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."

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

007- The Golden Age or 'Siglo de Oro' of Mexican Romantic Music - Interview with Trio and Quartet - Show Janitzio


In this episode of Arriba! Folklorico Music and Dance Of Mexico, we have an interview with the 4 musicians that comprise SHOW JANITZIO, a musical troubador group that specializes in the romantic ballads of the Golden Age of Mexican Music in the 1950's and 1960's.


However, this trio and quartet also show their flexibility by being able to play any style of Mexican music on demand--from boleros to rancheras to corridos to polkas, etc. The differential advantage of this group is the inclusion of the accordion that brings a style all their own.

Listen to the 4 musicians as they describe their performances in their home base of San Antonio, Texas, as well as their tours across the cities of the United States and internationally, as well.
In another set of podcast episodes, we will have the songs from this group played at the end when we focus upon not only the romantic period of the Mexican Music during the SIGLO DE ORO (the Golden Age), but also the corridos of the Revolucion Mexicana of 1910.

Note: This present episode is from the archives of a related podcast called The Struggling Entrepreneur at www.strugglingentrepreneur.com. Although it goes deeper into the history of the group and their struggles to become successful in the world of professional troubadors, the content is just as interesting to the world of folklorico music and dance--especially with the emphasis on the Golden Age of Romantic Music of Mexico. For it is here that we see the final evolution of the serenata (serenade) in the modern day--from its humble beginnings in other genres of Mexican folklorico music, such as in Jalisco (see episode 001 for a brief discussion of the serenade by the charro).

We have 2 more episodes with Show Janitzio, in which we will focus strictly on the folkloric music and dance of the Mexican Revolution or the Revolucion Mexicana of 1910, especially the polkas and corridos. We will also have a separate episode where we will look deeper into the romantic music of the Golden Age -- the decades of the trios mexicanos.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Interview with SHOW JANITZIO and upcoming posts

In this episode of Arriba! Folklorico Music and Dance of Mexico, we will focus with live interviews from a musical group in San Antonio, Texas. On November 17, I had the opportunity to interview the 4 musicians of Mexican music from the group, Show Janitzio.
The interviews will be posted on this blog in 3 parts:

(1) Music and dance from the Revolucion Mexicana de 1910. This interview focuses on the corrido and polka from that era. There will be a couple of songs that the group, Show Janitzio, will play for us live at one of the restaurants at which they play, Estela's, in San Antonio, Texas.

(2) Musica de los trios--el Siglo De Oro de musica romantica mexicana.
This will be a discussion of the "golden age" of the romantic music from the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's that saw the abundance of musical guitar troubadors known as trios, who sang the romantic songs of such composers like Roberto Cantoral, Armando Manzanero, etc. The group even played one original song that they put together in a live environment from Estela's.

(3) The inside look at Show Janitzio.
The third interview is a look at the musical group themselves, Show Janitzio. It starts with their beginnings and lives through their struggles and ends up with their present work at delivering the music that is loved and requested by the Hispanic audiences in Texas and other parts of the country, and their love for this music. It will also describe their struggle to launch their own music as an independent group. This interview will also be posted as a podcast episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur.

These interviews will be posted in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.