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Cimarrón Performs "El Guate" (The Foreigner) Duration 1:55 Members of the Colombia plains ensemble Cimarrón perform "El Guate" (The Foreigner) in a Bogot´ studio. Cimarrón is known for its daring interplay of harp and bandola, aggressive rhythms, and improvised melodies. Click here for recordings.
Cantadoras del Pacífico Duration 6:58 Cantadoras del Pacífico performing their distinctive styles of music known collectively as currulao... click for more
Estrellas del Vallenato Duration 6:37 An all-star group from small towns and ranches on Colombia's Caribbean coast, Estrellas del Vallenato performs at the 2009... click for more
Marcelo Rojas and Miguel Prado perform a harp duet Duration 5:11 Representing two very different harp styles, Marcelo Rojas of Paraguay and Miguel Prado (from the group Arpex) of Mexico fuse their talents to perform this unique duet at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. click for more
Marcelo Rojas and Álvaro Marazzi Duration 4:10 Marcelo Rojas, known as a Master Arpista, a master of the Paraguayan harp, performs a dance piece with accompaniment by Álvaro Marazzi at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. click for more
Harpmaker Oscar Maldonado Duration 5:44 Oscar Maldonado discusses harp construction while Marcelo Rojas and Nicolás Caballero perform. click for more
Marcelo Rojas and Martin Portillo perform "Pájaro campana" Duration 4:37 Harpists Martin Portillo and Marcelo Rojas perform a "dueling harp" version of the classic "Pájaro campana." click for more
Inspiration behind Colombia's música vallenata Duration 6:12 Música vallenata, music from a small valley region of northeastern Colombia... click for more
The expressive power of música vallenata Duration 2:08 Fabián Corrales is a talented singer, composer, arranger, and producer of música vallenata. His youthful style focuses on the more modern style of paseo, and song lyrics hold special appeal to younger listeners. The instrumentation of... click for more
How to play bolero in mariachi style Duration 2:44 Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano demonstrate how to play bolero in the mariachi style. click for more
Mariachi Los Camperos perform "México lindo" Duration 3:17 Mariachi is an extroverted form of acoustic music that emerged in several western... click for more
Nati Cano on what makes a good mariachi Duration 2:25 Natividad "Nati" Cano was born in 1933 to a family of day laborers and folk musicians in the small town of Ahuisculco, a rural outpost in the western state of... click for more
José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa perform "La Bamba" Duration 1:47 Son jarocho is the traditional rural music of Veracruz in the Gulf region of Mexico... click for more
José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa perform "Balajú" Duration 3:04 José Gutiérrez and the Ochoa brothers are among the most celebrated performers of the Mexican son jarocho tradition. Gutiérrez serves as the caller (pregonero)... click for more
Ana Veydo demonstrates recio-style singing in a pajarillo Duration 3:16 While women in música llanera (plains music) have traditionally been encouraged to sing songs with emotional or romantic themes, Ana is one of the... click for more
Ana Veydó discusses how women have changed the face of música llanera Duration 0:57 In the plains of eastern Colombia, men have long sung to accompany their tasks of herding and milking cows. Consequently, música llanera (plains music) has a masculine character... click for more
Grupo Cimarrón perform at the 2009 Folklife Festival Duration 10:34 Filmed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for the Las Américas program. click for more
Grupo Cimarrón perform "Y soy llanero" (And I Am a Plainsman) Duration 2:58 The lively sounds of traditional joropo music can be found throughout the plains of Colombia and Venezuela. Created by ranching people with a love of cattle, horses, music, and dance, the joropo's driving rhythm and percussive... click for more
Grupo Cimarrón perform "Zumbaquezumba" (Resound, Resound) Duration 3:17 The joropo has two veins: the hard driving golpe, and the slower, more lyrical pasaje. Golpe (from golpear "to hit, to strike") refers to the percussive, strummed cuatro patterns. There are at least eighteen... click for more
Grupo Raíz perform and talk about nueva canción Duration 3:18 Activist-musicians Rafael Manríquez, Quique Cruz, and Hector Salgado formed... click for more
Members of Son De Madera explains son jarocho; music for improvisation Duration 5:01 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... click for more
Son de Madera performs at the 2009 Folklife Festival Duration 8:15 Filmed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for the Las Américas program. click for more
Suni Paz sings "Bandera Mía" (Flag of Mine) Duration 3:29 Suni Paz deftly combines her message of cultural awareness and personal awakening with... click for more
Suni Paz sings "Los Vecinos" (The Neighbors), a song for children Duration 2:45 Suni Paz is an award-winning performer for children and a pioneer... click for more
Pasito duranguense dance demonstration Duration 3:15 Pasito duranguense is a popular Mexican dance style in Chicago, Illinois. Although the music has roots in traditional nineteenth-century banda... click for more
Guatemalan and Mexican marimba traditions Duration 3:20 The marimba is a large, wooden instrument from West Africa... click for more
Fandango-Bombazo: A fiesta of Mexican and Puerto Rican music and dance Duration 2:48 Bombazos are Puerto Rican jam-sessions where musicians and dancers gather in celebration of music and community; fandangos are their Mexican counterpart. At the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, musicians... click for more
Arpex demonstrates conjunto de arpa grande Duration 5:30 The conjunto de arpa grande (big harp ensemble) is the country cousin of the Mexican mariachi... click for more
Los Camperos de Valles demonstrate son huasteco Duration 4:13 Mexico's son huasteco music is characterized by its three instruments... click for more
Los Camperos de Valles perform "El gusto" Duration 3:12 Since the group's inception in 1974, Los Camperos de Valles have come to represent the best in one of Mexico's most distinctive and uplifting folk music... click for more
Dance forms of Mexico's son huasteco Duration 3:42 Soaring, florid poetry memorializing the longing, pleasure, and pain of love, delivered in song with equally soaring high falsetto breaks, marks the classic style of the son huasteco, music created by rural people of the northeastern... click for more
