Singers and Storytellers Page: 63
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
FOLKLORE AND HISTORY
people they were trying to "pacify." Where it is possible to
check their reports with other existing data, it can be seen that
their bias often led them to exaggerate or even to falsify the
facts. The Texas-Mexican version does not exist in documents.
It can be found in corridos and in prose narratives passed from
father to son. It is folklore, and as such unreliable. But no
history of the Rio Grande border which ignores this folklore
can be complete.
I would like now to submit for your consideration two songs
from the Mexican border with Texas, collected at Laredo,
Texas, on August 7, 1954, from Mercurio Martinez, a seventy-
eight-year-old native of the region.' These two songs were first
performed in 1867 in the town of San Ignacio, Zapata County,
Texas, by Onofre Cardenas, a local guitarrero. Mercurio
Martinez learned them from his mother in the 1880's. The songs
were current in oral tradition for at least two generations,
though few people know them today.
One is to Ignacio Zaragoza, victor over the French at
Puebla, the other to Ulysses S. Grant, conqueror of the Con-
federacy. Both songs are in Spanish, the first language of these
bilingual people; they are much alike in both structure and
melody. Professor Vicente T. Mendoza, your eminent folk-
lorist and musicologist, has been kind enough to transcribe and
analyze the melodies for this paper, noting their relationship
to Mexican music of the mid-nineteenth century. His remarks,
we may note in passing, shed considerable light on the way
that the folksong maker combines materials from folk and art
sources in fashioning new tunes.5
Musically, the first thing to be noted about these songs is
the strong similarity of their opening bars to the Mexican
national anthem, which had but recently been adopted after
a competition in which Mexican and foreign musicians took
part. In the closing bars of the song to Grant and in the middle
of the one to Zaragoza, there are echoes of another, universally
known patriotic song, the "Marseillaise." That much did the68
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Related Items
Other items on this site that are directly related to the current book.
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.
Relationship to this item: (Has Format)
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/69/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.