Hi Alicia
Thanks for your nice comments. A further lesson about African influence in Mexico - there are a couple of sones jarochos like El Tilingo Lingo and El Chuchumbe and even La Bamba which show African influence. Why? Because words in Spanish that end in ngo, mbo, mbe, nga, etc all have African roots. The word cumbia, for instance, as well as the title of the son jarocho El Chuchumbe, come from the African word 'cumbe', which means stomach. El Chuchumbe was danced by the jarochos (a word that the people of Veracruz call themselves) belly to belly, or 'cumbe a cumbe', which the Spanish padres found very indecent during the 16th qne 17th centuries, so this dance as well as others were banned during the Spanish Inquisition.
Caramba, jorongo, manga..probably even the favorite Mexican expletive chinga - all have African roots!
J

Alicia Carrillo wrote:
----- Original Message ----
From: john robles john9ten@pacbell.net

That is a subject that interests me, as although I have never mentioned it here before, I play arpa jarocha, the folk harp from Veracruz, Mexico, and the music from that region, the son jarocho, has a heavy African influence in the rhythm, certainly, but most pointedly in the singing style. Traditional son jarocho
John, I have always had a love for music from Veracruz y los sones Jarochos such as el pajaro cu' and many other pieces named after colorful animals. I also love Carribean music. It must be my African descendants who are calling. I just recently found a document of someone who may be my African ancestress going back 8 generations, it says mulata libre and she was born in 1797. I still don't know for sure that she is my ancestress until I order additional documents.

Just a little Mexican musical history lesson for you...if you are interested in this music, you can refer to my two sites, www.elsondelpueblo.com or www.gruposolymar.net.
John I went onto your two sites and I will definitely place an order for one of your CD's, thanks for sharing that with us.

The first site has musical samples if you click on the icon of the CD.
I don't mean for this to be a commercial for my music, but I want to share some of the living African influence in Mexican musica with you all. Hope I am not crossing the line here!!
John, definitely not crossing the line here, thanks for sharing with us about your talents and about the music of Veracruz which I have always loved.
Alicia,
San Jose, Calif