Evening star., 1937-03-07
Texas.American Border
Ballads.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

of the cultures of two peoples seems to
have the faculty of igniting some sort Of
q spark. A better expression might be
that it seems to have the faculty of strik-
ing a chord. The note of one people
blending with that Of the people over
the border, a rich and special harmony
results.
Probably the most famous border bal
lads of the English speaking world are
those which have risen from the Scotch
border. Centuries of warfare, centuries
of raiding from both sides, and centuries
Of international romance have produced
an extensive portfolio.
A near approach is found in North
America in the ballads which have
sprung from the border between the
United States and Mexico. Much less
has come from the Canadian border be-
cause of the basic similarity of the peo-
piles dwelling on either side. The north
ern border is not calculated to produce
chords. The notes are too much the
same.
In the Library of Congress there is
established what is called the Archiye
of American Folk Song, of which John
A. Lomax is the honorary curator. 1t
is Mr.. LOmaX'S custom to set out in an
automobile and travel far and wide, 60
ing to places where he believes he is
most likely to come upon the most re-
markable material His automobile is
equipped with specially constructed re-
cording devices, and with these he makes
records.
The library has a vast collection Of
written music, sheet and album music,
which is intelligible to those skilled in
the reading of notes. The Lomax COL
lection is designed to give an actual re-
cording of the music as it sounds when
produced by the people whence it origi-
mated. There are vocal songs, quartets
and group songs. There are songs with
instrumental accompaniment and instru-
mental solos. From among the Negroes,
Mr.. Lomax has taken sermons OF the
ancient exhortatory type.
During the last open season Mr.. Lo-
max visited the Texas Mexican border,
where he amassed an extraordinary COL
lection. 1t appears that the older bal
lads are scarcely ballads at all, save
where they have been adapted. They
tend more to the religious side. In
Texas are a great many people of Mexi-
can extraction. Most of them have a
liberal admixture Of Indian blood
Yaqui and Aztec. Nearly all of these
people are Catholics.
Their original music, so far as the
Spanish influence is concerned, was in
troduced by the Catholic invaders of
the land. The priests, as a part of their
Chr1stianiZing work, produced music.
Handed down orally for three centuries.
it is but natural that words and music
have departed materially from their
originals. They have taken on some-
thing of the New World, but retain q
sort of floor Of the first importations.
The Franciscan Friars brought over
from Spain a sort of miracle play set
to music, called Los Pastores." 1t at
tracted the attention and interest of the
people the missionaries had come to
convert. While many changes have
taken place. this production, which
might be termed a sort of sacred opera,
still is regarded by most of the Mexicans,
including those in Texas, with a certain
veneration.
Mr.. Lomax had some difficulty In OBJ
tanning records of the production. A
production Of the miracle play is by
people who are timid and somewhat
awed. 1t is invariably given at night,
IN the open air. the singers moving
about as they go through the intricacies
OF the ceremony. Through the aid of
Father Tranchesi of the Church Of Our
Lady OF Guadalupe at San Antonio,
Mr.. Lomax finally succeeded in obtain
ing recordings of the best duets and the
group singing. Later, at Houston, he
made another recording of the same
production. At San Antonio, all the
performers were men. but at Houston
there were women participants. He also
obtained records OF a production called
Los Posadas," sung by members of the
Guild of San Antonio MidWiveS.
Modern Mexican music, more especial
ly OF the ballad nature, deals very large
ly with the exploits of Pancho Villa.
Villa has become, in the minds of the
border people, sort of Robin Hood.
Mr.. LomaX obtained a number of rec
ords of the Villa ballads. Every night
in the Mexican Market Square of San
Antonio small groups of Mexican singers
and guitarists perform. They are pro-
feSSionals, but many coins are not al
ways tossed to them. Whether or not,
they sing for the joy of it. They seem
to specialize in songs of the Villa cycle
Many of them are too young to regard
Villa as anything but a half-legendary
hero, and to an American, it sounds odd
to hear ballads of the Pershing invasion
of Mexico, the tale of the ballads, of
course. always being from the MeXiCNl
viewpoint. These are very popular with
the people, and the songs float out on
the night and the guitars strum to
fascinated concourse.
Another type of Mexican border song
springs more purely from the Indian
strain. One can detect the beat of the
aboriginal people and the songs are
wistful in the extreme, the songs of the
dispossesed, like those of Israel. They
chant of the days before the coming of
the Spanish, before there were any
MexicanS of the present type, but only
the ancient stock.
There are border ballads of English
origin. There are ballads Of the Texas
Rangers and of the great cattle days
in the Texas of long ago. The varied
history of Texas has lent variety The
country having been under Spanish and
French dominion and then an independ-
ent republic, it is not surprising that a
rich store of music should have been
created.
Mr.. Lomax visited the famous Swen-
son ranch, as well as others in Texas.
There the cowboys still gather around
the chuck wagon in the evening, the
cook swinging his pots and kettles over
Il a. FTI-