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Bay Area Beats: DiaPa’Son

Courtesy Maria De La Rosa.
Performers from DiaPa’Son";

 

Son Jarocho is a style of Mexican folkloric music that’s been growing roots here in California for at least 50 years. The music grew out of the historical mix of Indigenous, Spanish, and African cultures in the state of Veracruz, which borders the Gulf of Mexico. It’s often practiced at a type of gathering called a fandango, where the community shares music, dance, poetry, and food.

 

This week, the 6th annual San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival takes place, with workshops, concerts, and a fandango. The theme this year is “Honoring the Women of Jarocho."

 

DiaPa’Son is a local group founded by Maria de la Rosa and Cassandra Milspaugh. They brought their jaranas to play a few songs and talk about their experiences in the Son Jarocho community.

 

"This kind of music is very improvisational. It's a folk community music. It's very similar to a lot of other roots music ... the way that people participate in this music is that they all know the basic set of music so it can be pretty flexible and organic on how we put things together."

You can catch DiaPa’Son performing Saturday (2/3) at San Francisco's Brava Theater.