Son Jarocho
Encyclopedia
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...

 state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the port city of Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...

. It represents a fusion of indigenous (primarily Huastecan), Spanish, and African musical elements, reflecting the population which evolved in the region from Spanish colonial times. Lyrics include humorous verses and subjects such as love, nature, sailors, and cattle breeding that still reflect life in colonial and 19th century Mexico. Verses are often shared with the wider Mexican and Hispanic Caribbean repertoire and some have even been borrowed from famous works by writers of the Spanish "Siglo de Oro". It is usually performed by an ensemble of musicians and instruments which collectively are termed a "conjunto jarocho
Conjunto jarocho
A conjunto jarocho is a type of mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of requinto, arpa jarocha and jarana, but can also have violin, pandero octagonal, quijada, marimbol or güiro.Its repertory covers sones jarochos in 3/4, 6/8 and 4/4....

".

The instruments most commonly associated with Son Jarocho are the jarana jarocha, a small guitar-like instrument used to provide a harmonic base, with strings arranged in a variety of configurations; the requinto jarocho, another small guitar-like instrument plucked with a long pick traditionally made from cow-horn, usually tuned to a higher pitch and with a four or five thick nylon strings; the arpa jarocha
Arpa jarocha
The arpa jarocha is a harp from Veracruz, Mexico, used in conjunto jarocho music.It is a wooden harp with 32-36 strings tuned diatonically over five octaves. The performer plays a bass line on the low strings with one hand and with the other supplies arpeggiated melodies on the higher strings...

, and sometimes a minor complement of percussion instruments such as pandero, cajón
Cajón
A cajón is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front face with the hands.-Origins and evolution:...

 and quijada (an instrument made of a donkey or horse jawbone
Mandible
The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

). Son Jarocho is often played only on jaranas and sung in a style in which several singers exchange improvised verses called décima
Décima
A décima refers to a ten-line stanza of poetry, and the song form generally consists of forty-four lines...

s
, often with humorous or offensive content. The most widely known son jarocho is "La Bamba
La Bamba (song)
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...

", which has been popularized through the version by Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

 and the American movie of the same name.

More recently, instruments and rhythms from son jarocho have been used by rock groups such as Café Tacuba, Quetzal, 22 Pesos, Ozomatli
Ozomatli
Ozomatli is a seven to ten piece band playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock music, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their wide array of musical styles - including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, rap, and others.In a 2007 NPR interview, band...

, and Zack de la Rocha
Zack de la Rocha
Zacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...

. East L.A. rockers Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

 have also recorded in the Jarocho genre.

Related genres are: Son Huasteco
Son Huasteco
Son Huasteco is one of 8 Mexican son styles and is a traditional Mexican musical style originating in the 6 state area of Northeastern Mexico called La Huasteca. It dates back to the end of the 19th century and is influenced by Spanish and indigenous cultures...

, Huapango
Huapango
Huapango is a corruption of the Nahuatl word huapanco that textually means on top of the wood platform according to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española . Today huapango refers to a musical style that originated in and is played throughout the La Huasteca region in Mexico...

, Son Jaliscience
Son Jaliscience
Son Jaliscience from Jalisco and Colima, in Mexico, has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. It is performed by mariachi ensembles. It has an alternating rhythmic pattern in the armonía and guitarrón. Basic pattern consists of one measure of 6/8 with the next...

, Son Chiapaneco and Son
Son (music)
The Son cubano is a style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin...

.

Well-known artists playing the genre are: Mono Blanco, Siquisirí, Tlen Huicani, Chuchumbé, Chucumite, Los Cojolites, Conjunto Jardín and Son de Madera
Son de Madera
Son de Madera is a son jarocho band based in Veracruz, Mexico. Its core members are Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Tereso Vega, and Rubí Oseguera Rueda. The band was founded in 1992....

.

External links

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