Son Jarocho & Fandango

Son jarocho is the traditional music of Veracruz, on Mexico's Gulf coast. It braids indigenous, Spanish baroque and West African roots into a 6/8 groove played on jaranas and requintos, with singers trading improvised verses — décimas — that are often witty or risqué, and dancers marking the rhythm with zapateado on a wooden platform called the tarima.

It is a relative of the Cuban son, the Venezuelan joropo and the Chilean cueca, and its verses still speak of love, the sea, cattle and the everyday life of colonial and nineteenth-century Mexico.

A fandango is the community party where son jarocho lives: musicians in a circle around the tarima, dancers taking turns, verses passed from voice to voice for hours. ALMA hosts free fandangos across Greater Boston — at Harvard University with the ensemble Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, at The Foundry in Cambridge, and each summer at a farm outside the city.

Yes, you can join. Bring a jarana if you have one, dancing shoes if you don't, and if you have neither, come and sing along. Dates are announced on Instagram and on our events page.

The Son Jarocho Zapateado Workshop teaches the basic steps of the tradition in two groups — a youth program (ages 8–18) and an adult program (20+) — taught by Zaira Meneses at LAMAC, ALMA's community arts center at The Foundry. Jarana and dance classes run by season in Cambridge and Newton; the 2025 dance program met on Saturdays in Cambridge and Wednesdays in Newton.