Good Spanish Hymns to teach kids, pre 1968ish?

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bengeorge

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Hi,

I teach 5th graders at a Catholic school, for their music class I am teaching them the rudiments of Gregorian chant as well as walking them through the meanings of some beautiful older English hymns like “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent” and “Holy Holy Holy” etc.

All but 2 of the kids in the class are Mexican and speak Spanish at home. I would like to teach them older Spanish hymns as well to give them a sense of connection to their grandparents etc. I don’t know, however, which hymns in Spanish are good to teach. The hymns in the Spanish hymnals in the parish seem to be more or less the Spanish version of the Gather hymnal. (“Flor y Canto” I think, something like that.)

What I would like, more or less, is a list of songs that might appear in Ignatius Press’ “Adoremus Hymnal” if they made such a thing in Spanish.
 
I’m not a native Spanish speaker, but I know a few songs.

***La Guadalupana ***is a hymn for Our Lady of Guadalupe:
youtube.com/watch?v=NEi8maCn9y0
youtube.com/watch?v=Lyrvn5PyARo (a modern reggaeton version I just found, haha)

I don’t know if this would count as a hymn, but ***Las Mañanitas ***is a traditional birthday song that is also sung in dedication to Our Lady of Guadalupe: youtube.com/watch?v=0YmL146DCqY

I believe many sing Amar es Entregarse for weddings: youtube.com/watch?v=YHbFzkVQ-uQ

You can try finding traditional versions of ***Padre Nuestro ***and Dios te Salve, Maria.
 
Do NOT teach them to sing Las Mananitas during Mass. LOL! I’m Mexican by the way. 😉 However, I don’t attend the Spanish Masses around here because they are way too irreverent for my taste, and their choice of hymns is definitely not “traditional”. So I can’t really help you on any good Spanish hymns.

I’d encourage you to continue teaching them Gregorian Chant. It isn’t that hard to teach them to understand the words either, because they should know Spanish already. This is one reason I love Latin in the Liturgy. You see people who are praying the exact same way as you, but you would never be able to communicate with them in a normal context.

God bless.
 
The Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro during the attempted communist takeover of Spain went to their martyrdom singing "Cantemos al amor de los amores’. Best hymn to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Spanish!

Here’s a good version of it: youtube.com/watch?v=5LJNPmhZtxk
 
The parents and grandparents of the children in your class are a good resource. Why not ask them the same question? Or you could ask the children to ask their grandparents, or other friends and relatives who attended mass in the 1950’s, what were some of their favorite songs that they sang at mass in those days. think your 1968 date is a little too late if you’re looking for traditional hymns to sing at mass.
 
I really like these songs, but are there other arrangements out there? I really don’t mean to be rude- I’m very glad the people who made them are praising God (who I’m sure loves it), but some of their voices sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.
 
I thank you all for your replies.

I have asked the parents and grandparents what hymns are good but they either don’t know the titles or tell me I can use the Flor y Canto “and that will be fine.”

Meanwhile they are doing wonderfully with Gregorian.
 
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