La Musica de los Viejitos: Hispano Folk Music of the Rio Grande del Norte

Jack Loeffler
Katherine Loeffler
Enrique R. Lamadrid

This long-awaited book vividly documents the folk music of El Río Grande del Norte, an area extending from the Mexican border on the south to Southern Colorado on the north and from the Great Plains on the east to the Continental Divide on the West. Loeffler has collected examples of the musical forms used over the centuries in this often isolated and harsh but beautiful region. A blend of religious and secular music from sixteenth-century Spain, Mexican-influenced folk tunes, and melodies indigenous to the life of the region, the music covered here includes romances, trovos, cuandos and decimas, inditas, corridos, canciónes, ceremonial and religious music, and dance music.

Each song appears both in Spanish and English. For many, transcriptions of the musical notations are provided as well as graphic illustrations of dance technique. A companion set of compact discs is also available. Photographs and biographies of active folk musicians help complete the record of this rich and enduring musical tradition.

". . . [a] wonderful work. Kudos and more kudos to Jack Loeffler for the outstanding labor of love . . . The outstanding photography of Jack Parsons also documents the well-known musicians of New Mexico. . . . What a treat! . . . I highly recommend this book." --Ayer Y Hoy

"La Música is superior . . . it has a real acknowledgment that actually gives credit to and the names of living people. . . . La Música is a good way to sing oneself into the new century." --La Herencia

"Fifteen years in the making, this book was well worth the wait . . . This is a'must' for any complete southwestern library!" --Book Talk

"The authors make an important contribution by tracing the history of scholarship of particular songs as well as of Hispano musical culture in general."--Ethnomusicology

"This survey of Hispanic folk music of the Rio Grande . . . will prove essential to any student of Hispanic music . . ." --The Book Watch

Jack Loeffler is a writer, aural historian, and radio producer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a winner of a 2008 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts for ethnomusicology and writing.

Enrique R. Lamadrid is a literary folklorist and cultural historian in the University of New Mexico's Department of Spanish and Portuguese. In 2005, he was awarded the Americo Paredes Prize by the American Folklore Society in recognition of his work as a cultural activist.

7.5 x 11 192 pages 40 halftones, 51 drawings