NEO•GRIOT

La Bamba:

The Afro Mexican-Story

Produced by Marlon Bishop • Last aired February 28, 2013

Much has been made of Mexico’s rich blend of Spanish and indigenous customs, but recently, there’s been a surge of interest in exploring Mexico’s “Third Root”: Africa. Slavery existed Mexico much like in the rest of the Americas, but for a variety of reasons, black history in Mexico has been silenced over the years. In this Hip Deep episode, we use music to uncover that history as travel around Mexico in search of Afro-Mexican sounds. First we’ll visit the Costa Chica of Guerrero, where small communities of Afro-Mexicans continue to practice age-old music and dance traditions. Then, we’ll visit the port of Veracruz to learn about the history of the Afro-Mexican son jarocho style, made famous by Ritchie Valens’ 1958 cover of the traditional song “La Bamba.” Then, we’ll visit the dance halls of Mexico City, where Afro-Cuban danzón lives on long after fading from the bandstands of Havana. Along the way, we’ll speak with top scholars in the field, including Ben Vinson III, Alejandro Madrid, and Anita Gonzalez.

Interview:

Historian Ben Vinson III on Afro-Mexican History

Ben Vinson III is a historian at Johns Hopkins University and perhaps the world’s leading scholar on Afro-Mexican history. He has published several books about Afro-Mexicans, including Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico (Read More)

From The Blog:

Afro-Mexico Road Trip #1: Introducing Afro-Mexico

Against all the advice of friends and family both in Mexico and the US, we rented a puttering old car and drove around the country, tracing Afro-Mexican music and history. (Read More)

Afro-Mexico Road Trip #2: The Chilena

First stop on our trip was the Costa Chica, a region of Mexico’s Pacific coast known for having the largest Afro-Mexican presence in the country. We came here to speak with Los Gallardos, a family of musicians who have been maintaining criollo musical traditions for generations. (Read More)

Afro-Mexico Road Trip #3: Cumbia, Costa Chica Style

“Anthropologists always come here looking for something different – the chilena, the corridos, the artesa dance,” he said. “And they don’t bother to look at the styles that are more relevant. Cumbia, he said, is the rhythm I really have to look at if I want to know about musical life in the Costa Chica. (Read More)

More Afro-Mexico Road Trip posts coming soon!

Playlist 

If you liked the music we played in the show but want to here more, we’ve created a Spotify playlist with almost all the tunes we played on air plus a few extras. Check it out below.