We mentioned that we saw the musical group, the “Sones de Veracruz,” perform twice while in Xalapa this past Spring.  The second time was at a private home where they were putting on a performance for a tour group from New Mexico, USA.  The group was a “Gastronomic Adventure” tour by Daniel Hoyer.  He is a “culinary writer” about foods in Mexico (and the world) and can be accessed through –

Why don’t you take a peek into the house with me and catch a few pieces of their fine performance.

And here is another look.

We enjoyed the evening immensely and, of course, bought their CD entitled, “Viva Veracruz.” 

The Group Sones de Veracruz

David Rubio Glavan, an artist of Jarocho music and center is the above photo, can be contacted at — davidrubio33@hotmail.com.   

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Thanks for checking in on this blog,

Stephen, Genuine-Tourist.com, reporting from Baraboo, USA,

Xalapa has a lot going on if you know when and where to look.  The first place to keep an eye on for “up and coming events” are the streets with colorful signs announcing feature events.  It also helps to have friends alerting you because not all performances are easy to learn about.  Here is  a poster announcing a performance at the Café Teatro el son de corazón, a restaurant just two blocks from our “la casita.”

We decided to attend but had not reserved a table thinking it would not be necessary . . . were we wrong.  Every table on the first floor but two in the back corners were marked “reserved” so we headed upstairs and found two plastic tables, one of which became our sidewalk café experience for the evening.  The performance took place in the “courtyard” below us, and we had a bird’s eye view. Here are some photos to get you started.

The upper level of the restaurant filled up with spectators on chairs all around, but we had the only table upstairs and still received excellent service from a very small and overworked hostess.  Of course the upper level had its own “performance” which those people in the reserved sits on the main floor missed.

Our view of the main floor from above.

At the conclusion of the performance, the audience was able to join the dancers for a couple of sets.

Now our friend, Marie, who also attended with us had lived for two years in Africa and knew a little bit about African drum music and dance herself.  While the drums music were somewhat reminiscent of her African experience, she felt the dance was actually more modern and choreographed.   But, depending upon your life experiences, we will let you be the judge of it yourself by clicking on the below video.

And, of course, it would only be fair to let you judge Marie and her own dance performance, unfortunately not caught on video, that we witnessed on the street on the way home after a fine evening.

Stephen, also posting at — http://www.Genuine-Tourist.com

from s116.photobucket.com posted with vodpod

I spend a great deal of time in my car but am fortunate to have a six disk CD player and can listen to wonderful music during my long commutes. While I do not pretend to have a handle on Latin music, I really enjoy some of the smooth vocal music of Laura Flores and Yuri. Perhaps I am dated in the Latin music world, but no matter, my commute time goes much more quickly and pleasantly when they are with me in the car.

Here is a sample of Laura Flores in a duet with Triny.  ( video by mockingbird1313)

I don’t know who Triny is, but I think he is very good in the duet and will try to find more of his work.

I thought it might be nice to have a music page featuring some of the artists we all enjoy, so I have added a new page with several artists on it and will try to add more. You can find the new page by clicking on the Music tab at the top of the page or by clicking on –

http://visitxalapa.wordpress.com/music/

If you have some favorite artists and can find ”YouTube” type of links, please send them to me at –

Silversard@Xalapa.net

OR

Silversard@Genuine-Tourist.com

Some of the authors of the videos do not permit them to be embedded on a page in the manner of the sample I have placed above. Nevertheless, one is usually allowed to post a link to the video and still be able play it; so please send me a few to add to the new page and thanks in advance.

Callejon Diamante, by Laura Garcia

Just found a real gem of an article about Xalapa on one of my frequent internet trawls: Among the Jalapeños, from the Huevos Rancheros blog. A traveler discovers the beauty and vibrant cultural heart of Xalapa and reports in delicious detail the sights, sounds, and culinary treats that he experienced.

Reading this, along with Roy Dudley’s Xalapa de Mis Sueños, is bound to get you excited about visiting the City of Flowers.

These are some of the best articles on Xalapa I’ve seen so far:

Xalapa: City of Flowers – by Alan Cogan, published on Mexconnect. It doesn’t say when the article was written, but a reference in the final paragraph leads me to believe it was written in 1998.

Xalapa of My Dreams – by Roy Dudley, published in 1999 on Mexconnect.

Xalapa – some dry facts from Wikipedia.

About Xalapa – from Universidad Veracruzana. Little information but has some nice photos.

Xalapa – by Steve Bridger, published on Mexicanwave.

Why Xalapa: From Chicago to Mexico – by Jan Morgan, published on Escape Artist (no indication of original publication date).