After 16 years, curtain fall on Nuestra Musica
Organizers retire Nuestra Musica, an event that featured traditional Hispano music at Lensic
Lovers of traditional Northern New Mexico folk music might feel a notable absence in this year’s schedule of public performances. Nuestra Musica, an annual event that showcased traditional Hispano music for 16 years at Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center, is no more.
“It was the right time to retire it,” said Jack Loeffler, an aural historian and a longtime organizer of the concerts, which in an age of digital downloads and electronica, celebrated corridas, romantic songs and other forms of musical storytelling with deep roots in the area’s mostly rural past.
Many of the performers, often with instruments such as acoustic guitars or accordions, have played the music since they were children, influenced by older family members who learned from previous generations. Now they are aging, along with the directors, and Loeffler said that is one of a number of factors in the cancellation.
Albuquerque public television station KNME produced a video of the 2016 concert, which he described as “one of the best” the group had staged, essentially creating a lasting document of the folk music that Loeffler has worked with the musicians to preserve.
That legacy, and Loeffler’s attention to other art and music projects, helped lead him and co-director Enrique Lamadrid to retire the project. The decision coincided with the retirement of Bob Martin, the longtime executive director of the Lensic and friend of the program, though Nuestra Musica directors say that was not a direct factor in their decision.
“Sometimes it’s good to end on a high note, as it were,” said Lamadrid. “We created a pretty good demand for these older generations of music. We were just amazed that Nuestra Musica had such a long run.”
Loeffler, who has been playing, studying and preserving New Mexican folk music since the 1970s, said hosting Nuestra Musica was one of the highlights of his life.
“There is a sadness that goes along with having to do this. A deep sadness. But to do it right requires an immense attention to detail. You just have to realize where your energies lie over time.” Loeffler said. “There was a beautiful thing that happened for 16 years at the Lensic, and finally there came a time when it was time for it to take a new direction.”
Folk musician Cipriano Vigil, who was born and raised in the small village of Chamisal, was a regular performer at Nuestra Musica. He said Monday it was one of his favorite places to perform because it celebrated his music, and allowed him to teach the audience about the history and significance of the songs.
“Not very many venues are doing this, unfortunately, and it’s sad that we lost that one in Santa Fe,” Vigil said. “I hope that it does revive again and [folk music] continues being disseminated out there so more people can learn about it, and at the same time give the musicians the opportunity to share it with people.”
Lamadrid has been working on a similar music event in Albuquerque called Música del Corazón, hosted for the last few years by the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the John Donald Robb Musical Trust out of The University of New Mexico. He insists that even though Nuestra Musica has been “put to bed, that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to wake up” in some form.
David Garcia, who chairs the Fine Arts Department at Northern New Mexico College, might be interested in taking up that mantle. He appreciated the storytelling behind the music at the concert series, and that it brought together a diverse audience to celebrate the musical roots of Northern New Mexico.
Depending on whether he can solicit artists, funding and a Northern New Mexico venue, hosting another iteration of Nuestra Musica “would be a dream,” Garcia said.