Musicology Colloquium Series
Sponsored by The University of New Mexico Department of Music, The Department of Spanish and Portuguese & The Latin American and Iberian Institute
Ortega Hall Reading Room 335
Thursday September 19, 2019
2:00-3:30pm
“Reclaiming ‘the Border’ in Texas-Mexican Conjunto Heritage and Cultural Memory”
Name of presenter: Cathy Ragland
Talk Description:
The Texas border town of San Benito is the subject of this talk which examines how memory and legacy operate within a community of “self-appointed” cultural brokers and a local municipality inspired by capitalist notions of urban development, economic growth and cultural tourism. The legacy of two of the town’s “native sons” – Narciso Martínez, the “father of Tex-Mex conjunto music” and Baldemar Huerta (aka Freddy Fender), a Grammy-winning country rock artist – have been memorialized in two opposing positions to reclaim border music history in a context of globalization and hypermediacy that seeks to counter representations of a US-Mexico border perpetually “in crisis.”
Biography:
Cathy Ragland is associate professor of ethnomusicology in the College of Music at the University of North Texas. She is editor of the series Sonic Crossings for UNT Press, and author of the book Musica Norteña: Mexican Migrants Creating a Nation between Nations along with several journal articles, book chapters, and public press articles. Her research and scholarship have focused on music and border politics, identity, immigration/migration, rurality, and gender relations. She is an experienced journalist, folklorist, and applied ethnomusicologist who has collaborated with Mexican immigrant partners in co-founding sustainable music and arts programs and organizations in New York City. She has directed public arts festivals, exhibits, and arts education programs in New York, Washington, Texas, and Mexico. These experiences have informed her scholarship and teaching.
Cellist Hannah Addario-Berry visits UNM Music Department for Master class and Workshop
Cellist Hannah Addario-Berry will be on campus on Friday (Oct 30) and Monday (Nov 2) to workshop two brand-new pieces written for her by UNM student composers and to give a masterclass for the cello students.
Guest Artist: Percussionist Dr. John Pennington
Dr. John Pennington, Professor of Music and Percussion Studies at Augustana University will be presenting a percussion concert at UNM on Sunday, October 25 at 6:30 pm in Room 1111. Dr. Pennington will be performi…
Guest Artist: Flutist Camilla Hoitenga
Flutist Camilla Hoitenga will be in town and on campus from Thursday, October 22nd to Monday, the 26th. She will be working with the flute students, composition students, coach the NMNM flutist on a piece by Saariaho