El Señor es mi pastor/My Shepherd is the LORD

Performance Notes:

• The following article is taken from the Psalter Hymnal Handbook.

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 23:1-2
st. 2 = Ps. 23:3-4
st. 3 = Ps. 23:5

Ricardo Villarreal composed the text and tune of this setting of Psalm 23, including only the first five (not all six) verses of Psalm 23 as well as a final doxology stanza. The Spanish text and music were published with a harmonization by Delbert Asay in an undated songbook (c. 1975) entitled Nuevas Canciones Cristianas (New Christian Songs), published by Centro de Musica de la Iglesia Evangelica Metodista in Uruguay. It was first published in the United States in Celebremos II, a collection of Hispanic songs with English translations provided by a task force of United Methodist Hispanic congregations. The English translation was revised for the Psalter Hymnal by the revision committee.

Tune Information:

No information is available about Villarreal, but he may have been known to Delbert A. Asay (20th c.), who served the United Methodist Church for many years as a music missionary in Uruguay and Mexico. Asay's songs and arrangements have appeared in several Hispanic songbooks, including Nuevas Canciones Cristianas, published in Uruguay (1975).

The name PASTOR (which means "shepherd") was assigned to this tune in the Psalter Hymnal. The tune consists of an antiphon (refrain) and stanzas of two identical lines that in themselves contain a phrase repeated at a lower pitch. The form of the tune exhibits similarities to the Bolivian mestizo huayno dance. Try singing the music antiphonally by dividing each stanza into either two or four segments and having everyone join in on the refrain.

Other Resources:

• Visit hymnary.org for more information on this song and additional resources.