Seven years ago I would run into a duo of street performers daily for two years straight. Every morning we would get on the same train, around the same time, at the same station. The duo was composed of a man and a woman who walked around the subway car with a cap asking for tips while the played his guitar. After her rounds she would join him with a scrapper—a latin percussion— to enrich the sounds of their songs. What stood them apart for me aside from their age, was the style of music they were playing—Rancheras. Rancheras are considered Mexican folk music. Think of country music if it was mixed with gangster rap without the hip-hop rhythm. This type of music is unusual to be heard on that specific side of the city. When you think of the Latinx music of Up-Town Manhattan, merengue, bachata, or even salsa music come to mind. Music that is representative of that Latinx community. Rancheras are not rhythmically rich as Caribbean music. They focus is more on the lyrics. So, to have Rascheras street performers roaming the train cars of Up-Town Manhattan in cowboy attire in contrast with the audience should make for a compelling story.
Multimedia Reporting Fall 2019
A Blogs@Baruch site
