It’s a learning opportunity, a music-loving opportunity, a sharing of culture and community: It’s the Ashokan Center’s Ariles Son Jarocho Camp.

Patterned after Luna Negra, a well-known annual gathering for son jarocho musicians in Veracruz, Mexico, this camp will be the first such festival in the United States.

From Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19, the music, poetry, singing and dancing of son jarocho will fill the Catskills. The event, open to the public, is a joint effort of the Ashokan Center and Son Jarocho NY, which is working to bring this tradition to a wider audience and more participants.
The camp grew out of the popularity of last year’s Dia de las Familias, a free one-day event supported by a generous anonymous donor.

Ruth Ungar Merenda, director of community events for the Ashokan Center, is working with Julia del Palacio, who oversees operations and development at Son Jarocho NY, and local community organizers and artists Mateo Cano and Maria Puente Flores to create a program that will offer performances, as well as the chance to learn the music and its range of moods, the dance, and the tapping and clapping that are Son Jarocho’s signatures.

“It is incredibly exciting to be hosting, together with Ashokan, the first son jarocho camp in the U.S., as it will give an opportunity to those who can’t travel to Mexico for Luna Negra to learn from son jarocho masters here at home,” Julia del Palacio said. “It will also allow local teachers to grow their student base and make connections among son jarocho practitioners from the eastern U.S. We hope this will be the first of many!”

The event will bring in son jarocho master musicians, dancers and teachers from Mexico and the U.S. to teach and play and interact with son jarocho admirers and practitioners of every proficiency level. Julia del Palacio said newcomers can become comfortable easily enough to participate right away. But with so many accomplished performers and teachers at the camp, attendees are also invited to explore deeper levels of the art.

Son jarocho is the traditional folk music of Veracruz. Its influences include African, Romani and Arab, brought by the Spanish, and indigenous Mexican music. This blending of traditions dates back to colonial times in the early 1600s.
It began to fade in the mid-1900s, but now son jarocho is back and widely practiced, not only in performance but also in community get-togethers known as a fandangos, where all are invited to join in. Son jarocho is very welcoming.
“Ashokan has hosted Music & Dance Camps for over 40 years, celebrating and teaching traditional song, dance, and music – mostly from North America and Europe,” said Ruth Ungar Merenda. “This May we are thrilled to be working with Julia and Son Jarocho NY to welcome the vibrant Veracruz tradition! Last year’s initial one-day event ended with son jarocho musicians jamming informally by the creek. The combination of nature and music in that scene was timeless and quite inspiring! This year, we look forward to a whole weekend of magical moments!”

Tickets + Info:
https://ashokancenter.org/product/ariles-son-jarocho-2024/.

For those who can’t attend the camp, the Día de las Familias at the Ashokan Center will offer a taste of music and nature exploration Sunday, May 19, 2024, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. This event, including transportation to and from Kingston, N.Y., and on-site food, is free, thanks to generous donor support.