Son Jarocho x Shetland
A workshop at the Shetland Folk Festival 2026, led by Los Vega - a renowned, family-based ensemble from Mexico who perform a traditional folk music style known as son jarocho. They were very popular at the festival, and received standing ovations.
Son jarocho emerged in the 1700s in Veracruz as a fusion of Indigenous, Spanish, and African influences.
Something I picked up from the workshop is that under colonial rule, authorities suppressed African drumming and banned dances they saw as subversive. Rather than abandon their rhythms, communities reconfigured them. The beats once played by hand were transferred to the lower body, with dancers in hard-soled shoes striking a resonant wooden platform called a tarima. The footwork became the percussion - the zapateado.
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