LL-L "Migration" 2007.10.03 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  03 October 2007 - Volume 03
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: "Ben J. Bloomgren" <ben.j.bloomgren at gmail.com>
Subject: [LLL] Music

 Hello Ron and all,

here in Mexico we hear tons of what is locally referred to as "banda" music
and "Norteña" music. Really, I think of it as just straight-out European
Polka/oom pah music. I'm told that early in the twentieth century, many
"Germans" came here to Sonora. They say that this "German" community left
its mark here via its music. I put "German" in quotes because I wonder if
this could be Lowlands related at all. They just use the word "alemanes",
which is used in Spanish to mean citizens of todays Germany, so I can't
know. I don't hear that many German loans in Sonoran Spanish, and they
butcher most foreign names due to the sheer scarcity of polyglots. I don't
want to take us off topic, but my ignorance might warrant it for a few
milliseconds.
Ben

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From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Migration

Hi, Ben, Lowlanders!

Oh, don't I know Norteño music well, having had neighbors that played it
loudly practically around the clock?!

Norteño ('Northern') music and its Tejano ('Texan') offspring can be traced
back to the very early 20th century, to the borderland between Texas and
Mexico . Norteño music is widely believed to be inspired by the then very
popular polka music of immigrants from " Bohemia " (the Czech Republic) and
"Germany" (without specific areas being known). Its beginning coincides with
a sudden influx of "Bohemian" immigrants to Sinaloa. German immigrants
settled in the very north of Mexico as well (Monterrey, Nuevo León and
Sinaloa), and "Bohemians" and Germans may have had contacts with Czech and
German Texans. (Maybe our Lesley is able to tell us more about this.)

Also, bear in mind that there used to be large German-speaking colonies in
"Bohemia," also that ethnic and linguistic minorities tended to tag along
with immigrant communities, such as Frisians and Low Saxons with "Dutch,"
Frisians, Low Saxons and Sorbs with "German" (Sorbs especially in Texas and
Australia), and Roma ("Gypsies") especially with Central and Eastern
European "mainstream" immigrants.

There is now an estimated half million German Mexicans. The majority of
early German immigrants to Mexico a good century ago settled in Mexico City
and in Puebla .

Mennonites, often considered "Dutch" (holandés), settled primarily in
Chihuahua (mostly in Cuahutemoc, Manitoba, Patos and Swift Current), Durango
(mostly in Nuevo Hamburgo), Zacatecas and Campeche .

Most German Mexican settlements can be traced back to a variety of places of
origin, apparently with a majority in Southern Germany.

I do not know if "German Mexican" includes descendants of Jewish Germans. We
know, however, that by far the largest Jewish Mexican population has always
been in Mexico City, home also to by far the largest German Mexican
community.

But I know of two settlements that are specifically North German in origin,
interestingly both in areas with tropical climate.

Many citizens of Santa Elena, Yucatán, are descendants of 213 settlers in
the village of Nohcacab in the mid-19th century. These people all came from
Hamburg and surrounding areas. I assume they were of lower class background
and thus probably knew German but had Low Saxon as their native language.

The other community is situated in Mexico's very south, in the state of
Chiapas, specifically in Soconusco, a coffee-growing area (my favorite type
of coffee, by the way). The architecture of the small town of Nueva Alemania
is distinctly North-German-inspired, and the German Mexican population can
be traced back to immigrants mostly from Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck and Hanover
(Hannover). This is considered one of the most successful German communities
of Mexico , successful in the sense of remaining true to its roots. There
are some North German place names, such as Bremen, Hamburgo, Hannover and
Lubeck. Many local people, including "Mestizos," are partly of North German
origin, but this is not because the average North German settler did a lot
of mingling but because of the prolificacy of certain exceptions, such as
John Luttmann. (John was a very popular name in Hamburg at that time.)

I do not know about the fate of the Low Saxon language in Mexico. I wish I
knew something and would happily welcome any information. The language
tended to be suppressed by clerics and other "educated" members as it was
back home.  Exceptions are those in which solidly Low-Saxon-speaking
communities emigrated to the same places overseas (as in the case of
immigration from rural Schleswig-Holstein to the American Midwest, from
rural Pomerania to Southern Brazil, and, of course, Plautdietsch-speaking
Mennonite communities).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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