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U. Despedimento Cobos in one of his articles in El Nuevo Mexicano expresses the conviction that at least one of the despedimentos, Adios Acompahamiento (Ul), was brought from Spain in the seventeenth century (Cobos 4, 5/4/50). This opinion finds some confirmation in the song's use of a sixteen-syllable line rhymed or assonated at the end of each sixteen syllables , in which respect it follows the form of the Spanish romance. That this is a wellknown song with numerous variants argues that it is very old. In my own collection I have no less than six variants (R1010, R1030, R1052, R1071, R1080, RB758). On the other hand, there are other despedimentos , for instance examples U2 and U3, which, like the corrido, refer to the recent death of a named person and even to a specific day, month, and year. These two were published in Spanish-language newspapers of the state of New Mexico in 1903, when, it is known, it was the custom of local poetas to compose and publish in the papers such memorials to the dead. Furthermore, melodically most of the despedimentos are found in the style of the alabados, florid and unmeasured, and not in the more objective, measured style of most of the romances. They are usually couched in the form of an address in the first person by the deceased to his parents, relatives, and others, a peculiar characteristic rarely if ever encountered in the romance. And the romance is typically a narrative form, whereas the despedimentos resemble much more closely the introspective character of the cancion. Finally, the despedimentos are often sung by brothers of the Penitente cofradias and seem to be specifically appropriate to, if not designed for, wakes or, as they are called, velorios of the cofradia. While the despedimento may originally have been introduced into the New World from the Iberian Peninsula, it has been adapted as a form by the people of the villages for their own purposes, refashioned into something different from any European source and completely consistent with the cultural pattern of Hispanic colonization in the Southwest. It may be added that a song text in which a dead person speaks in the first person to relatives and friends is not found exclusively in the despedimentos. It occurs in other forms of Hispanic folk poetry as well. A good example of this is the Indita de Amarante Martinez (F2): On the twenty-sixth, September At about the hour oftwo, From this world I then departed Unto God to pay hisdue. In fact the same convention is observed in certain Indian funeral ceremonies. An example of this is the following moving song text from the Santo Domingo Indian pueblo collected and transcribed by Frances Densmore in her excellent book The Music of the Santo Domingo Pueblo: All the white cloud eagles Lift me up with your wings and take me to shipap . . . 'Way down in the Southwest where our fathers and mothers have gone. Put me there with your wings, (p.68) Ul. Adibs, Acompanamiento (Farewell, My Friends) R1010, Tranquilo Lujan, Santa Fe, N.Mex., 1952, Reginald and William R. Fisher. Cf. R1071, RB758 (with twenty-seven verses but no music). 1 iAdios, acompanamiento, donde me estaban velando; ya se llego la hora y tiempo de que me vayan sacando! 1 Farewell, my friends Who are sitting up with me; Now the hour and time are coming When they will take me away! 710 Despedimento 2 iAdios, mis amados padres, que conservaron mi vida; ya se llego la hora y tiempo; ya se llego mi partida! (Verso 1 serepite) 2 Farewell, my beloved parents, Who saved my life; Now the hour and time are coming; Now comes my hour of parting! (Verse 1repeated) 3 iAdios, amado Jesus! JAdios, esposo querido! iAdios, mi acompanamiento, ya yo voy para la otra vida! (Verso 1 serepite) 3 Farewell, beloved Jesus! Farewell, beloved husband! Farewell, my friends, Now I go to the other life. (Verse 1repeated) 4 SAdios, todos mis parientes! iAdios, mi dulce morada! iAdios, acompanamiento, que ya voy en la Jornada! (Verso 1 serepite) 4 Farewell, all my relatives! Farewell, my sweet morada! Farewell, my friends, For I'm going on that journey! (Verse 1repeated) 5 Adios, acompanamiento, se llego la hora postrera; acompaname al sepulcro, que es mi casa verdadera. 5 Farewell, my friends, Now my last hour comes; Accompany me to the grave, Which is my true home. Ula. Adibs, Mi Acompanamiento (Farewell, My Friends) R1030...

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