Welcome to our selection of film trailers for the fourteen cultural arts film modules produced by Hilos Culturales, portraying the history and traditions of the Upper Río Grande region of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado...
Música Popular
Musical aficionados are often drawn to sentiments evoking nostalgia, joy, or romance. Michelle embraces a combination of stirring emotions through the inspiring musical treasures enjoyed for decades, as interpreted by hundreds of recording artists. Be it Bolero music, Rancheras, Corridos or Tex Mex, ones' attention is captured by the lyrics, musical tempos and rhythms of each melody.
Michelle reflects on her youth; seeking identity, applying creativity and investing efforts in realizing her art to inspire others. Time: 19 Minutes.
Los Matachines de Bernalillo
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Los Matachines de Bernalillo”, featuring Charles J. Aguilar of Bernalillo, New Mexico. Charles was introduced to a community tradition by his grandfather in the late 1950’s. His grandfather was lead violinist for Los Matachines de Bernalillo, who enact an ancient dance drama.
Charles began playing guitar as a member of Los Matachines, later converting to playing the dance melodies on the violin. He has now been lead violinist for this community music and dance ensemble for the past five decades.
Join Charles as he imparts the history of the community’s feast day of San Lorenzo, the patron saint of Bernalillo. Hear his story, recognizing his contributions and devotion to culture, family and community. Time: 30 minutes
"La Llorona, the Wailing Woman"
HILOS CULTURALES presents “La Llorona, the Wailing Woman”, featuring Rosalía de Aragón of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A storyteller, vocalist and classroom teacher, she brings out the best in her students by sharing traditional Hispano legends and tales as told to her by familia through generations of “cuentos” passed down in communities along the upper Río Grande region.
Many say they have heard the unforgettable, spine chilling cry of La Llorona, the Wailing Woman, as she wanders searching for her children. Besides bringing to life this traditional Hispano ghost tale, Rosalía has portrayed La Llorona in performances at museums, fiestas, schools and other community events throughout New Mexico. She has also taken the ghost to the Smithsonian Institution, where she was the featured performer for Hispanic Heritage Month through the Department of Latino Initiatives.
Rosalía develops these cuentos by inviting her students and her audiences to explore the value of creativity and artistry in enriching and preserving the oral tradition of storytelling. Time: 26 minutes
Bailes Sociales
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Bailes Sociales”, featuring Benjamín Baca with Los Coloniales de Santa Fe, New Mexico. These phenomenal individuals who help maintain one of New Mexico’s cultural treasures, bailes sociales/social dances, showcase a repertoire of dance traditions that enhance regional characteristics of the past two centuries. Conveying fresh enjoyment, grounded in the essentials of family and community, evening fandangos and bailes are occasions for popular dances, such as; La Camila, El Vaquero, La Varsoviana and the favorite valses, shotís', and Marcha de los Novios.
For sixty-five years, Los Coloniales have entertained throughout the region at community fiestas and other numerous events. They regularly receive invitations to perform and teach dances to school children and families all over the state of New Mexico. Time: 14 minutes
Micaceous Clay Pottery
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Micaceous Clay Pottery” featuring Debbie Carrillo of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a Life Time Achievement recipient of the Master Potter Award, from the Spanish Colonial Arts Society of New Mexico.
Working with locally mined clay, Debbie begins forming her pottery through a combination of steps, fashioning what will result in a perfect vessel designed as cook ware that will be hand sanded in preparation for firing. These cylindrical coiled bowls, jars, plates and pitchers, all made of naturally reddish-brown sand with a unique sparkle of mica, have their roots in the regional villages throughout the upper Río Grande.
Debbie Carrillo gracefully creates, inspires and empowers; passing on the tradition, poised to teach the next generation. Time: 28 minutes
Santero Art Traditions
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Santero Art Traditions” featuring Master Santero Charles Carrillo of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship Recipient.
Started from necessity, the Santero Art form served a key spiritual role in the early villages and communities of the upper Río Grande region. Charles Carrillo introduces you to the documented history crucial to advancing ones understanding and gaining clarity to a full scope of Santero Art’s past and its lasting impressions to the present day.
His respect and prominence in this art genre are supported by his skill and influence, both factors in safeguarding that the region’s religious folk art remains well-grounded in the rich heritage of Indio-Hispano communities.
He explains the stages taken to create devotional santos, either in the form of retablos or bultos, from selecting the type of wood to be used to the mixing and application of color from a variety of special pigments. Time: 40 minutes
Los Genízaros and Comanches de la Serna of Taos Valley
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Los Genízaros and Comanches de la Serna of the Taos Valley”, featuring Gregorio Gonzales and his grandfather, Francisco Gonzales. The term, Genízaro, is traced to a European connection and today’s indigenous identity.
Join Gregorio as he discusses Genízaro origins on the American continent and its roots in the Namaná-Comanche slave trade in Taos, New Mexico during the 18th and 19th centuries.
