Episode 02 · Mexico

La Bamba: The Afro-Mexican Story

Listen for the deep voice of the leona, the strings of the chilena and the orchestras keeping danzón alive in Mexico City.

Ritchie Valens’s 1958 hit began as a son jarocho tune from Veracruz. In this Hip Deep episode, Marlon Bishop and Nina Macintosh follow Mexico’s African “third root” through Veracruz, the Costa Chica and the old dance halls of Mexico City.

Read the original program notes ↗

The confirmed recording is available.

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A musician in a straw hat holding a guitar, from the La Bamba program archive — Photograph from the Afropop Worldwide program archive.

A road trip through Afro-Mexico

01 / VERACRUZ

The leona and the fandango

The jarana, requinto and leona anchor son jarocho’s all-night fandangos. Don Delio, born Lucas Morales Vidal, played leona in Chacalapa, southern Veracruz. Afropop visited him in 2013 through Los Cojolites, part of the revival returning jaranas to younger hands.

The leona and the fandango: Afropop field notes

02 / COSTA CHICA

A harpist making a living

In 2013, Afropop met Eulalio Gallardo, one of the Costa Chica’s last chilena harpists. Mariachi gigs and a rented-out speaker system helped pay his bills. The communities seeking recognition in that reporting would later be recognized in Mexico’s constitution in 2019.

A harpist making a living: Afropop field notes

03 / MEXICO CITY

Danzón in the dance halls

Mexico City’s old dance halls keep Afro-Cuban danzón in circulation, with orchestras such as Acerina y su Danzonera. Historian Ben Vinson III and ethnomusicologist Alejandro Madrid connect the music to a longer history of Africans in Mexico, beginning with the first Spanish ships.

Danzón in the dance halls: Afropop field notes

Featured artists: Los Cojolites · Las Cafeteras · La Negra Graciana · Los Gallardos · Acerina y su Danzonera

Places: Veracruz · Costa Chica, Guerrero · Mexico City