Analysis Of Indita Del Rio Grande

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Indita del rio grande

The piece accompanying this paper is called Indita del rio grande. It is part of the indita genre of Spanish New Mexican music and is performed by the singer Edwin Berry. It was made in Tomé, New Mexico in 1971. Although many Spanish New Mexicans have historically wanted to suppress the mixings of Indians with Spaniards, this history is perceivable in the indita genre. Thus, it is closely associated with the interwoven, mestizo culture of New Mexico (Romero 2002:56). The songs often feature a juxtaposition of Spanish words with indigenous rhythmic motifs which signifies this relationship (Romero 2002:65). Additionally, the refrain of an indita sometimes contain vocables (syllables that don’t have a meaning in the language) …show more content…

Songs are sometimes identified as inditas because they contain the word “indita” in the title or lyrics, but this is not always the case. Additionally, a characteristic of inditas are the references to the landscape or the environment of New Mexico. Indita del rio grande is a great example of this. Literally translated as “the woman of the rio grande”, it is about the disastrous flood that happened in Tomé in 1884. The flood was devastating almost wiping out the entire town (Levine and Chace 1999: 99). This story is conveyed in the piece, as the narrator describes the people leaving for higher ground and searching for shelter. It is a perfect example of an indita that documents historical events related to the …show more content…

For example, in the fifth and ninth measures I chose to use a dotted eighth note, attempting to represent what Berry performs. However, this is in no way a full depiction of what he does. This type of indeterminacy occurs throughout the transcription, because Berry’s rhythmic choices are not confined exactly to these durational values. What I have transcribed is a purely prescriptive and generalized depiction of my interpretation of the piece. Consequently, if an observer wanted to understand the depth and complexity of Berry’s performance they would need to listen to the

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