Guitar Hero
Son Jarocho, Overexposed!
Recently in Xalapa, I found myself in the middle of a heated debate. I was sitting in the colonial courtyard of an artists’ cooperative, surrounded by a dozen local celebrities. They were a mixture of young and old son jarocho musicians who had gathered to discuss “the future” of their music, now that it’s all the rage in Mexican cities. The central issue could be summed up in one question: As metropolitan musicians playing country music, does that make them a ciudad de soneros, or soneros de la ciudad? That translates to say, are they “a city of [authentic] son jarocho musicians, or [somewhat less authentic] son jarocho musicians of the city?”
The debate was a chipper one—as students and teachers of each other, the group was a close-knit community who could take pride in the fact that their music’s biggest problem is overexposure. Still, their concerns were real. Is son jarocho losing its local flavors, now that young people are imitating hit records instead of their neighbors? Is it becoming commercial, now that hit records simply exist, and some fandangos charge a cover? Are fandangos becoming less instructive, now that the next generation of soneros is made up of Guitar Hero-playing, iPhone-addicted egomaniacs, whose shrinking attention spans and inability to hear anything that isn’t blasted through subwoofers mean that they’ve forgotten how to just listen?
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.
