Sones de México Ensemble

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #135 (April/May 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

The Rich History of Son

by Chris Heim

If the first image that pops into your mind when you hear the phrase "Mexican music" is a mariachi band, complete with broad-brimmed hats, short jackets, and tight, elaborately adorned pants, you might be surprised to learn you can thank the movies for that. During the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema" in the 1940s and 50s, literally hundreds of films featuring mariachi bands were produced, helping to make mariachi the leading style of popular music in Mexico and cementing its image all over the world.

The downside to that, however, is that virtually every other style of Mexican music seemed to simply vanish. It is into this rich, varied, and largely hidden world that Sones de México Ensemble offers passage. In three albums over the past dozen years, the Chicago-based band has surveyed the many regional styles of Mexico, showcasing traditions that go back centuries with both art and energy, while firmly placing its work in the sounds and experiences of today. And through its latest album, Esta Tierra Es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land), which captured both Grammy (Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album) and Latin Grammy (Best Folk Album) nominations -- a remarkable feat for a self-produced album by a band outside the biggest music centers in the country -- more and more people may come to learn how rich and varied Mexican music actually is.

The heart of Mexican music is the "son," a distinctly Mexican style emerging in the 1600s from a fusion of indigenous, Spanish, and African forms, forged in the heat of the Spanish Conquest. "Each region claims a style of their own," said Juan Díes, co-founder and Executive Director of Sones de México. "It's difficult to say how many styles there are, because when you talk about 'son huasteco,' for example, once you get to that region, you see that up in the mountains there's one style. Then you go down in the valley, and you see different instruments and singing. Once you go to a region, you start seeing that different groups and different individuals have signature styles of their own."

[cover #135]