|
t
THE SANTA FE SERIES
is on its way! Unlike the Advent and Lenten Series,
this will not be a daily post, but rather a slow accumulation
over the Summer of images and stories and other stuff
that are all part of a southwestern life-journey.
We'll explain more when we have time.
Right now, I need to find my ticket.
"All Aboard!"
v
|
|
This is 12-string guitar master
Billy Strange, playing this classic
written by Johnny Mercer and
Harry Warren. It won the
Academy Award for best song
in a picture in 1946, the movie
being The Harvey Girls. It's
on Billy's '98 CD on the GNP
Crescendo label, titled Railroad
Man - The Songs and Sounds Of
The Steam Era.
(2:41)
| |
Harry Connick, Jr. included
this on his "25" CD on the
Columbia label, that came out
in '97 - when he turned 25!
This is a slowed down (read:
laid-back) offering compared to
Judy Garland's semi-frantic
version from the film, or even
the slowtrain take (yawn) from
that master of mellow -
Bing Crosby.
(8:06)
|
|
Train #21, "El Capitan," pulls into Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The old Fred Harvey Hotel "The Alvarado" is on the left.
f
|
|
This is a traditional "Yei" chant,
as is still performed all over the
Navajo country, performed here by
the Navajo Centennial Dance Team.
It's from their Traditional Navajo
Songs CD, released in '98 on the
Canyon Records label.
(3:20)
|
Manuel Guerro, from the
Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation,
sings and drums on this "social
dance" song, which comes from
his CD Passing the Traditional Songs,
released in 2002 on his own label.
(1:33)
|
d
From Wikipedia
In the sand painting of southwestern Native Americans
(the most famous of which are the Navajo), the Medicine Man (or Hata?ii)
paints loosely upon the ground of a Hogan, where the ceremony takes place,
or on a buckskin or cloth tarpaulin, by letting the colored sands flow
through his fingers with control and skill. There at least 600 to 1000 different
sand paintings that are recognized among the Navajos. They are not viewed
as static objects, but as living things that should be treated with great respect.
There may be more than thirty different sand paintings associated with
one ceremony alone.
The colors for the painting are usually made with naturally colored sand,
crushed gypsum (white), yellow ochre, red sandstone, charcoal, and a mixture
of charcoal and gypsum (blue). Brown can be made by mixing red and black;
red and white make pink. Other coloring agents include corn meal, flower pollen,
or powdered roots and bark.
The paintings are for healing purposes only. Many of them contain images of yeibicheii,
or the Holy People. While creating the painting, the medicine man will chant,
asking the yeibicheii to come into the painting and help heal the patient.
When the medicine man finishes painting, he checks its accuracy.
The order and symmetry of the painting symbolize the harmony that the patient
wishes to reestablish in his or her life. However accurate the sand painting is
will determine how effective it will be as a sacred tool.
The patient will then be asked to sit on the sand painting,
and the medicine man will then proceed with the healing chant.
The sand painting acts like a portal for spirits to come and go, and also attracts them.
Sitting on the sand painting helps the patient absorb some of their power,
while in turn the Holy People will absorb the illness and take it away.
Afterwards, the sand painting has done its duty, and is then considered to be toxic,
since the illness is absorbed into it. That is the reason they must be
disposed of afterwards. Because of the sacred nature of the ceremonies,
the sand paintings are begun, finished, used, and destroyed
within a twelve hour period.
t
|
|
John Stewart, who passed away just a few
months ago, performs here. After "filling-in"
for a few years with The Kingston Trio, Stewart
launched a long solo career that, while not hugely
successful in terms of overall sales, nonetheless produced
a lot of memorable songs, many that have an "Americana" theme
running through them - good stuff. This is off his Punch the Big Guy
CD, released in '86 on the Shanachie Entertainment Corp. label.
(5:14)
|
|
