Los Camperos de Valles Demonstrate Techniques of Son Huasteco [Live at Folklife Festival 2005]

In this video taken during the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, members of Los Camperos de Valles demonstrate instrumental and vocal techniques of son huasteco. Marcos Hernández Rosales of Los Camperos de Valles demonstrates the two styles of accompaniment on the huapanguera. Gregorio "Goyo" Solano Medrano demonstrates the Jarana. Joel Monroy Martinez demonstrates the violin and the falsetto singing style that defines huapango music.

Mexico's son huasteco music is characterized by its three instruments and falsetto vocal techniques. The huapanguera or guitarra quinta, a deep-bodied guitar with five courses of strings, provides the lower sound that serves as the rhythmic foundation. On top of the huapanguera is the jarana huasteca, a smaller instrument with five strings. Soaring above the interplay of the rhythm section is the unmistakable sound of the Huastecan-style violin, which is responsible for the melody. The seemingly impossible high falsetto voice lends the son huasteco its most distinctive sound and feel.

'El ave de mi soñar: Mexican Sones Huastecos' is available on CD and digital.

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Hard-edged violin improvisations, driving guitar rhythms, and soaring falsetto vocal excursions mark the son huasteco, one of Mexico’s most distinctive and celebrated regional styles of music. Raised on the cattle and sugar cane ranches of the Huastecan region of northeastern Mexico, the three men of Los Camperos de Valles, Marcos Hernández Rosales, Gregorio "Goyo" Solano Medrano, and Joel Monroy Martínez, are acclaimed international ambassadors for their music, their region, and their nation. El Ave de mi Soñar (The Bird of My Dreams) fuses age-old Huastecan repertoire, masterful stylings, and original poetry of musician-poet Artemio Posadas to create a deeply traditional, yet highly creative, monument to Mexican music.

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