Talleres with Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores
August 24 @ 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Learn in community as we continue our Son Jarocho workshop series! This Son Jarocho workshop, guided by Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores, will dive into the songs (sones) called, “El Coco” and “El Colas”
In this 3-hour immersive workshop, participants will learn the basic chord positions, verses, and dance steps. Gonzalez and Flores will also provide more complicated combinations for advanced students!
Son Jarocho is more than music—it’s a living tradition that brings people together through shared rhythm, storytelling, and dance. No experience necessary, bring your curiosity and an open heart! This workshop welcomes everyone interested in connecting with this beautiful cultural expression.
Be part of a tradition that has united communities for generations. We ask that folks stay for the full 3 hours. Open to all ages and experience levels. Bring any instruments you’d like to share in the musical conversation.
About Quetzel Flores
Growing up in social movements as the son of grassroots organizers, Quetzal Flores inherited an undying accountability to community struggles. Since 1993, he has worked as the founder and musical director of the Grammy® Award-winning East LA Chicaná rock group, Quetzal. Through the combined practice of activism and artistic expression Flores identifies as a Chicaná Artivista. With over twenty years of experience in arts practices in community settings his work is rooted in engaging the proactive imagination of communities in struggle. Flores has been instrumental in cultivating the translocal dialogue between the fandango movement in Veracruz MX and Chicaná/Latiná US communities and is the co-founder of Seattle Fandango Project and FandangObon. He currently serves as the Southern CA Program Manager for the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), a statewide folk arts and cultures grants and advocacy organization. He also sits on the Advisory Board for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory
About Martha Gonzalez
Martha Gonzalez was born and raised in East Los Angeles and is a Chicana artivista (artist/activist) musician, feminist music theorist and Assistant Professor in the Intercollegiate Department of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies. Gonzalez has an undergraduate degree in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and a PhD in Feminism from the University of Washington, Seattle. A Fulbright (2007-2008) and Ford Fellow (2012-2013) she has published extensively on Chicaná music popular culture, and music as social movement.Her academic interest in music has been fueled by her own musicianship as a singer/songwriter and percussionist for East L.A’s Quetzal for over 20 years. Quetzal has made considerable impact in the Los Angeles Chicano music scene. The unique blend of East Los Angeles sounds as well as the social justice content in the work has sparked dialogue and theoretical work among various artist communities, culture theorists, and scholars across the country, Mexico and Japan. The relevance of Quetzal’s music and poetry work has been noted in a range of publications from dissertations to scholarly books.
Free
