Musicians Mateo Cano and Maria Puentes Flores are founders of the musical ensemble, Pulso de Barro, or “pulse of the clay,” that performs the Son Jarocho music from the Mexican state of Veracruz. Son Jarocho is a highly rhythmic musical style that came about through the encounter of three cultures: the African culture, the Andalusian culture, and the Indigenous peoples who were already in the Mexican territory. Pulso de Barro is an eight person ensemble that is headquartered in the mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State.
Mateo Cano and Maria Puentes Flores are skilled teaching artists, skilled in teaching youth about Son Jarocho music, or in other aspects of Mexican traditional culture such as mask-making and community celebrations such as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. In partnership with Maria, the duo provides arts education experiences in Mexican traditional arts and culture.
Based in northern Ulster County, they are available for school-based programs in the Capital District, the Catskills, and in the Hudson Valley.
Maria and Mateo participated in the Culture, Community, and the Classroom workshop of Local Learning in New Paltz, 2024 and Poughkeepsie, 2022. As part of their residency at Lenape Elementary School in New Paltz, New York, teacher James Longbotham developed this curriculum: Unlocking Inquiry through Mexican Traditions
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