Tio Botitas and others.
The collection contains descriptions, traditions, local history and songs for New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Mexico. There are references to the Civil War in New Mexico, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Stories tell of superstitions, supernatural, unexplained phenomenon, balls of fire and light, lightening, a comet, the sun, moon, finding treasure, ghosts, devils and magic. Additional topics include traditional food and cooking, health and home remedies. Included also are stories and references to insects, animals, birds, fish and snakes, as well as floods and storms, and automobiles and airplanes.
Dates
- 1971
Language of Materials
From the Collection:
English, Spanish
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 13 boxes (12.25 cu. ft.)
General
CD I of II. if Ayala, 1971: Candelaria Romero, b. 1882, age 89. From Pena Blanca, NM. Similar to CD 69. Begins at 00:03 and ends at 14:39. 1. Tells about una inundacion, a flood (fair recording, personal experience about a flood, speaks English, codeswitching, Bilingual, speaks Spanish, language, Felipe Sandoval was her grandfather and he fought in some local battles, food and clothing were very inexpensive in those times); 2. Personal experience, una aparaicion de un angel, appearance of an angel (fair recording, story, the speaker and her son were home alone and her husband had gone on a trip to Cuba, New Mexico. They were scared but the son noticed an angel in the living room watching them, faith); 3. Song, Canto a los angeles del cielo (fair recording, singing, coplas, tune like the Indita de San Luis); 4. Verso (fair recording, poem, verse); 5. Advinanza (fair recording, short riddle); 6. Song, San Luis Gonzaga (fair recording, singing, con melodia de cancion Norteamericana en ingles, melody of an American song in English); 6. Personal experience (fair recording, witches, owl, tecolote, the speaker's son died due to a virus when he was seven years old, children, sickness; woman talks about how the bank offered her $8,000 to knock down her house and create a wider freeway, the woman decided to go live with one of her daughters, women); 7. Personal experience, reminiscences (fair recording, story, picking pinon with her children and selling it to the villagers); 8. Song, La paloma (fair recording, short song, singing); 9. Story, En busca del buen hijo (fair recording, a man arrived in town searching for the good son, he find his home); 10. Personal experience (good recording, story, reminiscences of life in Colorado); 11. Tradition, entierro de navajo (fair recording, traditions, legends, burial, funeral, death, Native American, Navajo not bury dead, muerte, death); 12. Local history (fair recording, Santo Domingo Pueblo antes era Thornton, mas tarde Wallace, ahora Domingo); 13. Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (fair recording, story, Juan Diego, Virgin Mary, Mexico); 14. Rezo, San Bartolome (fair recording, short prayer, religious); 15. Alabanza, Bendito sea Dios (fair recording, short prayer, verses); 16. Cancion - Yo ya me voy (good recording, short verses, poem, para donde ire).
General
Ortiz, 1971: Margarito Romero, San Miguel, NM. Similar to CD 69. Begins at 14:43 and ends at 49:45. 1. Decima, Siempre el pobre desmerece (fair recording, seems to be reading this, verses, poem, poverty, riches); 2. Versos (fair recording, verses, poem, rhyming, riddles); 3. Lecciones morales para un nino, moral lessons for children (good to fair recording, moral lessons, verses, virtue, sexual purity, religious); 4. Story, El dinero de Ana (fair recording, el tema de la lechera, women, leccion moral, Ana was very slow to do work, her parents were very poor and so had to work to get new shoes); 5. Versos, un accidente (fair recording, story with moral, a man was hit by a truck and the men who were driving blamed it on him for not waiting for the truck to cross); 6. Chiste (fair recording, joke about a son who's parent's would send him money for college but it was never enough, humor, speaking English codeswitching, Bilingual, languague); 7. Versos (fair recording, verses, riddles) 8. Story, the man who loved birds (fair recording, a man loved birds and they loved him, he did not have a family or wife); 9. Riddle (fair recoridng, short, two poor men); 10. Versos (fair recording, poem, memorials for his brother's death, various riddles and verses); 11. Song, Tu reinaras, Virgen del Cielo (fair recording, singing, versos, religious, Virgin Mary, prayer); 12. Cuento, un hombre con siete hijos (fair recording, cuento, a man had seven children, there were men who were trying to steal their home from them); 13. El reloj despertador (good recording, story, there was a man and woman that could not wake up and so they purchased an alarm clock and it helped the woman wake up early, if we listen to God's voice then we will hear it, moral of the story, wisdom); 14. Verses, El rico y el pobre (good recording, versos, differences between a rich and a poor man, education, work).
Creator
- From the Collection: Cobos, Rubén (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