Dark and Light in Spanish New Mexico
Liner Notes   Cat. No. 80292     Release Date: 1995-01-01
Alabados y Bailes

The music of the alabados is as different from the music of the bailes as the dark is from the light. It is like two sides of a people's character, one side obsessed with suffering and death, the other delighting in the dance.

Dark and Light in Spanish New Mexico is a wonderful example of salvage anthropology, preserving as it does the unique musical expression of a bygone tradition. At one time, roughly between 1600 and 1850, alabados (Spanish Catholic hymns) and bailes (social dances) thrived, the one as spiritual expression of the moradas (local chapters of the Penitente brotherhood) and the other as social dance music. Today, these art forms are mere spirits in the Hispanic villages of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The dark dirges and morbid religious hymns of the alabados were used for death rituals such as wakes, funeral processions, and burials. The bailes, on the other hand, were performed by guitarists and violinists at birthday parties, weddings, and other high-spirited occasions where dancing was not only permissible, but essential. The extensive and fascinating liner notes by Richard B. Stark include a selected discography and bibliography and put the songs in their historical perspective.

Luis Montoya

Dark and Light in Spanish New Mexico

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Track Listing

Al Pie De Este Santo Altar
Buy
Considera, Alma Perdida
Buy
Venir, Almas Devotas
Buy
Dividido el Corazon
Buy
Tened Piedad, Dios Mio
Buy
Buenos Dias, Paloma Blanca
Buy
Dulce Esposo de Mi Alma
Buy
Bailes: El Valse (in G)
Buy
Bailes: El Cutilio (in G and C)
Buy
Bailes: El Cutilio (in G)
Buy
Bailes: El Cutilio (in D)
Buy
Bailes: El Cutilio (in D) -
Buy
Bailes: Turkey in The Straw
Buy
Bailes: The Arkansas Traveler
Buy
Bailes: Listen to The Mockingbird
Buy
Bailes: La Tercera de Noviembre (El Valse)
Buy
Bailes: El Valse (in A)
Buy
Bailes: La Polca (in G and D)
Buy
Bailes: La Indita
Buy
Bailes: El Chotis
Buy