Charlemaud Curtis collection of Southwestern music, interviews and programs, 1960s-1987.

ArchivalResource

Curtis, Charlemaud. Charlemaud Curtis collection of Southwestern music, interviews and programs, 1960s-1987.

Charlemaud Curtis collection of Southwestern music, interviews and programs, 1960s-1987.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/722065001

The Curtis collection contains a wide variety of music, programs and interviews, available on 89 CDs. Also included are a few flyers and documents relating to programs and events. Among the Native American recordings are Navajo morning songs, a Navajo music and dance workshop, Keresan children's games, songs and stories, and All American Championship Indian powwow dances from the Mescalero Reservation and Ruidoso, New Mexico. There are also songs from the Southern Cheyenne and the Indians of Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. Among the Hispanic or Spanish musical pieces are traditional and original New Mexican and Mexican folk songs, alabados and matachines from San Jose parish in Albuquerque and Spanish Christmas Posadas and Pastores programs in Albuquerque. There are also songs from Holy Week passion celebrations in Villanueva and Tome, New Mexico; Cordova, Spain; and among the Tarahumara Indians, from Cusarare, in Chihuahua, Mexico. These last feature the native instruments of the Tarahumara - flutes, drums and the chapareque. Other recordings contain Spanish music at a UNM campus Cinco de Mayo celebration, Spanish dance bands and Catholic masses, weddings and programs. Recorded lectures by Cleofes Vigil on New Mexico Hispanic music traditions and by Ruben Cobos on New Mexico territorial corridos or ballads are also significant. Represented also are Anglo American old time fiddle contests in Portales, Clovis and Melrose, New Mexico, country western music, and cowboy songs performed by Steve Cormier. There are also recordings of African American religious gospel music from Mount Olive Baptist Church and Grant Chapel, AME, in Albuquerque. Charlemaud Curtis and her associates also conducted interviews with old timers from Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, Clovis, Melrose, La Joya and Lordsburg. Sometimes they were conducted during the music events they were taping and other times special trips were made. Individuals were also making interesting comments within the various musical programs as they were being taped. Some were individuals that Curtis knew through her family or were folks she met in her recording trips. The interviews represent the views of a Mexican American immigrant as well as several Hispanics and Anglo Americans, among them, Grace Thompson Edmister. One set of interviews covers the history of the development of music institutions in Albuquerque, including the UNM music department and local community concerts, opera, and the civic orchestra. Another group deals with Santa Rosa, New Mexico - giving both the Spanish and Anglo American view of the town's development. They tell about the town and area history, cattle and sheep ranching, the first water and electric facilities, and the impact of the railroad and interstate highway on the town (Route 66) and the depression, etc. There are also accounts of early American pioneers in Santa Rosa, doctors and the 1918 flu epidemic, Hispanic distrust of Santa Rosa bankers, trading at stores on credit, and the working of the sheep partido system in the area. Other stories deal with the early New Mexico Spanish settlers' hardy faith, team spirit, foods and songs. Others describe making santos with a machete and local dyes, Spanish place names, the Santa Fe Trail and San Miguel County politics. In a 1976 interview, Judge Moise, from Santa Rosa, comments on Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima, a novel based in Santa Rosa.

3 boxes (.45 cu. ft., including 89 CDs and 4 folders)

spa,

nai,

eng,

cai,

University of New Mexico-Main Campus