self-conscious expressions of pride in a city, state, or region. Older coplas include
archaic word usage*, poetic rural imagery+, and folk wisdom^. An example is the
following, from the son “El Pasajero”:
Yo vide* pelear un oso+/ Con una garza morena+
Que siendo el hombre vicioso/ Aunque la suya esté buena
No hay bocado más sabroso/ Como el de la casa ajena^.
I saw a bear fighting/ With a dark heron
For a man who is licentious/ Even though what he has is good
There is no morsel more delicious/ Than that from another house.
Bandas populares (civilian brass bands) were introduced to northwestern Mex-
ico in the 1800s; they maintained a repertoire of folk sones. Independence from
Spain and the decline of ecclesiastical influence brought Mexican secular music
to greater prominence. Sones associated with political insurgence were honored as
symbols of national identity, and the early 20th century brought the first recording
of the Mexican son (Chicago, 1908).
As mariachi groups began to record and tour, the introduction of the modern guitar
replaced traditional instruments such as harps. By the 1930s, traditional repertoire
featuring son jalisciense expanded to include son jarocho and son huasteco (requiring more violins and replacing the harp with the guitarrón , a large, deep-bodied, six-string bass), identifiable by nostalgic migrants. At that time, banda (woodwind and brass)
musicians in Sinaloa played a similar repertory of popular tunes and regional sones.
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Musical Style
Most sones have a competitive aspect, with improvised rhyming coplas. Son ar-
ribeño is particularly known for textual innovation. Many of the tunes come from
16th-century Spain, and new improvised texts follow the typical octosyllabic form.
Indigenous forms of son incorporate, alternate, or replace Spanish texts ( sones is-
temeños are sung in both Zapotec and Spanish). Some canciones interpolate a sec-
tion of son structure. Sones abajeños are often played in alternation with pirekaus, a form of native love song from Michoacán.
Son is typified by a complex triple or compound meter, with a chordal string
instrument (guitar or harp) playing one distinct rhythm while the bass stringed in-
strument ( guitarrón or harp) emphasizes a contrasting pattern.
Instrumentation
The guitar and violin are present in most varieties of Mexican son. Son arribeño and son hausteco retain small trios. Indigenous son performers often include traditional instruments such as ocarina, caracol, and flauta de tres hoyes. Son huasteco and huapango employ falsetto singing and focus on vocal and textual improvisation.
Some sones employ percussion, such as those from Tixtla, which require a ta-
peador tapping on a board in a wooden box; the son jarocho, which employs a qui-
jada (donkey jaw) and pandero (wood frame tambourine); and the son calentano
Balsas, which combines one or two violins, one or more guitars, a tamborito (small
double drum), and competitive dancing performed on a wooden tarima (plat-
form). Son calentano also has the most complex violin music, and son de arpa
grande is dominated by a harp.
The son jarocho shares the rhythm and high vocal timbre (but not falsetto) of
the huapango; typical instruments include the percussive harp and jarana , a small, deep-bodied rhythm guitar. In southern Veracruz, there is still a discernible indigenous presence, and the sones of that region are played more slowly and employ
different sizes and tunings of requinto and jarana guitars. The son calentano from the Tepalcatepec river basin is notable for a 36-string harp struck with the palm of
the hand, accompanied by two violins, a vihuela, and a guitar with two courses of
strings. As mariachi groups evolved, this instrumentation was transformed by re-
placing the harp with a guitarrón, enlarging the number of violins and guitars, and
including trumpets.
Conjunto groups who perform sones have a wider variety of plucked strings,
including bajo quinto ( mixteco ), bajo sexto and double bass ( norteño ), leona ( jarocho ), and huapanguera ( huasteco ). Modern mariachi groups and banda groups include brass instruments, clarinets, saxophones, accordians , and even electric
instruments.
380 | Son Calentano
Further Reading
Llerenas, Eduardo, Enrique Ramírez de Arellano, and Baruj Lieberman, producers.
“The Son,” in liner notes to Antología del Son de Mexico. 3 Compact Discs. Mexico: Cora-
son, 1985.
Sheehy, Daniel. “Mexico.” The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music. New York:
Garland, 2000.
Sheehy, Daniel. “The Son Jarocho: The History, Style, and Repertory of a Changing
Mexican Musical Tradition.” Ph.D diss., UCLA, 1979.
Stanford, E. Thomas. El Son Mexicano. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1984.
Laura Stanfield Prichard
Son Calentano
The son calentano is a type of Mexican son from the geographic area in south central Mexico known as Tierra Caliente. The region includes some areas through the
states of Michoacán, Guerrero, and Mexico (Estado de Mexico). The sones from
this region can be broadly distinguished as two types: the son calentano from Bal-
sas, and the son calentano from Tepalcatepec.
The sones from Balsas come from the basin of the River Balsas and include
parts of Michoacán and Guerrero. The repertoire, consisting mostly of sones, is
performed on one or two violins, one or more guitars, and a little double-headed
drum called a tamborito. Occasionally one sees a guitarrón playing the bass function in the ensemble. One of the great interpreters of this style was Juan Reynoso
Portillo (1912–2007) from Altamirano Guerrero, who late in his life performed ex-
tensively throughout the country and became a national treasure. Prior to Reynoso,
the repertoire from this area seldom left the region.
