Sidelined far too long with the pandemic, farmer/ rancher and owner of Mountain Range Supply and Transport Bernie Torres says it’s time to get the band back together again. He’s already burned the phone lines all across New Mexico’s Taos County letting his long-time musician friends know that the holiday tradition Los Dias is back on again.
Los Dias, not to be confused with Los Dias de los Muertos, is a New Mexico and southern Colorado tradition celebrated during the holidays. It’s a custom where musicians go house to house playing music and singing songs for friends and neighbors in celebration of the New Year.
Torres is conductor, soloist, lead guitarist and lyricist, though he modestly says everyone in the makeshift band could easily hold one or more of these titles. It’s the informality of the tradition that makes it special. It’s a holiday band of brothers, sisters, friends and family making music and sharing goodwill.
“We celebrate, go out serenading in Amalia, Costilla and Questa,” three stops Torres said that have been mainstays for as long as he can remember. In pre-Covid days ‘performances’ would begin late at night or early in the morning, depending on where your home found itself on the Los Dias itinerary.
Those who’d be sung to would be safe and warm in their homes when the musicians came calling, the first stop beginning at midnight. The last stop could happen as much as nine hours later. But each would include a drink, a snack and plenty of camaraderie. “Vino de Capulin—chokecherry wine,” Torres said, is nearly always served. Also, musicians could expect empanadas, biscochitos and pie.
The core musicians who form the meandering troupe, said Torres, are all old hands at the tradition.
On New Years’ Eve, Torres will be accompanied by neighbors and friends, Danny Quintana, Nick Baca and Dean Swift. Of course, there are others, too. Those whose names Torres didn’t mention often join the group as it
moves along. No one’s ever certain who’ll show up. There’s an air of ‘ragtagedness’ that’s part of the tradition. No hard and fast rule on how big or small a Los Dias performance can be.
It’s also important to note, said Torres, that the tradition has changed with the times and today welcomes women, as many, in fact, as would like to join. The musical troupe is a family, figuratively and literally. Swift’s daughter recently joined the band. Same with Torres’ own son, now one of the group’s vocalists. It doesn’t stop there. “My wife com- poses versos (verses),” he said. He also said that his group—informally, the Torres Group—won’t be the only musicians making the rounds. On holiday nights, the hills of northern New Mexico are truly ‘alive with the sound of music.’
Torres isn’t exactly sure when Los Dias began, just that it’s been around for a very long time. As best as he can figure and depending on the veracity of those who’ve told its story, “It started all the way back to the days when Amalia began.”
That would be, he estimated, “in the 1840’s.” But its roots, he believes, go back centuries to Spain.
What makes the songs performed for Los Dias so unique is that nearly each one performed is, well, unique—an original. How original? Torres tailors songs specifically for the people the group is performing for. Some songs are rehearsed, others are often made up on the spot. The 76-year-old Los Dias veterano says modestly that he has the gift for not only spinning a song out of midair but spontaneously doing it in rhyme. (He performed one during our interview rhyming Gurule’!)
The songs, originals and staples like ‘Las Maῆanitas,’ are cheerful, melodic and meaningful. Those serenaded smile and laugh as they’re performed. But there is also an element of love and affection woven into each. “One year,” he said, “Billy Trujillo asked us to sing to his wife who was terminally ill with cancer. That was the first house we went to. When we saw the joy we brought to her, how she responded, it gave us a boost.”
Over the years, Los Dias has had its stops and starts. Families move away, musicians take breaks, sometimes life interferes. That was the case, Torres remembers, back in 1963 when Los Dias was on life support. But timing is everything. “I got together with Leo Martinez, Gasper Romero, Val Vigil and Jimmy Lovato,” he said. They all bought in. The tradition was revived.
Other times it’s those unplanned events that, as is said, throw wrenches into the works. That was the case with Covid. It put Los Dias on a two-year hiatus. Thankfully, said Torres, those things are rare but also realities. Life happens just as it did years ago when a move to Wyoming even took Torres out of the picture. But he’s back and so, too, is the band.
Amalia, Cerro, Costilla and a few other places, get ready. Instruments are dusted off, tuned and new versos are ready to be sung. The band is back together. The tradition lives. It’s time to strike up the band!
