Son de Madera
Encyclopedia
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.
Gutiérrez, based in Xalapa
, Veracruz, leads the group, plays the guitarra de son (also called requinto jarocho), and sings. José Tereso Vega Hernández, son of elder master-musician Andrés Vega, lives in the Municipality of Tlacotalpan
, plays the jarana
, sings, and plays harmonica on "Buscapies." Rubí Oseguera, who relocated to Mexico City from Minatitlán, is widely admired among jaranero revivalists as a model of traditional jarocho dance style; her footwork (zapateado) adds a percussive cadence to some of the band's performanecs. Los Angeles-based Mexican American Juan Pérez plays electric bass, adding a contemporary touch to the group’s sound.
Several guest artists, all long-time associates of Son de Madera, add sounds and sensibilities of both the avant-garde and the "rear guard" of son jarocho
performance. Guitarra de son player Andrés Vega (b. 1932), Tereso’s father, is widely revered as a fountainhead of the rural son tradition. Patricio Hidalgo Belli, grandson of Arcadio Hidalgo, plies his talents for singing improvised poetry. Natalia Arroyo Rodríguez, violinist, and Rubén Vásquez Domínguez, arpa jarocha player, performed about a dozen times with the band at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
in 2009.
Son de Madera has long been at the forefront of a musical revival and revitalization, drawing from sounds, styles, and musicians that remain at the margins of the more commercialized son jarocho while incorporating new sounds and stylistic perspectives.
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...
band based in 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...
, Mexico. Its core members are Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Tereso Vega, and Rubí Oseguera Rueda. The band was founded in 1992.
Gutiérrez, based in Xalapa
Xalapa
Xalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...
, Veracruz, leads the group, plays the guitarra de son (also called requinto jarocho), and sings. José Tereso Vega Hernández, son of elder master-musician Andrés Vega, lives in the Municipality of Tlacotalpan
Tlacotalpan
The city of Tlacotalpan is located in the eastern coastal region of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Although the area had been inhabited since pre-Columbian times, the modern-day settlement was founded as a river port on the banks of the Río Papaloapan in the mid-16th century...
, plays the jarana
Jarana
The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument, from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Typically strung with 8 strings in 5 courses, usually arranged in two single outer strings with three courses between. The strings are usually nylon, although they were gut...
, sings, and plays harmonica on "Buscapies." Rubí Oseguera, who relocated to Mexico City from Minatitlán, is widely admired among jaranero revivalists as a model of traditional jarocho dance style; her footwork (zapateado) adds a percussive cadence to some of the band's performanecs. Los Angeles-based Mexican American Juan Pérez plays electric bass, adding a contemporary touch to the group’s sound.
Several guest artists, all long-time associates of Son de Madera, add sounds and sensibilities of both the avant-garde and the "rear guard" of son jarocho
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...
performance. Guitarra de son player Andrés Vega (b. 1932), Tereso’s father, is widely revered as a fountainhead of the rural son tradition. Patricio Hidalgo Belli, grandson of Arcadio Hidalgo, plies his talents for singing improvised poetry. Natalia Arroyo Rodríguez, violinist, and Rubén Vásquez Domínguez, arpa jarocha player, performed about a dozen times with the band at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held for two weeks around the Fourth of July holiday...
in 2009.
Son de Madera has long been at the forefront of a musical revival and revitalization, drawing from sounds, styles, and musicians that remain at the margins of the more commercialized son jarocho while incorporating new sounds and stylistic perspectives.