Date & Time: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 | 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Location: Lehman College Amphitheater
Rain Location: Lehman Stages (Studio Theater)
250 Bedford Park Blvd W, Bronx, NY 10468
Join us for an illuminating exploration of Son Jarocho at the Lehman College Amphitheater on April 30th 12:00 pm, for the vibrant musical tradition from Southern Veracruz, Mexico, and its evolution into música de cuerdas. But while this music has gained international attention, its deeper roots in community and collective effort are often overlooked.
This special presentation will delve into how youth collectives in Veracruz and Chicago are working to reclaim and reimagine this musical tradition. Through the lens of the Colectivo Altepee and Jarochicanos, we’ll explore how música de cuerdas serves as more than just music—it’s a powerful tool for community building, cultural preservation, and cosmic connection. Our discussion will encompass the transformation from son jarocho to música de cuerdas, examining community-centered approaches to musical tradition, Indigenous and African influences, and the vital role of territory and environment in musical practice.
This event invites you to see son jarocho not just as a genre, but as a way of making music through shared labor, connection to place, and respect for ancestral knowledge. We’ll learn from two groups—Colectivo Altepee in Veracruz and Jarochicanos in Chicago—who are keeping the community-centered spirit of son jarocho alive. They draw from Afro-Indigenous traditions, Zapatista ideas, and their own elders to turn music into a tool for building solidarity and imagining new ways of living together.
Instead of focusing on individual stars, this conversation highlights music as something made together—through dancing, poetry, strumming, and care. Come explore how these collectives are rethinking son jarocho as música de cuerdas, or string music: a deep commitment to people, place, and sound. The event features Carlos Cuestas, an accomplished musician and scholar whose expertise spans both performance and academic research. As a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology at CUNY Graduate Center, Cuestas’s research focuses on the intersection of activism and son jarocho practice. His extensive performance background includes appearances across the United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Ireland, and he was previously a member of the acclaimed New York City ensemble Radio Jarocho.
Free admission- register now to secure your spot!
This event is presented by Lehman College.
