A magic night time of Son Jarocho.

Final weekend the artwork and music hub La Cochera Cultural launched me to one more genuine regional music and dance kind – Son Jarocho. the music of Veracruz.

Son Jarocho is a conventional Mexican musical fashion originating from the Veracruz area alongside the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a fusion of indigenous music, Spanish music, and African musical components, reflecting the cultural variety of the world. Son Jarocho sometimes options energetic rhythms, intricate guitar enjoying (typically on a small, five-stringed instrument referred to as the jarana), percussive components and call-and-response singing.

Son Jarocho may be easy with solely the  jarena,  guitar, and percussion like a cajón or faucet dancing often called the zapateado, a dance kind that traces its roots to Flamenco.  Typically it incorporates  the “jarocho” fashion of the harp, a big, vertical string instrument, and a donkey’s jawbone, often called a “quijada de burro” used as a percussion instrument by hanging it with a stick or hitting it towards the bottom.

The lyrics typically contact on themes of affection, nature, and on a regular basis life, and protest towards injustice, Particularly fascinating is the usage of  dance, which includes rhythmic footwork , normally on a wood platform that amplifies the sound if the faucet footwear (some zapateado platforms are literally amplified with hidden mics inside,

You’ve got heard Son Jarocho whether or not or not you realize it, It was the soundtrack for the film La Bamba, and the music “La Bamba,” originated as a Son Jarocho tune earlier than it  grew to become a worldwide hit by Ritchie Valens as a rock and roll Son Jarocho  in 1958.

I’ve heard Son Jarocho music accomplished by the LA-based band Las Cafeteras, however they mix it with rock and rap. The LA band Los Cambalache performs genuine Son Jarocho, however I’ve not had an opportunity to see them. However I did get launched to real Son Jarocho final weekend when the musical group Manguito Con Chile de Xalapa   stopped in Ajijic as a part of a tour.  

The 4 musicians  and two dancers performed songs from their first album, Patrona de Mantial, with  sounds  impressed by  the celebs,  magic and spirituality  that surrounds the  Fandango, a Mexican dance that can be a non secular expertise. The intense,  fast, melodies had been pushed by the excessive pitched jarana  and moved together with percussion performed on a cajón after which by the footwork of the dancers on a zapateado platform. Their fashion makes use of lots of “grito” – shouts and feedback within the music, and duets between two of the musicians who additionally  sang.

The dancers had been an actual hit, though the poor lighting made them exhausting to {photograph} (which is why I didn’t sheet video ). With out  the frilly costumes  of Flamenco, the 2 dancers, a person and a girl, used solely their dancing footwear, to inform the  tales of the songs and supply the beat.  The couple on the platform  exuded pleasant enjoyable as they danced , grinned, and at occasions even laughed because the viewers clapped together with them and some followers acquired up and danced at the back of the venue.

All of the songs had been in Spanish, though the introductions and commentary had been in English and in addition to Spanish. However it doesn’t matter what the language, the night time was magical and enjoyable. I’m trying ahead to the following time they tour via Ajijic and I can get even higher acquainted with Son Jarocho.

by Patrick O’Heffernan