Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest: A Self-Portrait of a People

Section O: Alabado

O. Alabado The alabados are associated with the religious sect commonly known as the Penitentes , although they prefer to be known by the title of Hermanos de Nuestra Padre Jesus. In fact when I used the word "Penitente" in speaking to one of them, he reproved me gently, saying that it was a "hurting word." Penitente is the word usually used in describing the sect, however, and the longer designation is cumbersome and unfamiliar to the public. I use the word without the slightest feeling of disrespect, but on the contrary with great respect and affection for members of the group whom I know. For these reasons I trust that no one will take offense at my frequent use of the word Penitente in these pages. The Penitente practices of flagellation and crucifixion, described by Charles F. Lummis in The Land of Poco Tiempo and by Alice Corbin Henderson in her Brothers of Light (two excellent books that I highly recommend ), were abandoned after several years of persistent effort by the Roman Catholic archbishop of New Mexico. His prohibition was directed against public demonstrations of penance and suffering, and members of the group have informed me that flagellation is still carried on in the privacy of the moradas , or chapels, of the sect. To be fully appreciated as a deep and sincere religious expression the alabados should be heard in one of the villages during Holy Week, especially during the nocturnal processions or evening services such as the Tenievoles , the Good Friday service in the village church. They are a deeply impressive outpouring of sorrow for the fate of the Savior and of guilt and remorse for personal sins, conceived of as the cause of the Crucifixion . As the humble procession, preceded by a member reading from a notebook by the light of a lantern, comes down the path from the morada to the village church under the light of the moon singing these mournful chants, there is a sense of awe and mystery rarely felt in more conventional religious observances . Added to all this is the pitero walking at the head of the procession and playing fascinating traditional arabesques on the piio, or vertical flute. That is enough to engrave the scene on anyone's memory forever . Before the archbishop's edict took effect , I witnessed several times the added drama of penitents dressed in long white drawers with black hoods over their heads, dragging huge crosses or whipping themselves over the shoulders and back with yucca whips until the blood ran down to their heels. The villagers of the Southwest both Indian and Hispanic have inherited a genius and a zest for ritual pageantry, combining with seemingly infinite variations their deepest beliefs, their music, their own ideas of costuming and dancing in settings as diverse as a sunlit plaza or a mountain canyon but somehow always almost incredibly dramatic. The music of the alabado is in the main unmeasured, like the plainsong of the medieval church. Some examples are in the medieval modes and employ practices that were peculiar to the music of the sixteenth century and were largely abandoned with the coming of the tonal system. The alabados are sung in unison without accompaniment except for arabesques played on the pito and the occasional use of a matracas, or rattle. While it has been the custom in the Southwest to use the word alabado to describe a wider range of religious folk poetry, I have preferred to follow the practice of the Mexican authority Vicente Mendoza, who during his stay as visiting professor at the University of New Mexico always used it in the more limited sense of a folk poem relating to the Passion of Christ, employing the term alabanza to describe the songs of praise to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Musically speaking, the alabado covers a considerably wider range than that of songs commemorating the Passion of Christ, the limited sense in which I have used it for the purpose of classifying the song texts. Again musically speaking, the alabado might be defined as a style of unaccompanied singing 612 Alabado distinguished by phrases without formal musical or mathematical meters but rather following the rhythm of the words. There is, however, frequent use of melismas (a number of notes sung to one syllable). It is sung in slow tempos and is associated with the religious and other ritual observances of the Penitentes. In this broader musical sense, therefore, the alabado may be said...