The sones from the Tepalcatepec region come from the basin of the Tepalcatepec
river in Michoacán. The repertoire, also consisting mostly of sones, is performed on
one or two violins, an arpa , and a selection of guitars, including guitarra de golpe and vihuela . The percussion role that was provided by the tamborito in the sones
from Balsas, is, in Tepalcatepec sones, provided by the harp’s soundboard, usually
played by another player or tamborero. Several groups from this area have gone on
to make recordings that have circulated beyond the region. Notable among these
groups is Los Campesinos de Michoacán, which now resides and performs in the
United States.
Further Reading
Llerenas, Eduardo, Enrique Ramírez de Arellano, and Baruj Lieberman, producers. “The
son, ” in liner notes to Antología del Son de Mexico. 3 Compact Discs. Mexico City: Corason, 1985.
George Torres
Son
Huasteco
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381
Son cubano. See Son (Cuba) .
Son Guatemalteco (Son Chapín)
The son guatemalteco is a dance and music genre of Guatemala. It has its origins
in the Hispanic cultures, and it is performed and celebrated among the Ladino
population. It is also known as the son chapín ( chapín is a nickname for a Guate-
malan). The son guatemalteco is the national dance of Guatemala, and is usually
accompanied by Guatemala’s national instr
ument, the marimba , or by a group of
vocalists with guitars known as a zarabanda. The repertoire of sones represents a
vast complex of regional varieties, resulting in a variety of performance practices. For
example, a performance of the son guatemalteco in remote rural areas would likely
use the earthy sounding marimba de tecomates (gourd marimba ), while an urban
performance in Guatemala City might make use of the marimba doble (double ma-
rimba ) ensemble (usually four players on two marimbas ), with an added bass and
drum set. Like the Mexican son , the majority of sones guatemaltecos make use of
sesquiáltera , though some examples of the son guatemalteco use duple or irregu-
lar meters. It is a couples dance where the performers use much zapateado (foot
stomping), and it is performed in a moderate to rapid tempo.
Further Reading
Navarrete Pellicer, Sergio. Los Significados De La Música: La Marimba Maya Achí De
Guatemala. 1st ed. México: CIESAS, 2005.
George Torres
Son Huasteco
The son huasteco is a son-based, traditional Mexican musical genre that comes
from the Huasteca region of Northeast Mexico , usually performed in a trio format,
with the huapango as its primary form. Although traditionally a folkloric form, the
son huasteco has become internationally popular through the touring groups of the
ballet folklórico and also through the recordings and performances of professional
groups such as Los Camperos del Valle.
The Huasteca region comprises portions of the states of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo,
Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Puebla. The urban son huasteco is a
stylization of the folk huapango and was among the mix of musical styles that ar-
rived with the enormous migration of people to Mexico City in the 1940s to 1950s.
Unlike their rustic predecessors, commercial huapangos are written by known
composers and sung in a slow tempo, often in bel canto style wherein the fal-
setto breaks are exaggerated into extended solo or group passages. Moreover, the
382 | Son Huasteco
additive, strophic form of the traditional huapango is modified or forsaken to in-
corporate sectional song form with a clear dramatic climax and definitive sense of
closure. The huapangos of urban trios were widely disseminated by and inextrica-
bly associated with the mass media: a few Huastecan musician-composers, Nic-
andro Castilo in particular, were successful in creating a style of son huasteco that
appealed to urban audiences. José Alfredo Jiménez, who in the 1950–1960s wrote
hundreds of successful songs, composed many modern sones huastecos that have
become standards in the mariachi repertoire. This early trio repertory enjoyed mar-
ket popularity until the 1960s, when they were overwhelmed by the sentimental
balada romántica.
Son huasteco is marked by three traits: the use of falsetto leaps to adorn the
vocal melodies, a focus on ornate violin playing as the lead melodic instrument,
and distinctive 6/8–3/4 sesquiáltera (hemiola) rhythm, in which the downbeats are
consistently muted and unstressed. This rhythmic shifting can also be found in the
son jalisciense , but the huasteco style incorporates both major and minor keys.
Traditional versions were performed by a trio of musicians playing a violin, a ja-
rana huasteca (small five-stringed Mexican guitar), and a huapanguera ( guitarra quinta, a deep-bodied Mexican guitar with a larger resonator and eight strings (five
courses of two single and three double strings), and the form has been expanded
by mariachi groups.
The violinist adapts the role of the harp in son jarocho, playing flamboyant,
highly syncopated melodies, improvising during interludes between the sung
verses, and striking the golpe, a staccato downbow strike at the frog of the bow,
usually followed by a crisp strum pattern on the guitars.
