Ask most any person outside of Mexico what that country's best known musical style is and the answer inevitably will be mariachi.
Understandably. Mariachi is Mexico's most popular musical export. Other forms include ranchera, norteña and banda.
But there's another musical genre from Mexico. It's called the son jarocho from the Mexican east coast state of Veracruz.
Although most people do not the know the son jarocho sound they certainly are familiar with the genre's most representaive song: "La Bamba." That's right, Richie Valens turned a son jarocho song into a 1050s American rock 'n roll hit.
While the music of Veracruz does not have the popular following like its musical cousins, the son jarocho is Mexico's oldest and most diverse sound, said Diana Hinojosa, a University of Arizona graduate and Chicago resident.
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Hinojosa is a musician and a member of a Chicago-based son jarocho group which will perform June 2 at Old Town Artisans. "Viva Veracruz - A Night of Jarocho Music and Dance" will feature local Mexican folkloric dancers and mariachi music in a fundraiser for CHISPA, Celebrating Hispanic Performing Arts.
Jarocho music is the blend of Spanish, African and indigenous musical influences, said Hinojosa, 32, who was born in Michoacan and grew up in Chicago. The Spanish introduced the string instruments. The African slaves contributed the percussion and syncopation and the indigenous musicians added their lyricism to the son jarocho.
In jarocho, the typical main instruments are the harp, and requinto, a four-string guitar, and jarana, an eight-string guitar. Other instruments include the violin, liona, a bass guitar, the quijada, the jawbone of a mule or horse, the cajon, the percussive box and pandero, a tambourine.
The music is deeply embedded in Mexico's regional folk traditions but jarocho also holds the distinction that it grew out of a form of protest music. Slaves created lyrics to convey double meaning to communicate with each other without being detected. "It was rebellious," she said.
The rebellious tradition continues in the son jarocho. Mexican and Latino musicians have adopted jarocho music as an expression of ethnic identity.
In keeping with the spirit of rebellion, two members of the group decided not to travel to Tucson for the performance in protest of SB 1070. The new state law grants local police authority to question people's legal status if there is "reasonable suspicion."
"The rest of us felt that most of the people who were in support of the SB1070 law reside in the northern part of the state, and we felt that it was unfair to punish the people living in the south where the concert was taking place," Hinojosa said.
Son jarocho, however, often is apolitical. The lyrics, handed down over the generations and often changed, sing of the land, flora and fauna, and food. Jarocho musicians are famous for inventing new verses during a performance.
Jarocho's evolution continues as Hinojosa and other musicians resuscitate the sound and pass it on. She recently wrote a children's book, "El Fandango de Pablo, which tells the story of a little boy who works to keep Jarocho music alive. The book, which contains a CD of jarocho music, is written in English and Spanish.
"The ticket is that we're getting kids into the music," said Hinojosa, a former teacher.
Contacta a Ernesto Portillo Jr. al 573-4187 o al netopjr@azstarnet.com
