La Bamba: Sones Jarochos Fromz

Traditional Mexican folk music. Harps (that’s the jarocho), acoustic guitar, and other traditional Mexican string instruments. Light, sunny, strummy, percussive, intricate plucky harp melodies. All songs have vocals, with solo then harmony, a la mariachi. The songs themselves are pretty simple and repetitive, with the variation being in the fast harp solos. Smithsonian, so the liner notes are great. Lyrics can be found online. Since the songs are so similar, don’t put this on continuous play or you’ll go crazy, but it’s pretty and fun and all tracks are good.

*1. (3:09) La Bamba, the original. Uptempo and busy.
2. (3:52) a call and response; also uptempo; has a (harp?) solo with yelled encouragements.
3. (3:23) sounds more like a dance, slightly slower with stronger beat. More improv soloing.
*4. (2:58) a dancing minor key tune; incessant pleading song for a woman
5. (3:16) The Crazy Dance; slower with a stronger beat; more guitar in beginning.
*6. (2:15) light rolling, dancing harp, exuberant
7. (3:27) fast high minor key harp melody
8. * (2:33) slightly slower dance feel, with interesting syncopations, crazy harp; more variation within this song than in others.
9. (4:01) flamenco-esque multiple harp strumming; a dance tune; some ultralow guitar action
10. (3:24) another dance tune, with fun changing rhythms, waterfall harps
*11. (2:45) more of a rolling waltzy stroll, minor key with frantic harp—silent film suspense? (called La Bruja, the witch)
*12. (4:10) really fast lyrics, emphatic 4-beat, showoffy dance.
13. (2:49) a modern composition. Very disciplined and structured, but in the same style as the rest.
14. (3:01) slow coy intro, then solid mid-uptempo with lots of arpeggios
*15. (1:59) minor key, kind of sassy, quick back-and-forth
16. (3:41) fast, flowing melodies, harp versus low guitar
*17. (3:22) everybody’s strumming! Busy, with a pretty harmonized chorus.
18. (4:11) light, playful, unexpected rhythms in the harp solos.
19. (3:01) shimmery minor key—determined plaintive ballad to Cupid, suffering in love.
20. (4:02) another sunny dance. Apparently a classic in the repertoire.
21. (2:24) quite similar to the previous—fast and sunny.

--reviewed by mandy (la chanteuse)