Singers and Storytellers Page: 55
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SOME FORMS OF THE MEXICAN CANCION
If you gave me your picture // Then never, never,
Would I forget you.
It is almost certain that the romantic Cancidn, with a
capital C, has strong ties with the Bajio region, that part of
Mexico which has set the pace for much of Mexican life. In
the evenings, after work is done, man and wife sit at the door
of their jacal, their heads close together, cupping their hands
over their mouths for resonance, and sing these morbid songs
full of sentiment and nostalgia, in harmony, the husband
carrying the tenor and the woman the alto, filling the air
with melancholic vibrations that seem to stretch the horizon
into the infinite.
Or else, lovers go through the streets at night, carrying
to the loved one the serenade or gallo to the sound of the
harp, the guitar, and the fiddle. The Cancidn is also heard at
the fairs, the weddings and birthday parties, the dances and
the cockfights, in which musician, singer, and dancer parti-
cipate. In sum, though the Canci6n is no longer composed,
it still is an essential part of the emotional life of the Mexican
people.
1. The esdrdjulo or verse ending with stressed antepenult is rela-
tively rare in Spanish, being used for special effects.-A.P.
2. Guillermo Prieto (1818-1897), Mexico's most popular poet for
some fifty years and a Liberal politician and pamphleteer. He was in
Juarez' cabinet. His Memoirs are a rich source of information about
Mexican life during the mid-nineteenth century.-A.P.
3. The Bajio or Lowlands area of Mexico comprises parts of the
states of Jalisco, MichoacAn, and Quer6taro and all of Aguascalientes and
Guanajuato. It is a fertile, well-watered region in central Mexico, early
colonized by Spanish settlers.-A.P.
4. The poets of the "modernist" movement, beginning about 1898
under the leadership of Rub6n Dario, revolted against decadent roman-
ticism and led the way toward a revitalization of Spanish American
poetry.-A.P.55
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/61/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.