Page - 21 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 2/2016

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 2 2o16 Alejandro Miranda | Journeying with a musical practice 21 lised music. A few son jarocho practitioners became relatively famous and frequently travelled to other countries, particularly the US (Figueroa 2007). This travelling eventually opened new opportunities for performers, as some son jarocho groups moved to Tijuana and Los Angeles from the second half of the 20th century (Cardona 2006). This migration constitutes a modest, but still significant, antecedent to son jarocho along the international border between California and Baja California. The folklorised form of son jarocho became the most representative performance of sou- theast Mexico, depriving fandango of significance. Its representation in the media had a drama- tic effect on the way in which the cultural practices were perceived in this region. By the mid- 20th century the inhabitants of southeast Mexico had received contradictory messages: on the one hand, the experience of the fandango was a historical practice that had been replicated for generations; on the other, the media represented a stylised version of this musical practice that portrayed virtuosos performing on stage. Antonio García de León (1996, 30) vividly highlights this process: “This phenomenon brought a generalised underestimation of local musicians because peo- ple thought that they didn’t know how to play properly. At the same time, the introduction of other musical genres (danzón, mambo, chachachá, tropical, etc.) through the groups of marimba, tropical groups and others, gained space in the realms of popular music, displac- ing son jarocho, which was the traditional dance, to a secondary level until it was almost forgotten. The majority of the groups of soneros [son jarocho musicians] stopped partaking not only at popular fandangos, but also at key celebrations for the community, such as bur- ials, religious celebrations, etc.” 3 In the 1970s various groups of enthusiasts of son jarocho engaged in a series of actions aimed to keep this practice ‘alive’, thereby starting the so-called rescue of fandango. They understood the tradition as being rooted in a rural region of southeast Mexico, as opposed to the stylised interpretation created by official propaganda, the media and the groups of musicians playing at restaurants. Just like in the case of Pedro’s group, the appearance of groups of musicians performing traditional son jarocho on stage echoed the folklorised son jarocho promoted by the media and the propaganda arm of the Mexican state. This paradox, however, has to be contextualised within processes of recuperation of a practice that was perceived as endangered, otherwise it would be facile to reduce these actions and their meanings to contradictions. A turning point in the emergence of groups took place in the 1980s with the organisation of festivals of traditional son jarocho. Encuentros de Jaraneros (Festivals of Jaraneros – people who play jarana) was the name given to these events, which consisted of a series of performances by groups of musicians on stage. The Encuentros had the peculiarity of putting ‘authentic’ senior practitioners from rural communities in the spotlight, often accompanied by younger practitioners. In contrast to the development of fandangos, these festivals did not usually feature dancers or improvisa- tion of verses (which are constitutive elements of these celebrations), but groups of musicians playing rehearsed arrangements of traditional songs. These pieces were significantly shorter 3 Author’s translation.