Tlaqna Centro Cultural

“Son” is one of Mexico’s richest artistic expressions and traces its roots to African, Spanish and indigenous cultural influences. The sole repository for information about the Son tradition and the Jarana seems to be a well-hidden bookshop maintained by the government. It’s only open by appointment and doesn’t have a phone, so the best I can do is give you directions for finding it. From the historic center of Xalapa, you have to follow the streets that go downward behind the Palacio Municipal, the main government building. Start at the elevated park and go down Herrera two or three blocks to a scenic little lake area called Los Lagos. If you stop to ask directions, prepare to be misled. At the northern end of the lake is a pavilion called the Centro Cultural, used for various events. Inside the center, locked behind a wooden door (no windows), is a little room with a sizable collection of privately-made DVDs and privately published books on the Jarana and the Musica del Son. They even had T-shirts and a Jarana or two for sale there. If you ask anyone about it, they won’t know what you are talking about, so ask for the Casa de Artesanias, which is a little street with shops right next to the Cultural Center. This is probably the only way you will find it. It’s a charming little street with many small booths and shops where people sell objectos folkloricos, items hand-made by the owners. The woman in charge of the bookshop in the Center is named Tere Osoño. You have to call her in order to get into the room and buy anything. Someone in the Cultural Center may have her cell phone number. Good luck.