Son Jarocho in-between Mexico and United States: Definition “Afro†of a Transnational Practice

Abstract

Son Jarocho, a musical genre from Veracruz, Mexico, has been nationally regarded during the 20th century as one of the original components of the Mexican cultural heritage. The recent opularizers of Son Jarocho have drifted away from the historic styles in favor of new forms that may be more commercial. The Jaranero Movement —named so after the central use of the jarana, a small guitar of Spanish origin—, attempted to recover the tradition of Son Jarocho musical style, since it has been exploited for commercial goals since the 1940s. It also tries to recover the roots of the genre, “whitened†or lost to European influences. In the last 20 years the new generation of Veracruz musicians and the Chicano movement in the United States have multiplied their collaborative efforts to recover an authentic version of Son Jarocho. In this process, the encounter with the African roots have been occurring in a new way.