The Real Mexico in Music and Song

The title of this fantastic album doesn't seem to capture the specific significance of these recordings from 1965-1966, undertaken by Henrietta Yurchenco, an ethnomusicologist who, in her absorbing liner notes, stated that she began working in México and Guatamala in the early Forties, starting in Michoacán.  Because of the people she worked with, this might be better called Mestizo and Indian Music from Michoacán, especially because the great Nonesuch Explorer series already includes titles dealing with specific areas like Chiapas, also heavily populated by natives and mestizos and also part of "the real México."

In any case, the native Purépecha Indians and mestizos of this west coast state adroitly maintained elements of their heritage within the Spanish and Mexican cultural influx and Yurchenco explained, "in 1965, on Pacanda Island in Lake Patzcuaro, we witnessed a strange mixture of paganism and Christianity."  The word "strange" could be viewed as judgmental, though that was clearly not her intent, but she observed that Purépecha performances are "seen through Indian eyes and sensibilities, replet with story line, colorful costumes, masks, dance and music."

What's great about this album is that it has small and large ensemble pieces along with solo guitar and harp pieces.  Joaquin Bautista on guitar, Epigmenio Ramos and Teodulo Naranjo (who was blind) on harp, Rogelio Acuña on vihuela (which looks like a guitar but is tuned like a lute), the singing Pulido sisters, and a mandolin orchestra performed wonderful tunes, many of them so short that you wish they could go on for a couple more minutes.  

It's all amazing, but "El Toro Antejuelo," a showcase for Naranjo, the trio of acapella songs by the Pulidos, and Bautista's performances of  "La Visita" and "Flor de Canela" stand out the most for this listener, whose exposure to "world music" was initially largely through early Nineties purchases of albums from the great Nonesuch Explorer series.  This was a more recent discovery and it is been uplifting to listen to during these troubled times.