A doctoral student at the University of Texas, Gregorio’s module keenly relates the topics of captives, slave trade, servitude, slavery and redemption. His shared endeavor of educating and practicing ancestral customs provides an insight on indigeneity and community. Time: 41 minutes
Literary Folklore of the Upper Río Grande Region
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Literary Folklore of the Upper Río Grande Region”, featuring Enrique R. Lamadrid of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Enjoy learning the valued power of literary works, both ancient and contemporary; compiled in history, poetry and drama. Enrique combines genres of literary folklore, laying the threshold of the imagination through captured imagery of time, place and people.
As folklorist and literary scholar, Enrique projects cultural history through the lens of Hispano Literary Heritage, published contributions of legendary mentors and colleagues. His narrative brings an appreciation and awareness to Literary Folklore of the upper Río Grande region of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Time: 58 minutes
Herbal Remedies and 18th and 19th Century Lifeways
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Herbal Remedies and 18th and 19th Century Lifeways of the Upper Río Grande Region”, featuring Larry Torres of Arroyo Seco, New Mexico. Feeling right at home in a 19th century village hacienda, Larry provides a lasting impression on the value of home remedies drawn from native plants of the region. He shares his knowledge and relationship with nature’s plant based herbs and their healing properties. Then, he veers from present day conventional life styles to the timeless realities of early day pobladores living in rural New Mexico.
Larry has been a teacher of languages, Bilingual Education and Southwest Studies. A noted New Mexico educator, Larry has received many local, state and national honors. He has written extensively on the traditional culture of New Mexico.
Larry offers a fresh view of rural northern New Mexico which is rarely brought into the classroom in this manner. Time: 46 minutes
Hispano Textile Traditions - Chimayó Weavers
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Hispano Textile Traditions – Chimayó Weavers”, featuring Master Weavers, Irvin and Lisa Trujillo. Their love of weaving radiates throughout Centinela Traditional Arts, their home studio in the Chimayó Valley, the family center for creating individually designed and crafted rugs (jergas), and blankets (frazadas).
Through seven generations of Trujillo family weavers, Irvin and Lisa continue to maintain the central traditional woven elements of Chimayó, Vallero, Saltillo and Río Grande textiles. Time: 34 minutes
Social Dance Music
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Social Dance Music – Piezas Bailables”, featuring Lorenzo Trujillo of Westminster, Colorado and accompanied by Billy Archuleta of Arroyo Seco, New Mexico. Listen to social dance selections that have been played in patios and salas, at fiestas and fandangos in communities throughout the upper Río Grande region. The featured dance music, arrangements of popular valses and polkas, for decades has served in the bonding of families and communities after the harvest, at weddings or celebrations of a church feast day.
Violinist, Lorenzo Trujillo, weaves through his music a clear narrative; examing the transfer of musical characteristics from musician to musician, community to community, and from generation to generation. Time: 23 minutes
Hispano Cultural Landscapes and Vernacular Architecture
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Hispano Cultural Landscapes and Vernacular Architecture”, featuring Arnold Valdez of San Luis, Colorado, who shares his passion for the cultural landscape and vernacular architecture of the native Río Culebra villages located on the western foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. His leadership role in planning and design, promotion and preservation has distinguished him in the fields of Architecture and Environmental Studies.
Join Arnold as he guides the class through landscape patterns, vernacular terms and native village construction applied to human settlement. Time: 1 Hr. 12 minutes
"El Cuentista"
HILOS CULTURALES presents “El Cuentista”, featuring Angel Vigil of Denver, Colorado. Angel brings the art and history of storytelling to audiences; engaging them by sharing universal themes – reaching back to childhood memories through stories told to him by his elders in the oral tradition.
Angel is an award winning author of six books on Hispanic and Western culture and arts, as well as a performer, stage director and teacher. His awards include the Heritage Artist Award and the Master Artist Award from the Colorado Council on the Arts, and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, among numerous others.
Beautifully portrayed in a mountain forest, Angel connects perfectly with the compelling stories that transport you across the bridge from reality to make believe and back again.
Join El Cuentista, Angel Vigil, as he empowers his audience to learn the art of expression, imagination, and creativity in the enjoyment of telling your story! Time: 42 minutes
Folk Music of the Upper Río Grande
HILOS CULTURALES presents “Folk Music of the Upper Río Grande”, featuring Cipriano Vigil of El Rito, New Mexico. His career passion as a musician, ethnomusicologist and author, demonstrate a successful interpretation of the rhythm of his work; successfully engendering and preserving the musical legacy of the Indio-Hispano southwest.
Cipriano brings clarity to the musical ballad/el corrido, and its importance and evolution. A highly recognized state and regional music award recipient, he has performed at the National Folklife Festival in Washington D.C.
His love for music and teaching at the community and university levels, serves as his tribute to the rich musical landscape of the upper Río Grande region. Time: 41 minutes