Take a Musical Trip: Mexico


The music of Mexico has a lot of genres. I will be focusing on two genres: Grupera and Son Jarocho.


Grupera

Grupera is known as, “...a genre of Regional Mexican music that has its roots in classic rock of the 1960s”(Giglifepro).This style of music consists of four or more musicians playing together. The instruments that are usually played together are guitar, keyboard, and drums. Grupera is now considered a major genre. Los Yonics is a Mexican grupera group. A song from them is called Pero Te Vas A Arrepentir which features the artist, Marco Antonio Solis. The composer and writer of this song is Marco Antonio Solis. This song was released in 1992 and originates from Mexico. 

Here's a link to Pero Te Vas A Arrepentir- Los Yonics


Son Jarocho

Son Jarocho music originated in the Veracruz area. Traditionally son jarocho music is played within local communities. “Son jarocho is about honoring community ties and coming together by sharing these expressive traditions”(Azcona). Ritchie Valens is a son jarocho artist and is the singer of the hit song La Bamba. He also composed the song. This song was released in 1958 and originates from Mexico. 

Here is a link to La Bamba-Ritchie Valens

Musical Analysis

These songs show the diversity that can be found in Mexican music. In both songs the dynamic of the instruments stays the same. There aren't any drastic changes in volume. Although the vocals are what drive the music. In both songs the vocals change the dynamic by singing louder or softly throughout the song. The timbre in both songs is heard throughout the songs. During the instrumental parts both feature an electric guitar and drums. These songs do have very different instrumental sounds and styles which show the variation in the music of Mexico.


Both the songs feature artists with great vocals. I would not listen to either of these styles of music very much in my day to day life. Although it was nice to listen and learn about a different styles of music.



Sources

AllMusic. “Los Yonics.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/los-yonics-mn0000214245. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026. 

Azcona, Estevan. “Q&A with Estevan Azcona: Evolution and Impact of Son Jarocho and Movimiento Music.” College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, 17 Oct. 2023, sbs.arizona.edu/news/qa-estevan-azcona-evolution-and-impact-son-jarocho-and-movimiento-music.  

Giglifepro. “What’s That Sound: Grupera.” Giglifepro.Com, 6 July 2022, giglifepro.com/articles/what-s-that-sound-grupera.  

Wikipedia. “Music of Mexico.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Mexico.

Comments

  1. ABMarch 19, 2026 at 4:14 PM

    I researched Cuban music for my blog, so it was interesting to learn about how it differs from certain genres of Mexican music. One way both genres are the same, though, is with the use of the clave. Throughout La Bamba, you can hear the clave clicking. I never connected that until I learned about the clave today, so that was cool to hear cross-culturally.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"This Song" Musical Analysis #2

Image
  Here is a link to the song This Song -Conan Gray About the Song This Song by Conan Gray feels like a summer morning. Everytime I hear this song I think about driving to the lake with friends and blasting this in the car. This Song was released on May 30, 2025 and is one of the singles in Gray’s album, Wishbone . Gray is an American artist and both composed and wrote This Song himself. The song is described as “... a tender, emotionally vulnerable track that turns quiet longing into lyrical poetry”(Hayden 2025). This track illustrates a quiet love confession and a yearning for requited love. Musical Analysis The dynamic in the song stays about the same the whole song. There is not a lot of change in the volume. The song slightly slows during the bridge, which shifts the focus on the lyrics.  The timbre in the song is heard throughout with the heavy guitar and drums. The timbre changes slightly during the chorus with addition of violin being layered with the other instrumen...
Read more

Introduction

Image
      Hello! My name is Emma Wichmann and I'm a first year student at UAF. I'm majoring in Elementary Education.  I love to paint; portraits being my favorite. I also crochet but mostly blankets or clothing items. Something I always look forward to in the summers is camping with friends and family. I went to Valdez, AK last summer and saw an adorable otter in the ocean. The scenery is beautiful and it's fun to see different animals you wouldn't see normally.      When it comes to music I'm just a listener. I did take a few musical classes like choir and guitar in high school , but none of them stuck. I listen mostly to pop music but I do enjoy all kinds of music. I unfortunately have never been to a concert, but I do want to sometime. Even more so with all the artists going on tour this year. One of my favorite albums of all time is, Stick Season by Noah Kahan, especially the song, “Come Over." https://open.spotify.com/track/2NmaDAnnP9zspaHLc5aSj...
Read more

The Evolution of A Cappella

Image
  History of A Cappella  Before the 20 century a cappella had a whole different meaning, “ the Italian alla cappella, meaning "in chapel style." (Pingel). Josquin Des Prez played a big role in a capella and is considered by some the founder of this genre. An example of one of his compositions is Ava Maria, Virgo Serena. In this song there are multiple harmonies being sung. Charlie Pingel describes this as “multiple independent melodies intertwine in harmony.” The song has lots of variations in dynamics. It is constantly shifting from being sung softly to more powerful. Later on, during the 1900’s a capella slowly made its way to what we know now. During barbershop quartets in the first decade of the 20th century. This style had four part harmonies that involved: lead, tenor, baritone, and brass voices. During the Mid 1900s Doo-wop and Motown became popular. Groups often had singers make sounds from instruments in the songs. All of these changes made a cappella into what it i...
Read more