Son Jarocho

Workshops, Encuentro, & Fandango

Galeria will host a series of free workshops where participants will be led through an exploration of each of three essential elements of the son jarocho of Southern Veracruz - music and playing technique (with a focus on the requinto and jarana), poetry and dance.

The workshop sessions will be proceeded by an encuentro, a concert featuring various California soneros, immediately followed by a fandango, the convivial social event centered around the son jarocho.

While the three elements will be integrated throughout the workshop, each session will give emphasis to the music, poetry or dance themes. Workshop participants will learn through hands-on instruction and conversation lead by the section leaders. New-comers to the son will be able to practice their developing skills while the more experienced will be encouraged to stretch outside the traditional chordal structures and key signatures and develop new skills. The workshop will be bilingual and accessible for both English and Spanish speakers.

The workshops will be led by Russell Rodríguez (instrument technique), Artemio Posadas (poetry), and Laura Cambrón (dance).

REGISTRATION – All workshops are FREE, but registration is necessary as space is limited. Please send an email to info@galeriadelaraza.org to confirm your spot.

This program is made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Alliance Of California Traditional Arts (ACTA).

This program also is apart of December's installment of the Mission Arts & Performance Project, a homegrown, bi-monthly intercultural and multidisciplinary series within San Francisco's Mission District.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Workshops

12:00 – 1:30pm Taller de Música – Led by Russell Rodríguez

1:45 – 3:15pm Taller de Zapateado – Led by Laura Cambrón

3:30 – 5:00pm Taller de Poesía – Led by Artemio Posadas

(workshops will be assisted by Federico Zuñiga and Chris Gonzalez Clarke)

5:00- 6:00pm BREAK

6:00 – 7:30pm Encuentro featuring: Artemio Posadas, El Mosquito, Son de la Tierra, Los Hijos de José (Russell Rodriguez, Federico Zuñiga, and Chris Gonzales Clarke), Laura Cambrón (Son del Centro and Maya Jupiter), and Quetzal Flores (Quetzal)

7:30pm Fandango

Featuring an arsenal, organic tasting by Wahaka Mezcal

Artist Bios

Artemio Posadas arrived to San Jose in 1972 as a student, and as part of the musical ensemble that accompanied the folklórico group of the University of San Luis Potosi, where he eventually received a BA in humanities. Following his father he learned to play violin and the son arribeño. He then expanded his talent to learn to play the huapanguera and jarana huasteca of the son huasteco tradition. As a member of the folklorico group of the University of San Luis Potosi he continued his exploration of regional music of Mexico by learning musical styles of mariachi, norteño and Jarocho, learning other instruments such as the vihuela, jarana jarocha, the harp, and tololoche (upright bass). Artemio had an incredible affect upon the Mexicano and Chicano community of the larger Bay Area through teaching and performance with groups such as Los Trovadores de la Costa, Conjunto Tamunal, Son de la Tierra and El Mosquito.

Since the 1990s Artemio began to produce shows, festivals and recordings focusing on the son of Mexico. He has produced several recordings featuring the groups Los Caimanes, Los Camperos de Valles and most recently El Trio Huasteco de Valles in which his original poetry was utilized for the latter two recordings. Posadas created a rich environment to learn and has continuously nurtured and mentored students of Mexican music and has always encouraged and provided guidance for many to develop their skills beyond what he was able to offer. For one of the biggest lessons learned from Artemio, was that the knowledge did not end with any single person.

Laura Cambron’s experience with son jarocho started at El Centro Cultural de Mexico in 2002. Aligned with El Centro’s vision, she learned son jarocho for the purpose of helping to cultivate cultural identity, foster sustainable communities and also collaborated binationally with some of the son jarocho communities in Mexico, all the while participating in the El Centro’s performance group, Son del Centro. During this time she also facilitated son jarocho workshops primarily composed of women, with the idea that the workshop would go beyond music and help bring a deeper self-awareness as women.

She has worked as an instructor for a number of workshops and has performed with a variety of groups such as Tokeson, Maya Jupiter, and with various son jarocho musicians from Veracruz, Mexico like Patricio Hidalgo and Liche Oseguera.

Russell C. Rodríguez is an accomplished musician and dancer specializing in performance styles of huasteca, jarocho, mariachi, and other traditional music forms of Mexico. He has performed at various folk festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, instructed at Mariachi Festivals throughout the US Southwest, and worked in San José and Los Angeles, CA, Austin, TX, Washington, DC, Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico, and San Juan, Puerto Rico as a professional musician performing in all types of venues. In addition to performing he has done extensive studio recordings as well as working as a musician and musical director for theater groups like the San José Repertory Theater and El Teatro Campesino. He is grounded in vibrant transnational music scenes that put him in dialogue with jarocho musicians in Veracruz such as musicians from the groups Son de Madera and Relicario. Rodríguez has also worked on projects with East LA musicians from the groups Ozomatli and Quetzal, and was a founding member of the Chicano ensemble Los Otros. Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos produced this group’s first CD recording “Radio Chon” that came out in the summer of 1999. His original composition from this CD “Son del Barrio” is featured in the movie “Price of Glory.” Rodríguez is currently teaching at the University of California at Berkeley and is working on his manuscript “Mariachi: Performing the Soundscape of Greater México”, which will be published by the University Press of Mississippi. He received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2006 and was a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 2007 to 2009.

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