The Music of the Southwest Web site is a tribute to the many performers, volunteers, and organizers of the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival. It is dedicated especially to its founder, Dr. James S. (Big Jim) Griffith, without whom none of these unique resources would be available to us and the generations that follow.

James S. "Big Jim" Griffith on stage at TMY, circa 1977

In February 2003, our Learning Technologies Center Audio and Video Production services unit implemented a new module for the video server that is used to encode video from Arizona Illustrated, Southern Arizona's newsmagazine program It airs weeknights at 6:30 (with a repeat each night at midnight) on KUAT-TV, Channel Six, our regional PBS affiliate. The new module enables us to select videoclips from Arizona Illustrated programs that have been digitized and create links to RealPlayer streaming video accessible over highspeed Internet connections. Take a look at one regarding Native American music.

Fall semester 2002, Professor Janet Sturman of the U of A's College of Fine Arts, created an assignment for students in her Music 334 course, Music in World Cultures. Students worked collaboratively in small groups to research and report on specific content sections, such as Corridos, or specific songs, such as Oh, Dem Golden Slippers. Dr. Sturman worked closely with the students to ensure that their efforts were of sufficient quality for inclusion in Music of the Southwest. This website's content has grown enormously from their research. Our thanks to Dr. Sturman and her students for their excellent contributions.

Music of the Southwest is an on-going endeavor that began in 2002 with the Cowboy Songs and Singers project. Here is a list identifying some of our major contributors.

Lee Furr, now retired, was a media specialist in the College of Fine Arts' Treistman Center, whose skill conserved the original seven and twelve inch audio reels and created the digital music clips contained in this site. In the summer of 2001, Lee directed the project's second stage, which added Spanish and English text to about thirty of the recordings collected in this project. Working under Lee's direction was Mario Carillo, a graduate student who translated the Spanish language corridos into English. Dr. Celestino Fernandez, a U of A sociology professor who introduced many of the TMY corrido performances, reviewed and corrected the translations. Tom Hapgood, formerly the Digital Arts Design Manager in the Treistman Center, created the attractive graphics containing the QuickTime plug-in and English and Spanish text to the corridos.

Mike Martelle, a graphics artist in the U of A's Learning Technologies Center, who designed the site's template and created the attractive images that adorn the pages.

Stuart Glogoff, U of A's Learning Technologies Center, developed the concept, selected the resources from the Special Collections archives, and continues to add resources and manage the website.

Roger Myers, Archivist at the U of A Library's Special Collections.

At this time, the audio files you retrieve from this site are provided in several formats. QT indicates that it is streaming an Apple QuickTime audio file. MP3 files will download to your computer and depending on how you have your players configured, can be played by several different ones. Possible choices to play MP3 audio files are: Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and RealOne Player. The time it takes to play any of the audio or video media on the Music of the Southwest website varies depending on a number of factors: the speed of your connection (e.g., modem connections; DSL; cable modem; highspeed campus connections); amount of traffic on the Internet; unforeseen delays between your computer, the Internet, your Internet Service Provider, etc. For more information on plug-ins, consult the Cowboy Songs and Singers Information Page. To download a free player visit: Windows Media Player from Microsoft's website; QuickTime from Apple's web site; and the RealOne Player from the Real website

Want to contribute music to the website? Please send e-mail to Stuart Glogoff