Exhibiting state pride
There’s a treat waiting at the New Mexico Museum of History for all lovers of this Land of Enchantment. Exhibit-goers will take a trip back to the days before entertainment on demand via computer, smartphone or tablet, to the time when people made their own fun at home. For lovers of music, that meant buying sheet music and learning to play the songs they loved. Families would sit around the piano, singing and spending time together during the evenings. Without headphones, even.
Learn more about that different time by visiting The Land that Enchants Me So: Picturing Popular Songs of New Mexico. The exhibit focuses on sheet music of popular songs about New Mexico from the 1840s through around 1960, displaying the often-striking covers for the different songs. Also displayed are other printed materials, sound records and memorabilia about the musical life of New Mexico. (We at
The New Mexican are particularly proud of Pasatiempo staffer James M. Keller, whose sheet music collection contributed to the exhibit. Keller has collected such gems for the past three decades and is guest co-curator of the show.)
Keller made another contribution to the history of New Mexico and this exhibit. He helped unearth a 1924 recording of our official state song, “O, Fair New Mexico,” performed by its composer, Elizabeth Garrett. She is known to all as the blind daughter of Sheriff Pat Garrett, who shot Billy the Kid. Her lilting song has been the official New Mexico anthem since 1917. Hearing it sung as she intended is quite a treat.
At the opening of the exhibition earlier this month, singers from The Santa Fe Opera’s Young Voices performed a rousing version of “O, Fair New Mexico,” leading us to wonder why we don’t hear it more. At civic gatherings or sporting events, people play the “Star-Spangled Banner “and recite both the New Mexico and U.S. pledges (often in Spanish and English), but the state song is nearly forgotten.
Give it a listen. Then find the music and learn the words — it’s available at sos.state.nm.us. New Mexico might have several state songs — a bilingual version, a ballad, a cowboy song and the lovely Así Es Nuevo Méjico, the Spanish-language song — but there is only one “O, Fair New Mexico.” And yes, we love, we love it so.