“Son con Son’ unites son jarocho with son cubano // Watsonville
Son con Son unites son jarocho with son cubano.
It is a project by Mexican American roots group Los Cenzontles, Grupo Mono Blanco of Veracruz, Mexico, and Kiki Valera, master of the cuatro cubano of Santiago de Cuba.
SATURDAY AT 4 PM
Son con Son
Corralitos Cultural Center, Watsonville.
This will be “festival style” seating for all General Admission tickets.
$30 General Admission in Advance (Bring Your Own Chair).
$40 Gold Circle in Advance (Includes Seating).
About show!
Steeped in generations of family traditions, these venerable folk artists lend their vast musical knowledge to a project that explores their deep cultural connections with soulful, and danceable groove.
- Los Cenzontles has pioneered revivals of Mexican roots music in California cultivating traditional rhythms to connect generations. Interpreting traditional, classic, and original songs in their own voices, Los Cenzontles captures the depth, clarity, and living spirit of our heritage with dignity and care.
- The internationally acclaimed musical group Grupo Mono Blanco is the leading proponent of “Son Jarocho”. It is a multi-generational ensemble of over twenty members whose families have played and danced indigenous art forms for generations and has a unique sound owed to a rich ancient tradition in the “bandas”, feet and voices of energetic and insightful musicians. Since its inception in 1977, Grupo Mono Blanco has toured Europe, Asia, North Africa and Central America, the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- Son cubano is one of the most popular musical styles in Cuba and Kiki Valera is one of its foremost exponents.
Over the last century, this style of traditional Cuban music has contributed to many other genres of music including jazz, cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, songo and timba. Cuban son is the music that made the Buena Vista Social Club worldwide stars in the late 1990s but Kiki Valera comes from a family of musicians whose involvement with Cuban son pre-dates the BVSC by decades. Kiki Valera is the oldest son of the famous La Familia Valera Miranda septet, a multi-generational traditional music group from Santiago de Cuba.
Since the 19th century, La Familia Valera Miranda has played a significant role in Cuban culture by collecting and preserving the deep-rooted traditions of the legendary Sierra Maestra mountain region. Their debut album, ANTOLOGÍA INTEGRAL DEL SON, released in 1982, helped initiate the explosion of interest in traditional Cuban music. Kiki, like most of his family, is a virtuoso. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, sound engineer and producer, he’s best known as one of the world’s greatest players of the Cuban cuatro, a mid-size guitar with 8 strings grouped in sets of 2.
$30 General Admission in Advance (Bring Your Own Chair).
$40 Gold Circle in Advance (Includes Seating).
