This blog will delve into the cultural and entertainment aspects of folklorico music and dance of Mexico. It also will host the show notes to the podcast titled "Arriba! Folkorico music and dance of Mexico."

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Arriba! Folklorico music and dance of Mexico - Episode #1 - 2 July 2006: Introduction with the Jarabe Tapatio played by mariachis during Fiesta! 2006



This episode introduces the series of Arriba! Folklorico Music and Dance of Mexico.
The main topics discussed were:
  • A musical teaser introduction of the beginning of the song El Jarabe Tapatio, as played by the Mariachi Los Caporales and other mariachis in San Antonio, Texas, during the week-long celebration of Mexican Culture in April, 2006 -- this annual program is called Fiesta!
  • Setting the stage of the cultural setting of Mexico -- especially the mixture of cultures resulting from the many invasions during its history. These include the Spaniards, the French, the US Americans (during the Mexican War of 1846-1848), along with the settlement of the Germans and Poles.
  • The many cultures and subcultures for each region of the 30 modern states of Mexico are introduced -- ready for future episodes to go more into depth:
  1. El Norte
  2. La Huasteca
  3. Veracruz (Jarocho)
  4. Chiapas
  5. Michoacan
  6. Jalisco
  7. Los Aztecas (Tenochtitlan, ancient capital, which is now Mexico City)
  • A map of the regions is provided for you with an image, above.
  • The real benefit of future episodes will be the live interviews with different musicians from mariachis, conjuntos jarochos, conjuntos huastecos, conjuntos nortenos, and trios.
  • My background as a former professional folklorico dancer, director of a Ballet Folklorico Group, as well as an instructor in Southern California and professor at the University in California (where I taught the course called "A survey of Mexican folklore: music and dance from the Pre-Columbian era to the modern day").
  • Program ends with the final teaser of the final part of the musical piece, El Jarabe Tapatio, including an explanation of the diana.
  • There will be more to come in future episodes, so don't miss out.
  • You can listen to, or download, this episode as an mp3 file.