Son Jarocho

Son jarocho is the regional son tradition of southern Veracruz, on Mexico's Gulf coast, where Spanish, West African, and Indigenous elements fused in the jarana, requinto, and leona string ensemble. Built for the fandango, a communal dance gathering around a wooden platform called a tarima, the music sets improvised verses to cyclical harmonic patterns in sesquialtera meter. *Los Lobos* carried its best-known song, "La Bamba", to a global audience through *Ritchie Valens*, while revival ensembles such as *Mono Blanco* and *Son de Madera* restored the fandango as living practice from the late 1970s.