Mario Barradas and Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho was born as the regional sound of Veracruz but over time became a Mexican national genre, even transnational, genre—a touchstone of Chicano identity in the United States. Mario Barradas and Son Jarocho traces a musical journey from the Gulf Coast to interior Mexico and across the border, describing the transformations of Son Jarocho along the way.
This comprehensive cultural study pairs ethnographic and musicological insights with an oral history of the late Mario Barradas, one of Son Jarocho’s preeminent modern musicians. Chicano musician Francisco González offers an insider’s account of Barradas’s influence and Son Jarocho’s musical qualities, while Rafael Figueroa Hernández delves into Barradas’s recordings and films. Yolanda Broyles-González examines the interplay between Son Jarocho’s indigenous roots and contemporary role in Mexican and US society. The result is a nuanced portrait of a vital and evolving musical tradition.
Yolanda Broyles-González is a University Distinguished Professor and chair of the American Ethnic Studies Department at Kansas State. She is the author of El Teatro Campesino: Theater in the Chicano Movement, among other books.
Francisco González is a multi-instrument musician and a former member of the seminal folk-rock music group Los Lobos.
Rafael Figueroa Hernández is a cultural historian specializing in the study of Son Jarocho and other regional musical styles specific to the state of Veracruz and the Antilles at the Universidad Veracruzana.