On the history of New Mexican folk music

New Mexico Highlands University student Juan Archuleta will be giving a presentation, Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Las Vegas Citizen's Committee for Historic Preservation, about folk music of New Mexico. The talk presents a historical and ancestral interpretation of New Mexico folk music, including rancheras, corridos, romances, and Inditas. Many of these songs originated in Spain and traveled to the New World with the Spanish.

Each type of song has significant meaning. For example, the corrido, or the “runner,” was performed during the Mexican Revolution by people who traveled from town to town and sang as a way to transmit information to different troops.

The romances were Spanish ballads describing special events and heroes from Spain. Although the melodies have changed, the context remains the same as different clues within the music characterize its origin.

Archuleta’s studies include an emphasis on traditional New Mexico folk music and Indio-Hispano studies. He has experience with research in New Mexican folk music.

A singer as well as a musicologist, Archuleta arranges, performs and records the New Mexican style of traditional music. He is a life-long resident of the Mora Valley and has made the research and preservation of northern New Mexico traditions his goal.

The program will be held at the CCHP/Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Center, 127 Bridge St. at 7 p.m. The “Glimpses of the Past” series of programs is presented to the public free of charge in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation.