LA BAMBA Clarinet Quartet

LA BAMBA Clarinet Quartet - Arrangement by Everardo García

“La Bamba” is a traditional Mexican song of unknown authorship. It belongs to the musical genre known as son jarocho and is recognized as a popular anthem of the state of Veracruz. As a traditional dance, “La Bamba” falls within the context of so-called couple dances; it is usually performed by a man and a woman, although in some communities two or more couples dance.

“La Bamba” is presumed to have been created in the late 17th century. Initially, the song satirized the belated and futile efforts made by the viceroy of Mexico to defend the citizens of the port of Veracruz from pirates. In historical records of the traditional genre known as son jarocho, the oldest known references come from the town of Alvarado, where it was reportedly performed with a very lively and fresh rhythm, compared to the slower and more measured style of performance typical of the Los Tuxtlas region and the Sotavento coastal plain. For more than three centuries, “La Bamba” continued to be sung and danced, especially in Veracruz, where it acquired a highly emblematic and representative character of that state.

In Mexico, in 1944, composer and artist of the Golden Age of Cinema, Andrés Huesca, recorded and released “La Bamba.” He moved to Los Angeles, California, where they played music, and it was there that Richard Valenzuela discovered it. In 1958, Ritchie Valenzuela, or Richard Valenzuela, a singer of Mexican parents born in the United States, recorded an electric version with a rock and roll rhythm that definitively popularized it and turned it into a classic of the genre. Since then, it has been performed by numerous internationally renowned artists.