“Dar los días.” (Repeat)

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MONDAY, JANUARY 2
PROGRAM # 9872 12:00 AM PT

“Dar los días.” (Repeat)

Every first of January, musicians from the towns of Río Arriba in New Mexico and Colorado brighten up the first hours of the new year. For centuries, folk troubadours have been heard singing in the cold streets from New Year’s Eve until dawn. The custom is known as “saying the days” (dar los dias) and it is a serenade to raise the spirits of the people in the early hours of the year. Keepers of the tradition talk about this community celebration and the so-called Alabados, the spiritual folk songs that survive in Rio Arriba. This program originally aired on Jan 1, 2020, as part of the series “Raíces: Songs and Tales of Rio Arriba.”

Guests: Cipriano Vigil, Master Folk Musician and Educator, El Rito, NM; Roberto Mondragón, Master Folk Musician, Educator, Former State Legislator and Lt. Governor of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM; Roberto Martínez, New Mexico State Historian, Santa Fe, NM; Dr. Enrique Lamadrid, Professor Emeritus of Spanish Language, University of New Mexico, Author of “Nuevo México Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispano Land” and other Books, Albuquerque, NM; Lorenzo Martínez, Master Folk Violinist, Los Reyes de Albuquerque, NEA National Heritage Fellow, Albuquerque, NM; Dr. Brenda Romero, Professor and Founder of Ethnomusicology at University of Colorado, Boulder, “Canciones de mis Patrias: Early New Mexican Songs and Ballads” CD, Española, NM; Angela Pérez, Folk and Ceremonial Violinist, Albuquerque, NM.

Photo: THE WISDOM ARCHIVE via Youtube

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