Cascabel is the rattle from the rattlesnake. Tradition states that having one in your instrument would enhance the sound of your instrument and give you good luck.

Son Jarocho is music typical to Southern Veracruz. Son Jarocho is a mixture of cultures and rhythms. It contains African, Spanish and Indigenous roots. The structure of this genre is mainly of call and response. It is poetic in that its verses speak of nature, love, animals and/or revolution. Son jarocho is a folklore music that initiated in the rural areas of Veracruz.

Cascabel, driven by virtuoso masters in the traditional musical art form; with some added modern flairs representing today’s many musical and cultural dynamics, originally formed in San Francisco of 2009 and revamped in 2013 with the addition of Dominic Garcia. Cascabel is driven by a delicate cohesion of instrumental, percussion and vocal mastery based on the diverse creativity and life experiences of each band member. As the artistic director, Andres Flores Rosas’ main objective is to maintain the traditional musical art form of son jarocho from Southern Veracruz with an intricate balance of the distinct sounds of the traditional percussive instruments, the jarana jarocha, bass and guitarra de son.

Grever wrote more than 800 songs — the majority of them boleros — and her popularity reached audiences in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She was said to have possessed perfect pitch and wrote most of her songs in one key. Her first piece of music, a Christmas carol, was composed when she was four years old. She wrote her first song when she was 18 years old, “A Una Ola” (To a Wave), and it sold three million copies.[1]

In 1920 she began work as a film composer for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox studios. Joining ASCAP in 1935, her chief musical collaborators included Stanley Adams and Irving Caesar.[2]

Grever once said: “I had to leave my country, and now in New York I am interested in Jazz and Modern Rhythms, but above all, in Mexican Music, which I long to present to the American people. I am afraid they don’t know much about it. It is music worth spreading; there is such a cultural richness in Mexican Music (it’s Hispanic and indigenous origins and how they mix) where melody and rhythm merge. It is my wish and yearning to present the native rhythms and tunes (of Mexico) from a real perspective, but with the necessary flexibility to appeal to the universal audience”.[1]

From Wikipedia.

Gilberto Gutierrez, Mono Blanco’s artistic director, has received numerous honors including the National Endowment for the Arts “Folk Arts” Award and the Rockefeller Fund for Culture to develop projects that promote Son jarocho. However, its most important work remains within the rural communities of Veracruz. The group features Don Andres Vega, a master musician and elder in the group, who is responsible for keeping the flame of this musical tradition alive.

As a large part of disseminating this tradition, Mono Blanco conducts workshops on traditional song, dance as well as traditional instrument making. In 2001, Mono Blanco opened The House of Popular Music of Veracruz: “el caSon” – an independent music school whose sole mission is to promote and teach music of Veracruz. All of the workshops expose the idea of learning through teaching whether that is workshops on jarana, zapateado, harp, guitar or violin. El caSon features a monthly fandango with an invited group of Son jarocho, where students as well as educators participate in a jam session that displays the rich traditions of lyrical and instrumental improvisation. In addition, el caSon provides a space for the local jarocho groups to come and showcase their talent.

“… The first thing one perceives is their authenticity; specially their ability to improvise… (their) temperance within extremely good taste gives their interpretations a high poetic value…”
La Opinión, Murcia, Spain

“Like the monkey, these soneros are characterized by their originality, their gift of imitation, dexterity and spontaneity…”
La Jornada Semanal, Mexico, D.F.

“The harp and the ukelele-size guitarra de son pluck interlocking melodies and arpeggios, changing with every verse; a strummed guitar, the jarana, and an acoustic bass guitar, the guitarron, play brisk, three-against-two syncopations hinting at connections between Veracruz and Africa.”
New York Times, New York, USA

FREE admission

San Pedro Square Market
87 North San Pedro Street, San Jose, Ca. 95110

For directions click here.

