Traditional genres of Mexican music
Encyclopedia
Traditional Mexican music
differs from contemporary Mexican music in that it is much older and uses more conservative instruments.
As the best-known that made musicians of Mexico
, mariachi's became common in Jalisco around the beginning of the 20th century, originally playing at wedding
s. The earliest known appearance of this term in reference to music is from 1852. It is said that General Porfirio Díaz
, in 1907, ordered a mariachi to play for the United States Secretary of State
. By the turn of the century, mariachi was popular across Mexico. Rural subgenres have largely died out, and urban mariachi from Mexico City
has dominated the field since the 1930s. It became known as the national music of Mexico after the 1910 Mexican Revolution
, and was subsidized during the term of Lázaro Cárdenas
. Cornet
s were added to mariachi in the 1920s; they were replaced by trumpet
s ten years later.
The first major international trend from Mexico was the popularization of ranchera
, which had developed early in the 20th century out of mariachi
, and became popular in Latin America
after being used in several films
. Thus, a new traditional Mexican ranchera (country music) style came out.
Mexican immigrants in the United States made Los Angeles
the mariachi capital of the USA by 1961. Mexican
music
was popularized in the United States in the late 1970s as part of a revival of mariachi
music led by performers like Linda Ronstadt
. One of the best-known examples of Mexican music in the United States
is "La Cucaracha
" and the Jarabe tapatío
(which is referred to as the Mexican Hat Dance in the United States).
The golden age of mariachi was in the 1950s, when the ranchera
style was common in movies. Mariachi Vargas played for many of these soundtrack
s, and the long-lived band's long career and popular acclaim has made it one of the best-known mariachi. These movies became very popular in Latin America and mariachi's became very popular in places such as Colombia
and Peru
until this date.
, conjunto norteño (music)
, conjunto huasteco
, conjunto jarocho
, marimba
.
Mexican son has been rural for most of its history, and requires audience participation for zapateado, or foot-stamping done in a counter-rhythm
. Most bands use string instrument
s and improvised
lyrics
.
In the 1940s, Mexican music began its rise to international fame, just as Cuban music
was topping charts across the globe. Since then, Mexico has absorbed influences from across Latin America
, most especially include Colombia
n cumbia
, which is now as much or more known as a Mexican trend than a Colombian one.
Mexican pop music
derives from a mixture of Spanish
, Africa
n and Aztec
or other indigenous sources. Related to Cuba
n son montuno
and Venezuela
n joropo
, Mexican son arose in the 18th century. It is similar to, but historically and characteristically distinct from, Cuban son montuno, despite the similarity in nomenclature. Nine or ten styles of Mexican son have been popular, including mariachi
.
Sones Jalisciences
Son Jaliscience
from Jalisco
and Colima
has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. Most performers consider this in 3/4, some will say alternating 3/4 and 6/8.
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho
music comes from the Veracruz area, and is distinguished by a strong Africa
n influence. International acclaim has been limited, including the major hit La Bamba
. The most legendary performer is Graciana Silva, whose releases on Discos Corason made inroads in Europe
. Southern Veracruz is home to a distinct style of Jarochos that is characteristically lacking a harp
, is played exclusively by requinto
or jarana
guitar
s, and is exemplified by the popular modern band Mono Blanco.
Son Arribeño
Sierra Gorda
's villages are home to trovadores who play arribeño music. Known for lyrical innovation, the genre is competitive in nature, and is accompanied by guitar
s and violin
s. Guillermo Velázquez
and Ángel González are some of the best-known contemporary exponents of arribeño.
Son Calentano
Son Calentano
is a Melodically
complex violin
music from the Balsas River Basin of southern Mexico. Juan Reynoso
is especially popular, and has won the National Prize for Arts and Sciences.
Son de Arpa grande
Sones de arpa grande developed in an arid, hot area of western Mexico. It is dominated by a harp
, accompanied by violins and guitars. Originally confined to poor rural areas and urban brothels, sones de arpa grande is now popular among the suburban and urban middle- and upper-class audiences. Juan Pérez Morfín and Beto Pineda are the best-known performers.
Abajeños
Indigenous communities have produced their own variants of Mexican son, which is otherwise a primarily mestizo
genre. The Purépecha (from Michoacán
) are known for the sones abajeños, which are often played alongside pirekaus, a form of native love song. Famous bands include Atardecer and Erandi.
Istmeños
The Zapotecs of Oaxaca have produced some extremely famous love songs, and the people's sones istmeños, which are sung in both Zapotec
and Spanish
. The music has been popularized, primarily by pop stars from outside the area, including Lila Downs
.
Son huasteco
Son Huasteco
music, a style developed by Mexico's Huastec
people, is a genre which has been gaining in popularity in recent years. Two guitarists sing in a falsetto
with accompaniment by a violin
. Improvisation is common. Los Camperos de Valle, Harmonia Huasteca, Los Hermanos Calderon and Trio Tamazunchale are especially influential performers.
This type of song can be performed by many musical ensembles, like mariachi, banda, conjunto norteño and duets.
