Ringing in Season With Ethnic Sounds

California’s musical heritage is sadly neglected, especially around Christmastime. That is the feeling of ethnomusicologist Elisabeth Waldo.

So for seven years Waldo has celebrated Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with a festive production that emphasizes California’s Southwestern roots. The event is held at Rancho Cordillera del Norte, the eight-acre ranch she moved to in 1950 with her late husband. The ranch is in Northridge at the corner of Wilbur Avenue and Nordhoff Street.

“I wanted to bring an awareness to the Valley of our real heritage,” said Waldo, who lived in Latin America for many years. “Most Christmas settings done by churches are traditional European and they don’t represent our true roots.”

The annual Noche Buena celebration, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, is marked by the ringing of ancient Spanish colonial bells from the tower of the New Mission Theatre at the historic estate. The land was a sheep farm on the sprawling old Mission San Fernando some 200 years ago.

It’s followed by a procession of performers and the spectators who carry candles around the ranch grounds, decorated with softly glowing luminarias.

A patio buffet of fajitas and other Southwestern specialties follows, before the show moves to the nearby 150-seat theater.

A large wooden cross covers the wall at the back of the stage and the rest of the theater is filled with Latin American art objects, including colorful masks and an array of violins and drums native to Bolivia and Argentina.

There is also a large painting of the Mexican virgin, La Virgen de la Guadalupe.

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The show, directed and produced by Waldo, features dancers in colorful native costumes and a variety of indigenous music created by ancient instruments made of clay, seashells, reed, animal bones, copper, deer hoofs and stone.

“Elisabeth is very well-known for all different kinds of ethnic music,” said dancer Ana Laura Sanchez, who will perform in Sunday’s show. “It makes Noche Buena really great.”

Excerpts from the fantasia musical, “Los Pastores,” are reenacted, as is “El Viaje a Belen,” (Journey to Bethlehem). An ofrecimiento (offering) is made to the baby Jesus by children in the show. The production ends with “La Despedida del Nino Jesus,” a farewell to baby Jesus.

“It’s such a unique show and a marvelous contribution to the community,” said Jane Matthews, who has attended every Noche Buena at Cordillero. “It’s a party atmosphere and the ranch is decorated so beautifully. Every year it’s different, which keeps the public coming back.”

At the end of the evening a pinata is set up and traditional desserts, such as bunuelos, deep-fried sweet tortillas, are served.

The pinata has become symbolic of Mexican celebrations, but it also has religious connotations. According to Catholic church officials, the breaking of the pinata symbolizes the birth of Christ.

Another version says the pinata represents sin, and the person striking it represents faith. The candies and other goodies are the reward for faith overcoming sin.

“The children just love the pinata,” Waldo said. “It’s an important part of the celebration for a lot of reasons.”

Waldo, who won’t reveal her age but appears to be in her mid-70s, became fascinated with ethnic music when she was growing up on a ranch near the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington state.

She studied classical violin with Russian violinist Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She toured with the All American Youth Symphony and later became a member of the Los Angeles Symphony.

But she realized early in her career that the mystical sounds of indigenous people had to be part of her musical life.

“After living in Latin America, I never returned to symphony,” Waldo said. “Their music offers a freer expression and spontaneity not found in European music.”

While performing in Mexico, Waldo met the late artist Diego Rivera, who became a friend and mentor. He encouraged her to play instruments that Native Americans had developed based on the guitars and violins brought by the Spanish.

Besides composing and playing violin, Waldo teaches ethnic music at Rancho Cordillero del Norte as founder-director of the nonprofit Multicultural Music and Arts Foundation of Northridge. Waldo conducts concerts and workshops in Native American, Spanish and Asian music at the estate.

Among her favorite events is the Noche Buena celebration, she said, “because it’s so festive and everyone is so happy.”

DETAILS

* WHAT: Noche Buena.

* WHERE: Rancho Cordillera del Norte, 9015 Wilbur Ave., Northridge.

* WHEN: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

* HOW MUCH: $30. Reservations on a first-come, first-served basis.

* CALL: (818) 349-3431.

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