Son de Madera Performance [Live at Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2009]
Son de Madera, of Veracruz, Mexico, form part of the jaranero movement. Their performance at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival blends dance with song. Their most recent album, Son de Mi Tierra, was released in 2009 by Smithsonian Folkways and was recently named a finalist for the 2009 Independent Music Awards as the Best Latin Album.
The name of this musical group, Son de Madera (Sound of Wood), plays off the word "son," meaning both "sound" and the son genre, and the fact that their instruments were fashioned from wood (madera). The improvisatory, string-driven music of Veracruz called son jarocho has enjoyed several decades of major resurgence. This "back-to-the-future" recording allies elder farmer and rancher musicians with the next generation of forward-looking innovators who comprise the group Son de Madera. Son de Mi Tierra ("Sound of My Land") burgeons with creativity and reverence for both the old and the new as it draws from rural roots to produce fresh interpretations of this popular Mexican regional music. 13 tracks, 52 minutes, 40-page booklet with extensive bilingual notes and photographs.