A song written for a musical pageant about Corrales 30 years ago has been adopted the Village’s official song.

The song now becoming known as “Los Corrales”  was written by composer Michael McDaniel with the title “Cantineras’ Song” as the main tune for the Los Corrales pageant which debuted at the Cibola High School Theater in July 1983.

Produced primarily by Evelyn  Curtis Losack, the pageant has not been staged in full since the 1980s. Losack was in the audience April 24 when the Village Council officially adopted the song. Passage of the adopting resolution was preceded by its singing by the Corrales Kiwanis Club Quartet led by Jim Wright.

The version sung for the mayor and council and included in the council’s agenda packet shows the song’s title as “Life Goes on in the Village.”

As taken from the July 9, 1983 pageant program, the song goes as follows:

Life goes on in the village,

Life goes on like a song.

Days are slow in the village,

and the nights are never too long.

La melodia del dia,

La noche con su canción,

Tanto agradesco el sentido de paz,

Que me da la linda emoción.

I will live all my life in Corrales.

Who could ask for more,

than you find inside the door of your casa,

more than you find in the embrace of your amor?

Who could want mucho dinero?

I would not know what to use it for.

Who could ask for more?

Life in the village is fiesta,

Life in the village is amor.

Life goes on in the village,

Life goes on like a song.

Days are slow in the village,

Nights are never too long.

Life goes on like a song.

The version adopted as Corrales’ official song last month concludes with  the pageant’s refrain. 

Corrales, my village, my land, my home.

Corrales, mi pueblo, mi tierra, mi hogar.

Corrales mi pueblo, mi tierra, mi hogar.

Corrales my village, my land, my home.

A program note reads, “In Los Corrales, stories from a vanishing rural farming community demonstrate a constant, a source of strength and an inspiration. They show that love of the land unites us across time.”

Another favorite from the musical, “Corrales: my village in autumn,” is this song.

Richest of treasure, greater than treasure,

Beauty beyond recall!

Redder than jewels are the strings of red chile,

that hang on my village walls.

Oh, listen to my song; Oh, listen to my call!

In all of the world, my village, my village, I love you most of all.

Beautiful mountains, clear blue sky,

Strong adobe walls!

And the leaves of the trees are emeralds in summer.

And the emeralds are gold in the fall.

Oh, listen to my song; Oh, listen to my call!

In all of the world, my village, my village, I love you most of all.

The pageant had 16 scenes and a grand finale. Scene titles were: In the Beginning; The Pueblo Uprising; The Return of the Conquistadores; The Gonzales Land Grant of 1712; The Census of 1870; La Cantina y la Sala; The Land Claims Courts of 1906-1910; The French Wedding; The Flood of 1904; The Italian Scene; The San Ysidro Church III; Sandoval; The Fourth of July at Alameda Cattle Company; The Artists; Another Faith in the Land; and Current Times.

The introductory narration for the Current Times scene reads, “Since 1970, preservation of the rural setting of Corrales is a continuing goal of the Corrales Council and Planning and Zoning Board.”

Among the more than 60 cast members were Donnie Chavez; Susi and Bob Eichhorst and four other family members; Sam Glover; Ralph, Erlinda and Valeria Martinez; Art Moreno; Shana Pedroncelli; Ivan, Louie, Nancy, Patrick and Robert Silva; and George and Gwen Willink.