La Negra Graciana – Sones Jarochos with the Trio Silva (Corason)

Okay, I’ll admit it; I bought this one based on the cover.The portrait of Graciana Silva in paisley mu-mu poised at her harp, front-teeth capped with gold, won me over instantly when spotted in the bargain bin at Let It Be Records. The venerable Minneapolis brick & mortar is bolting its doors in few weeks, another casualty of the condo gentrification that’s sweeping downtown acreage. With it goes a prime source for procuring on the cheap such finds as Trio Silva’s lone disc for the Rounder-distributed Corason label. Graciana’s been plying her harp in the market and cantina centers of Veracruz since the age of ten. Fifty-eight at the taping of this ’94 recording she’s joined by her brother Pino on jarana guitar (a minature mandolin-like variant used in mariachi combos) and Elena Huerta on second harp. With just three sets of strings (though a combined eighty or so between them), the trio crafts a lithesome and fulsome ensemble sound. The repertoire centers on the son jarocho, a songbook popular among mariachis that blends subtle African-influenced counter rhythms with an epoxy of Spanish and mestizo-derived melodic content. Graciana’s boisterous and occasionally strident vocals dance atop a scintillating surface of braiding harp chords, her “ll’s” trilling with comparable coquettish enthusiasm. Pino strums his jarana jovially beside her, barking out a series of hoarse responses to her calls and sustaining the incessant strutting beat for the zapateado, or traditional foot-stamping dance. Elena plays the wallflower, insinuating supple fills, but leaving the dramatic repartee to the siblings. The music is at once delicate and exuberant, candid and complex. Most of all, it’s contagious, causing toes and heels to tap in instinctual response to the frolicsome fluctuating cadence. They even do a version of the familiar “La Bamba” that playfully strips the polished pantalones off the popular Los Lobos version. A few amigos, a six-pack of Negra Modelo, a grande order of papas fritas y salsa & this disc are all the ingredients necessary for a satisfying late afternoon fiesta.