Musical Thoughts

I grew up in Houston, TX where a 36 mile commute to work could take hours. Today, my 36 mile commute from home to Caddo Mounds takes about 36 minutes. 36 minutes driving down the historic El Camino Real de los Tejas surrounded by the beautiful hills and piney woods of East Texas, luxuriant pastures, and spring wildflowers. This time is great thinking time, since it is kept peaceful by lousy cell phone reception. It is amazing the energy you can devote to contemplating life when you can't pass your drive time chatting with friends and family.

Last week while driving, on the 50th anniversary of the spaghetti western, I listened to an interview on NPR with composer Ennio Morricone. Perhaps this interview was not the most likely time to find inspiration for this blog, but at the very end Morricone talked about his work on the 1986 film the Mission. Morricone said that the music for this film was conditioned by the period it was set, 1750. He describes the difficulty of combining the three threads of music representing the Spanish Jesuits, the Catholic church, and the South American Natives. In the piece "On Earth as it is in Heaven", these cultural stories merge, and the result is moving.

 

I found myself wondering how a theme for the story of Caddo Mounds might sound. With many more than three threads, this theme would be a challenge even master composer Morricone should appreciate.

The Hasinai branch of the Caddo people lived in what is now the Caddo Mounds area from 750 AD until about 1849. First as one of the last great Mississippian Mound building cultures and after around 1250 AD as a more dispersed farming community. From creation the Caddo embraced music; according to Caddo mythology, the first man left the land of darkness and carried a drum, fire, and a pipe -"First was an old man carrying fire and a pipe in one hand, his drum in the other".

More on Caddo Dance & Song From Caddo Pottery: History & Culture Past & Present.

You can also listen to the Songs of the Caddo Ceremonial and Social Dance Music album on Spotify.

I began my love affair with Caddo mythology as an undergraduate at Stephen F. Austin (SFA) State University. A trio of mentor professors (Jim Corbin, Anthropology; Hebe Mace, Literature; and Doug McMillan, History) nurtured my passion for culture and myth. I spent a semester immersed in Caddo stories, archaeology, and ethnohistory looking for ties between information. Animals, often given sacred powers and human characteristics - Snakewoman, Coyote, Medicine Screech Owl, and Buzzard - are represented in almost every Caddo traditional story. No theme song for Caddo Mounds would be complete without the sounds of the land in which the Caddo thrived for decades.

Three hundred years after the close of the mound building chapter of the Caddo Mounds story, the Spanish arrived looking for gold in the New World. The gold they were seeking was never found, but they did find land, natives to try to convert, and adversaries to fight. In the late 17th century Spanish Franciscan Friars established the first mission in the province of Texas, Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, The site of the Mission is now Mission Tejas State park about 6 miles up the road and across the Neches river from us.

Modern day Franciscan Friars in concert.

Following the Europeans, the American immigrants arrived in the Caddo homeland (then Mexican Tejas) searching for cheap land and escape from American debt. Many Texas legends journeyed the Camino Real to the land of the Tejas in their work of colonization and commerce. Moses Austin and then his son Stephen F. Austin, “the Father of Texas”, traveled the royal road in a quest to establish the first Anglo-American colony in Texas. Although Moses Austin perished before the colony was established, his son saw it grow into an independent republic. Davy Crockett (on his journey to the Alamo) and Sam Houston (first President of Anglo Texas), also traveled El Camino Real de los Tejas through the Caddo homeland.

the Actual Deguello (Slit Throat) played at the Alamo

These video clips represent just a few of the many possible disparate and sometimes dissonant threads of music that run through the rich, long, and moving history of the area known today as Caddo Mounds State Historic Site. What other sounds might help tell this epic story?

Welcome!

Since joining the team at Caddo Mounds SHS as the educator/ interpreter, I've spent time pondering the place of traditional Caddo stories in my work as liaison between the heritage represented at this site and the travelers who visit it. Within the world of parks resides a complex tapestry of stories that when told well, inspire, intrigue, and sometimes challenge our beliefs about our own history. As a park interpreter at Caddo Mounds, I have the privilege and the challenge of educating visitors about a rich history not entirely my own. Through narratives about history and culture, the local significance of this East Texas treasure is blended with the larger tales of our state and nation. Among others, this site holds the stories of the Caddo Indians who lived here, the invasion of the Spanish and French traveling down El Camino Real de los Tejas, American immigration to Mexican Texas, the Caddo people's relocation to Indian territory in Oklahoma, and the story of Texas Independence.

The magical thing about stories is that often their message transcends specific communities or cultures. Recently, I heard a museum colleague, describing the work of history museums as "bringing to life things that reside in memory." What a great job for stories!