VivaFest Presents, in association with the San Jose-Dublin Sister City Commission:

“Ireland Meets Mexico in a Musical Tribute to the San Patricio Brigade”

This September marks the 150th anniversary of the heroic efforts of the San Patricio Brigade, who followed their faith to fight on behalf of Mexican forces against the US invasion of Mexico in 1848. Join San Jose and Bay Area based Irish (O’Craven / Kavanaugh Brothers) Mexican-American (Cascabel) folk groups and from Veracruz, Mexico – Grupo Mono Blanco – in an evening of cross cultural celebration.

Recent engagements in San Jose include directing Opera San Jose’s productions of included directing Opera San Jose’s recent productions of Tosca, Carmen and La Cenerentola.

Ms. Rubalcava performed the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville with the Israel Vocal Arts in Tel Aviv, Israel and also had the opportunity to perform Donna Anna in Rimrock Opera’s production of Don Giovanni. Equally comfortable on the concert stage she has sung Orff’s Carmina Burana and Schubert’s Mass in g minor with The Santa Clara Chorale and she has sung excerpts from Don Giovanni with The San Jose Symphony. Other concert work includes Mozart’s Missa Solemnis at the annual St Joseph concert with the San Jose State University Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the San Jose Symphony and Cleveland Ballet.

Ms. Rubalcava had the distinct honor of singing Mozart’s Requiem at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral with Maestro George Cleve with the Midsummer Mozart Festival in 2002, and 2003, to honor those lost on September 11, 2001.  She most recently had the opportunity to sing at Villamontalvo with the Midsummer Mozart Festival as a last minute substitute for Frederica von Stade. Miss Rubalcava has been a finalist in The Palm Beach Vocal Competition, a three times NATS winner in her division, recipient of The Sturgeon Fellowship, The Friends of Music scholarship, Eleanor McKnight-Haines scholarship, and National Hispanic Scholarship.  Sandra holds a Master’s Degree from The Manhattan School of Music.

Individually, each musical artist of Sol de México^® brings a refined talent of expertise. Together, they are mesmerizing, animating the voice of their culture. With their joyful pulse this 14 member orchestrated mariachi group personify the moods of the land and people—reminiscent of your land, your people. Why is Sol de México® an elite mariachi? To mirror the romance, serenity and cultural tradition, Sol de México^® offers traditional mariachi sounds embellished with fresh contemporary passion and powerful new rhythms. It is a deep love of mariachi and a passion for it that has brought them to a superlative level of note.

In the US, his most recent appearances have included Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, the title role in Faust, as well as Don Jose in Carmen with Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, and Atlanta Opera. He also sang a highly acclaimed Gala Concert at the Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam with Norah Amsellem and Hao Jiang Tian. He will next appear as Don Jose inCarmen with Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

8:00PM (doors open 7:00PM)

Tickets on sale June 26, 2013

VivaFest Presents: “What A Difference the Music Makes: A Tribute to the Songbook of Romantic Mexico”

Join us for an unabashedly romantic evening of classics from the Mexican songbook and classical repertoire interpreted by one of Mexico’s greatest tenors – Fernando de la Mora – and one of America’s best known mariachi ensembles – Mariachi Sol de Mexico, joined this evening by Silicon Valley’s own Sandra Rubalcava, Symphony Silicon Valley, Los Lupeños de San Jose and Mariachi Azteca.

VivaFest is proud to present in collaboration with Symphony Silicon Valley an evening of romance, melody and lyricism as we focus the spotlight on a unique and popular aspect of Mexico’s musical heritage: the romantic boleros, art song and ballads beloved wherever people fall in love and created by composers such as Maria Grever, Augustin Lara, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Miguel Aceves Mejia, Consuelo Velazquez and Armando Manzanero.

With performances by (click name for artist bio):

Fernando de la Mora – Tenor

Mariachi Sol de Mexico

Sandra Rubalcava – Soprano

Los Lupeños de San Jose

Mariachi Azteca

Symphony Silicon Valley

VIDEO:

Fernando de la Mora performing Maria’s Grever’s “Jurame” Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
(CLICK HERE)

Fernando de la Mora performing with VivaFest alum, Eugenia Leon
(CLICK HERE)