Veracruz, Ver.: Music Nerd Heaven

That's what Veracruz has been for me, a dedicated music nerd. It's one of Mexico's biggest ports, on the Gulf of Mexico; it has great coffee and great cafés; the zócalo hums with activity every night; but for me, the great stand out of my visit to Veracruz has been the fact that, in one night hanging around the zócalo, I was able to hear fine examples of no less than five different (fantastic) Mexican music traditions.

I have to admit that, though I have been an avowed music geek for many years, with tastes ranging from metal to free jazz, by way of afrobeat and indie rock, I did not appreciate the diversity and sheer fun of Mexican music until I took Fermin Herrera's Latin American Music class in my final year at UCLA. That class let me into a whole new world world of great music.

Like most people who live in San Diego, I thought I pretty much got Mexican music. There was Mariachi - schmaltzy music by rhinestone caballeros fancy suits, often played at Mexican restaurants - and then there were Norteñas, the oom-pah accordion music that's all over the Barrio Logan and AM radio.

There were two groups of serenading Mariachis in the Veracruz zócalo, each with at least two trumpets, three violins, guitar, vihuela, and the bass guitarron, and competing for the cafe audiences, there were groups of Norteño singers in cowboy hats, with upright bass, accordion, and attitude. Anytime there was a silence, you could also hear marimba bands - Veracruz's native style - plunking out Carribean rhythms, with three guys to a single marimba, handling the bass, melody, and harmony in their turn.

Then there was folklorico dancing and canned Son Huasteco, my favorite kind of Mexican music, with its violin improvs and quasi-yodel falsetto singing (a shame that this was the only one we didn't hear live), and then more dancing accompanied by the energetic, harp-based style Son Jarocho, the tradition that gave the world the classic Mexican folk song 'La Bamba.'

Thanks, Professor Herrera, for expanding my nerddom to where I could enjoy all that.