Canción yucateca
This type of song is performed by tríos and has a mixed rhythm of 3/4 and 4/4.
Bolero
The bolero is a slow, rhythmically simple (but sometimes melodically complex) love ballad. Although the bolero was born in Cuba, it became a prominent traditional song form in Mexico almost immediately after its conception. Some musicologists even trace a Mexican origin, in terms of influence, in the state of Yucatán
, as the traditional son music from this region has many similarities to the Cuban bolero. Agustin Lara, one of the most famous Mexican composers, wrote many boleros that became both popular and traditional pieces in the 20th century.
Music of Mexico
The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably indigenous Mexican and European, since the Late Middle Ages...
differs from contemporary Mexican music in that it is much older and uses more conservative instruments.
Classification
There is a classification by- type of ensemble (mariachi, banda, conjunto calentano, conjunto jarocho, etc.)
- type of musical form (canción ranchera, son huasteco, son jarocho, polka, etc.)
Mariachi
The mariachi is a type of folk ensemble that perform ranchera, son de mariachi, huapango de mariachi, polka, corrido, and other musical forms.As the best-known that made musicians of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, mariachi's became common in Jalisco around the beginning of the 20th century, originally playing at wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s. The earliest known appearance of this term in reference to music is from 1852. It is said that General Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
, in 1907, ordered a mariachi to play for the United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
. By the turn of the century, mariachi was popular across Mexico. Rural subgenres have largely died out, and urban mariachi from Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
has dominated the field since the 1930s. It became known as the national music of Mexico after the 1910 Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, and was subsidized during the term of Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
. Cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
s were added to mariachi in the 1920s; they were replaced by trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s ten years later.
The first major international trend from Mexico was the popularization of ranchera
Ranchera
Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...
, which had developed early in the 20th century out of mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
, and became popular in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
after being used in several films
Mexican cinema
The history of Mexican cinema goes back to the ending of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, when several enthusiasts of the new medium documented historical events – most particularly the Mexican Revolution – and produced some movies that have only recently been rediscovered...
. Thus, a new traditional Mexican ranchera (country music) style came out.
Mexican immigrants in the United States made Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
the mariachi capital of the USA by 1961. Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
was popularized in the United States in the late 1970s as part of a revival of mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
music led by performers like Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
. One of the best-known examples of Mexican music in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is "La Cucaracha
La Cucaracha
"La Cucaracha" is a traditional Spanish folk corrido that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It has additionally become a verse played on car horns.-Origins:...
" and the Jarabe tapatío
Jarabe tapatío
The Jarabe Tapatío dance in its standardized form was first choreographed by the Mexican, in the early twentieth century to celebrate a government-sponsored fiesta that commemorated the successful end of the Mexican Revolution....
(which is referred to as the Mexican Hat Dance in the United States).
The golden age of mariachi was in the 1950s, when the ranchera
Ranchera
Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...
style was common in movies. Mariachi Vargas played for many of these soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s, and the long-lived band's long career and popular acclaim has made it one of the best-known mariachi. These movies became very popular in Latin America and mariachi's became very popular in places such as Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
until this date.
Other ensembles
Other ensembles include bandaBanda music
Banda is a brass-based form of traditional music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including rancheras, corridos, cumbias, baladas, and boleros. Bandas are most widely known for their rancheras, but they also play modern Mexican pop, rock, and cumbias...
, conjunto norteño (music)
Norteño (music)
Norteño , also norteña or conjunto, is a genre of Mexican music. The accordion and the bajo sexto are norteño's most characteristic instruments. The norteño genre is popular in both Mexico and the United States, especially among the Mexican community...
, conjunto huasteco
Conjunto huasteco
A conjunto huasteco is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of guitarra huapanguera, jarana huasteca and violin, but can also have other violins and guitars.Its repertory covers sones huastecos in 3/4 and 6/8, and rancheras....
, conjunto jarocho
Conjunto jarocho
A conjunto jarocho is a type of mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of requinto, arpa jarocha and jarana, but can also have violin, pandero octagonal, quijada, marimbol or güiro.Its repertory covers sones jarochos in 3/4, 6/8 and 4/4....
, marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
.
Sones
Mariachi is only one genre of Mexican son. Mexican son also includes various miscellaneous styles. The guitar is universally present in nearly all Mexican son sub-genres. Other instruments may include trumpets, violins, and accordions.Mexican son has been rural for most of its history, and requires audience participation for zapateado, or foot-stamping done in a counter-rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
. Most bands use string instrument
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s and improvised
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
.
In the 1940s, Mexican music began its rise to international fame, just as Cuban music
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...
was topping charts across the globe. Since then, Mexico has absorbed influences from across Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, most especially include Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
, which is now as much or more known as a Mexican trend than a Colombian one.
Mexican pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
derives from a mixture of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n and Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
or other indigenous sources. Related to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n son montuno
Son montuno
The son montuno is a style of the Cuban son, but exactly what it means is not an easy question to answer. The son itself is the most important genre of Cuban popular music. In addition, it is perhaps the most flexible of all forms of Latin-American music...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
, Mexican son arose in the 18th century. It is similar to, but historically and characteristically distinct from, Cuban son montuno, despite the similarity in nomenclature. Nine or ten styles of Mexican son have been popular, including mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
.