One or two guitars accompany in a strumming ( rasgueado) style, with the hua-
panguera player occasionally adding single-string countermelodies. This style is
usually based in triple meter with a mánico extended over six beats. The mánico
incorporates ornamentation sometimes referred to as redoble with an 8th-16th-16th
figure, with two down-strums and a third up-strum, on the first beat of the second
measure. In effect, the 16th notes have doubled a space where the eighth note
might have been executed. One of the better known son huastecos to highlight this
strumming style is “La Malagueña” (“The Woman from Málaga”).
The vocal style includes brief, ornamental breaks into falsetto. Quintillas and
sextillas (five- and six-line coplas , respectively) are favored. Singers often impro-
vise texts appropriate to the performance situation. The singing of the copla typi-
cally involves certain patterns of repeating lines of the copla that allow fuller vocal
treatment of the text and time for the singer to compose improvised coplas . Typi-
cal sones huastecos featuring falsetto breaks include “Cielito lindo,” “La Rosa,”
“La Azucena,” “El Llorar,” “El Toro Sacamandú,” “El Gusto,” and “La Huasanga.”
The son huasteco shares several elements with the son jarocho : the leading me-
lodic role of the violin or harp , the incorporation of rhythmic dancing ( zapateado )
Son
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383
on a hard floor ( tarima ), and roots in the Spanish fandango . These elements blend
to make the forms poignant expressions of regional mestizo identity. During the
revolution, political sones huastecos such as “El Soldado de Levita” were com-
posed and adapted for radio plays.
Further Reading
Azuara, C. Huapango: el son huasteco y sus instrumentos en los siglos XIX y XX.
Mexico, 2003.
Carter Muñoz, K. “Que siga el huapango! Reclaiming the Décima and Political Com-
mentary in Son Huasteca and Arribeño and ‘La Leva’s’ Re-Signification in Mexican Rock.”
MA Thesis, University of Washington, 2006.
Florencia, Pulido, and Patricia del Carmen. Crónica histórica del huapango huasteco
veracruzano: trovas, musica, danza y tradiciones . Xalapa, Equiz: Gobierno del Estado de
Veracruz, Secretaria de Educación y Cultura, 1991.
Geijerstam, Claes. Popular Music in Mexico . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico,
1976.
Manuel, Peter. “Formal Structure in Popular Music as a Reflection of Socio- Economic
Change.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 16/2 (1985)
163–80.
Martínez Hernández, R. Fiesta en la Huasteca: una Mirada a la huapangueada, los
sones, la poesía y las danzes tradicionales de mi tierra . México, 2005.
Nevin, Jeff. Virtuoso mariachi . Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2002.
Saunders, Lawrence. “The Son Huasteco: A Historical, Social, and Analytical Study of
a Mexican Regional Folk Genre.” MA Thesis, UCLA, 1976.
Strachwitz, Chris. Music of Mexico, Vol. 3: La Huasteca; Huapangos y Sones Huastecos;
Los Caimanes y Los Caporales de Panuco . El Cerrito, CA: Arhoolie Records CD431, 1995.
Laura Stanfield Prichard
Son Istmeño
Son istmeño is a variety of the Mexican son . It is heard throughout the entire region of Tehuantepec in th
e southeast state of Oaxaca, although it is also cultivated
in the bordering communities of Chiapas. The traditional instrumentation is gen-
erally guitar -based, with one or two guitars, a requinto , and sometimes a bajo quinto. In some regions, it is not uncommon to use the marimba and an electric
bass and drum set. The repertoire is in triple meter, more akin to the Mexican vals
than to other more syncopated sones. Nevertheless, one still hears elements of cross
rhythms between 3/4 and 6/8, reflecting the traditional sesquialtera so typical of
the Mexican son. Melodically and harmonically, the repertoire exhibits more tonal
than modal composition, having more tonic dominant cadences. The vocal style is
also more lyrical than the traditional, more rural examples of son. The vocal part is
384 | Son Jalisciense
often performed as a duo with vocal harmonies in thirds and sixths. Occasionally
the texts of the istmeño repertoire will be in the Zapotec idiom, with some versions
being translated in performance to Spanish. The genre is the principal type of the
region, and the Oaxacan people claim it as their own. Important songs from the
repertoire include “La Zandunga” and “La Llorona.”
Further Reading
Llerenas, Eduardo, Enrique Ramírez de Arellano, and Baruj Lieberman, producers. “The
son, ” in liner notes to Antología del Son de Mexico. 3 Compact Discs. Mexico City: Corason, 1985, 5–7.
George Torres
Son Jalisciense
The son jalisciense is a son -based, traditional Mexican instrumental and vocal
genre that comes from the subtropical lowlands in the states of Jalisco and Co-
lima. Although traditionally a folkloric form, the son jalisciense is the most widely
known of Mexican sones through its performance by mariachis .
The son jasciliense has a typical major mode harmonic structure. It is character-
ized by a 12/8 rhythmic pattern with contratiempos (fluctuations of stress) in the
melody and maniocs (strumming patterns). Some of the oldest sones of this type are
very difficult to play and depart from the 12/8 meter: they are rhythmically com-
plex, with ornate manico patterns for the stringed instruments and 3/4–6/8 musi-
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 65
