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Song Samples (MP3 Format) Cielito Lindo (Norteņo)-Cielito Lindo (Huasteca) (2.574 MB mp3 file) The Days of Forty-Nine (3.150 MB mp3 file) Sweet Betsey From Pike (2.034 MB mp3 file) CALIFORNIA SONGS with historical narration - Volume One- Nineteenth Century Thirty-nine songs depicting California before and during the turbulent 19th century. Two CDs and Notes on the Songs (WEMCD605) Total Playing Time: 2 hours
Companion Songbook Now Available. Buy/Listen To Individual Songs/Disks Online.
". . .the historical sweep of this lively, enlightening work is impressive. . .the McNeils take care to include a multi-cultural perspective on the racially fractured times, noting in sound and historical narration the plight of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians and immigrant Chinese." San Diego Union-Tribune ". . .These performances are truly inspired...Performed by the McNeils in the spirit of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly...This music absolutely belongs in a library. For all practical purposes, no library in either the public sector or at the college level should be without access to these CDs and the songbooks...This is multidimensional and deep work, broad in scope, collecting the myriad influences of our music..." The Electronic Review Part one: Spain explores California and establishes missions. Indians at the missions chant the mass to European traditional and popular music. Mexico gains independence from Spain and creates a distinctive California culture. Americans arrive, clash with Mexicans, and establish the short-lived Bear Flag Republic. The United States declares war against Mexico.
Part Two: Mexico cedes California to the United States. The gold discovery brings people from many countries. American citizens cross the plains, sail around the Horn and cross the Isthmus. Immigrants arrive from China, and are barred from the mines. African-Americans come to the mines, some leave California for British Columbia. Steamboats fill the rivers. The Port of San Francisco becomes notorious for shanghaiing sailors. The Indian population shrinks.
Part Three: The Union Pacific, with the help of thousands of Chinese railroad workers, completes the transcontinental railroad. The Southern Pacific monopolizes rail traffic to and from California. Farmers rebel against high-handed railroad tactics. After ten years of depression, the boom begins again.
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