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Yeeeha! Son jarocho. It warms my heart to know that someone out
in the ether is reading my ramblings. Recently I was given a chance
to prune the African diaspora tree and discovered this sturdy
branch of which I was sort of aware, but somehow ignored…..simply
because I didn’t know much about it…that human conservatism
again, as I mentioned earlier on in the article…and the
root cause of the aesthetic barrenness that rules the airwaves….ignorance
and lack of education. The clippers were handed to me in the form
of a brilliant updating of the Mexican “son jarocho”
tradition to be heard on “Floreando” by Conjunto Jardin
(see the review section). Indeed son jarocho may be the oldest
African-based style in the New World, springing from a fusion
of African and Spanish melodies and rhythms which can be traced
back to the 16th century. It is interesting to note the early
popularity of the genre.
The listener should read the description by Mexican journalist
Jose Maria Esteva in 1844 which is contained in the 33 page booklet
accompanying the CD “La Bamba; Sones Jarochos From Veracruz”
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings). What Esteva does not mention
is the call and response, the driving pulse and the improvised
polyphony as an indispensable African influence on the music and
dance of the Veracruz region of the Caribbean coast. With drums
absent, the vigour of the harp playing, the stringed jaranas and
requinto jarochos and vocals could conveniently be attributed
to Spanish sources with the same racist head-up-the-rectumness
that conveniently ignored the Moorish component in Spanish music
itself. To the modern, educated listener of today, however the
hypnotic improvisatory virtuosity, raw vocal attack and pulsing
polyrhythmic interplay simply cannot. La Bamba is without a doubt
the most the well-known (or the only one internationally) son
jarocho tune ever, so it’s fitting that lead vocalist/ requinto
jarocho player Jose Gutierrez Ramon and his brothers Felipe on
harp and Marcos on the driving jarana should open the recording
with their unique rippling rendition. Well recorded with a rough
open-air ambience, the trio don’t need drums to punch the
air, just a merciless take-no-prisoners attitude, joyfully tough
conversations between Jose and his brothers, Jose going ape on
his requinto jarocho while Felipe’s melodic imagination
on harp is melded to seemingly finger-destroying dexterity than
projects a Caribbean steel drum sonority.
On
a harp? Gimme a break! All the while Marcos grounds his brother’s
flights with the pumping rhythms of his jarana. In fact some of
rhythmic convolutions are quite extraordinary, playing games with
the basic jarocho pulse, galloping here, cantering there, then
accelerating as if the musicians are being chased by fire-breathing
dragons. Hey guys, you don’t need modern knick-knacks or
even drums…..just a sense of rhythm. Many of the songs are
standards in the music’s repertoire and some are many centuries
old. “Canelo” was mentioned in Esteva’s account
(see above). They deal either with love or petty hypocrisies and
many are associated with a particular style of dance. Songs such
as El Gavilancito and El Coco were given a superb up-dating by
the above-mentioned Conjunto Jardin. Here they are but two eddies
in an unstoppable 21- eyed Caribbean hurricane.