Sones Jalisciences
Son Jaliscience
Son Jaliscience
Son Jaliscience from Jalisco and Colima, in Mexico, has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. It is performed by mariachi ensembles. It has an alternating rhythmic pattern in the armonía and guitarrón. Basic pattern consists of one measure of 6/8 with the next...
from Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
and Colima
Colima
Colima is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima....
has both instrumental and versed songs in this form, mostly in major keys. Most performers consider this in 3/4, some will say alternating 3/4 and 6/8.
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...
music comes from the Veracruz area, and is distinguished by a strong Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n influence. International acclaim has been limited, including the major hit La Bamba
La Bamba (song)
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...
. The most legendary performer is Graciana Silva, whose releases on Discos Corason made inroads in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Southern Veracruz is home to a distinct style of Jarochos that is characteristically lacking a harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, is played exclusively by requinto
Requinto
The term requinto is used in both Spanish and Portuguese to mean a smaller, higher-pitched version of another instrument. Thus, there are requinto guitars, drums, and several wind instruments.-Wind instruments:...
or jarana
Jarana
The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument, from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Typically strung with 8 strings in 5 courses, usually arranged in two single outer strings with three courses between. The strings are usually nylon, although they were gut...
guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, and is exemplified by the popular modern band Mono Blanco.
Son Arribeño
Sierra Gorda
Sierra Gorda
The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí...
's villages are home to trovadores who play arribeño music. Known for lyrical innovation, the genre is competitive in nature, and is accompanied by guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s. Guillermo Velázquez
Guillermo Velázquez
Guillermo Velázquez is a Mexican musician from Xichú, best known for his folk music known as "arribeño huapango" and work with the Los Leones De La Sierra De Xichú. The rough guide to World music describes him as "probably the greatest living arribeño trovador".He is a noted organizer and...
and Ángel González are some of the best-known contemporary exponents of arribeño.
Son Calentano
Son Calentano
Son Calentano
The son calentano is an instrumental form of Tierra Caliente, Mexico. It has meters in 3/4 and 6/8, an ornamented use of violin and back beats on guitar and tamborita....
is a Melodically
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
complex violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
music from the Balsas River Basin of southern Mexico. Juan Reynoso
Juan Reynoso
Juan Reynoso may refer to: Juan Reynoso Guzmán, Peruvian footballer Juan Reynoso Portillo, Mexican violinist...
is especially popular, and has won the National Prize for Arts and Sciences.
Son de Arpa grande
Sones de arpa grande developed in an arid, hot area of western Mexico. It is dominated by a harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, accompanied by violins and guitars. Originally confined to poor rural areas and urban brothels, sones de arpa grande is now popular among the suburban and urban middle- and upper-class audiences. Juan Pérez Morfín and Beto Pineda are the best-known performers.
Abajeños
Indigenous communities have produced their own variants of Mexican son, which is otherwise a primarily mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
genre. The Purépecha (from Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
) are known for the sones abajeños, which are often played alongside pirekaus, a form of native love song. Famous bands include Atardecer and Erandi.
Istmeños
The Zapotecs of Oaxaca have produced some extremely famous love songs, and the people's sones istmeños, which are sung in both Zapotec
Zapotec language
The Zapotec language are a group of closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highlands of Mexico. Present-day native speakers are estimated to number over half a million, with the majority inhabiting the state of Oaxaca....
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The music has been popularized, primarily by pop stars from outside the area, including Lila Downs
Lila Downs
Lila Downs is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music...
.
Son huasteco
Son Huasteco
Son Huasteco
Son Huasteco is one of 8 Mexican son styles and is a traditional Mexican musical style originating in the 6 state area of Northeastern Mexico called La Huasteca. It dates back to the end of the 19th century and is influenced by Spanish and indigenous cultures...
music, a style developed by Mexico's Huastec
Huastec
The Huastec or Téenek , are an indigenous people of Mexico, historically based in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas concentrated along the route of the Pánuco River and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.There are approximately 66,000...
people, is a genre which has been gaining in popularity in recent years. Two guitarists sing in a falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
with accompaniment by a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. Improvisation is common. Los Camperos de Valle, Harmonia Huasteca, Los Hermanos Calderon and Trio Tamazunchale are especially influential performers.
Canciones
Canción rancheraRanchera
Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...
This type of song can be performed by many musical ensembles, like mariachi, banda, conjunto norteño and duets.
Canción yucateca
This type of song is performed by tríos and has a mixed rhythm of 3/4 and 4/4.
Bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
The bolero is a slow, rhythmically simple (but sometimes melodically complex) love ballad. Although the bolero was born in Cuba, it became a prominent traditional song form in Mexico almost immediately after its conception. Some musicologists even trace a Mexican origin, in terms of influence, in the state of Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
, as the traditional son music from this region has many similarities to the Cuban bolero. Agustin Lara, one of the most famous Mexican composers, wrote many boleros that became both popular and traditional pieces in the 20th century.