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On a mid-August Monday night, Sacramento’s R Street Corridor was filled with the sounds of Mexico. Special guest Lucía Gutiérrez Rebolloso, an up-and-coming singer from Veracruz, led a son jarocho “canto y zapateado” workshop for locals interested in learning Spanish.
Rebolloso, 23, explained that son jarocho — a traditional Mexican music genre with Spanish, Indigenous and African roots — is focused on creating community through collaboration.
“It’s important to preserve it and dedicate time to build community because that’s the biggest principle of this genre,” she said in Spanish. “That’s how it stays alive.”
Over a dozen people attend a son jarocho workshop Monday, Aug. 12, 2024 at Casa de Español in Sacramento.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
The event was organized by Cascabel de Dos Ríos, a Sacramento-based collective dedicated to preserving son jarocho and fandango, the space where the community exchanges its views through song, dance and verse. It was presented at Casa de Español at 1101 R St.
Yared Portillo, an organizer for Cascabel, said her organization invites teachers — like Rebolloso — from Mexico to foster collaboration in the community by educating those interested in connecting with their culture or learning more about the tradition.
“We support continuing education for us and others to learn the instruments, the vocals and the stories of son jarocho and to share it with our community,” Portillo said in Spanish. “Being immigrants or kids of immigrants living in the United States, many people feel like music and art are critical to keeping those traditions alive. We use the fandango as one of those things to keep traditions alive.”
The group offers free weekly classes teaching anyone interested in learning son jarocho including its instruments, singing style and tap dancing.
Portillo stressed the importance of Casa de Español, an award-winning Spanish language school and cultural center, in making these free events possible.
“[They] support us with a space for events and promotion,” she said. “That way we can use the funds we get to bring in teachers from Mexico to continue supporting the education they bring to Sacramento. It’s like winning the raffle.”
Casa de Español is an award-winning Spanish language school and cultural center located at 1101 R. St. in Sacramento. Its mission is to share the Spanish language and the cultures of Latin America and Spain in a holistic and immersive way.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
Maria Harrington, director of Casa de Español, said she created her organization 13 years ago at the end of the recession to create a hub for language and cultural exchange.
“We’re not a nonprofit, we’re an LLC with the goal of being able to fund ourselves financially,” she explained. “We decided on that from the beginning because coming out of the recession, we saw that a lot of nonprofits were suffering.”
The center gets most of its money from offering Spanish classes for all ages, which she noted allows them to provide free and low-cost events for the community.
“Our goal is to be able to provide a hub in Sacramento where people get to hang out, feel like they’re in their country and also engage not just Latino to Latino, but Latino to others who really appreciate our language and culture,” Harrington emphasized.
An art piece titled “Frida Soñando” by Junnior Navarro hangs at Casa de Español Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Sacramento. Navarro’s artwork is part of the “El Otro Lado” art exhibit being featured all of August.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadioShe explained that people attending Spanish classes and events do so for various reasons from improving their skills to speak with family and friends in their home countries to teachers or medical professionals who want to connect with the people they help.
“Even if it’s just ‘Hola, ¿cómo estás?’ Being able to have that kind of quality engagement to serve our community better here in Sacramento and the surrounding areas,” Harrington said.
Furthermore, the organization holds several large events throughout the year to raise funds for its sister organization, Help Chiapas, which is dedicated to the health and happiness of indigenous people in Chiapas, Mexico.
Last year, the organization mobilized its vision project that provided 142 free eye exams and gave away 129 prescription glasses to an indigenous community in Chiapas.
“They’ve asked for dentists, doctors and educators,” Harrington said regarding the community, which she’s been helping since 2009. “We started by taking educators down there doing two to six weeks of summer camps for kids to teach them English.”
However, the organization relies heavily on funding from large events including its first Friday event April through September featuring local artists, diverse local vendors and authentic Latin American food.
“Every month, we pick a different topic or theme and then we have an art exhibit,” she said. “The proceeds from the bar go to our sister organization and it helps for our annual health project.”
An upcoming event Harrington said is critical to raising funds for the project is the Festival Del Mole — Mole Festival — with 50% of the proceeds going towards Help Chiapas.
The Aug. 24 event will feature “various artisanal moles from various regions of Mexico” and highlight “the histories, traditions and flavors of Mexico through the country’s most beloved dish.”
“Here in Sacramento, we have a very strong community belief of helping each other survive as well as succeed,” Harrington remarked. “We’ve been very fortunate to have so much help from the business community as well as the nonprofit community to be able to bring and celebrate culture in Sacramento.”
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