Introduction to Son Jarocho Workshop
with Sirani Guevara 

May 14
2:00 – 3:30 pm • Online

FREE with  NOW Membership (purchase here)
Donations gratefully accepted (donate here) 

Please register for the workshop here

Since 1978, the New Orchestra Workshop Society (NOW) has presented music improvisation workshops, offering space for exploration and participation. Our workshops are for improvisers of all levels of ability and ranges of experience, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race or religion. We protect privacy in our workshops and adopt the We Have Voice Collective Code of Conduct. Read more about NOW workshop policies here.

This workshop aims to immerse participants in the rhythmic possibilities in son jarocho (including percussion, dance, jarana) that predominates in the sones of southern Veracruz as well as in other regions of Mexico. We will explore how rhythmic phrases can be combined to generate the polyphonic richness that is appreciated in this musical genre and how to identify the meaning of sones through the association of the beats of the measure with specific verbal phrases.

About our facilitator: 

Sirani Guevara González is a pillar of the son jarocho community, attending fandangos, cultural events related to son jarocho, and performing in concerts internationally and in the town she lives, Santiago Tuxtla, where there is one of the most vibrant and traditional communities of son jarocho and the fandango. Sirani was born in the capital of Veracruz and grew up in Santiago Tuxtla, where she began learning music and dance from the Los Tuxtlas region at the age of 8. She studied Arts in high school at INBA and then Hispanic Literature at UV. She has worked on various projects in active pedagogy, literature, ecological agriculture, and music for children. She also founded a cultural and culinary center called La Bruja in her hometown, where she organized and carried out the “Mesas de Diálogo” (dialogue tables) sessions about Traditional Music of the Veracruz Sotavento, an event that they later documented in a book. She has organized music festivals with an altruistic focus, such as Rezuma and Sueño, and has been a founding member of groups such as La Surada, Jarántula, and Flor de Limonaria. She has also recorded and participated in bands such as Mogo Mogo, Tarantella sin Fronteras, and El Balcón, organized four self-managed international tours, participated in 8 albums as a guest artist, and developed original didactics to introduce the public to son jarocho. Currently, she is a guide, student, interpreter, manager, and musician.