Canciones del San Joaquín is a musical collection celebrating the depth and diversity of the San Joaquín Valley through the voices of its own artists. As part of the Sounds of California: San Joaquín Valley initiative, this collection highlights eleven newly commissioned works created by artists rooted in the Valley’s cultural and musical traditions. The composers represent a wide range of regional and transnational genres, including Son Jarocho, Arpa Grande, Norteño, Mariachi, Latin Jazz, Latin Rock, Hip-Hop/Mixteco Rap, Ranchera Mexicana, and Nuevo Canto.
Many of the participating artists were interviewed during the early fieldwork phase of Sounds of California: San Joaquín Valley. This collection now honors them not only as tradition bearers, but as composers and cultural innovators shaping the future of the region’s musical landscape.
These new works will premiere in concert on June 7, 2025, at the Fresno Memorial Auditorium, with musical direction by Grammy-winning artist Quetzal Flores, to be recorded for public release. Together, they form a living archive of song and testimony—an expression of Greater Mexico in the San Joaquín Valley, voiced by those who live its complexity every day.
Thumbnail: Gerardo Ramírez, composer and director of Los Hijos de San Juan Mixtepec, at the Fiesta de San Juan Bautista in Arvin, June 22, 2024 (Credit: Leticia Soto Flores/ACTA).
A chat between mariachis about the tradition, struggles, and the evolution of the music.
Listen to the ConversationTwo Chicanx songwriters discuss their connection to the visual, sonic, and political landscape of Boyle Heights.
Listen to the ConversationTwo traditional musicians share their love songs to Boyle Heights, singing of gentrification, cultural loss, and what remains.
Listen to the ConversationTwo generations of women songwriters Lysa Flores and La Marisoul unpack love, decolonization and sanctuary space in Boyle Heights.
Listen to the ConversationTwo versatile artists take us through the multiracial history of Boyle Heights from redlining to the Jewish Bakers Union to the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Listen to the ConversationA chat between mariachis about the tradition, struggles, and the evolution of the music.
Listen to the ConversationTwo Chicanx songwriters discuss their connection to the visual, sonic, and political landscape of Boyle Heights.
Listen to the ConversationTwo traditional musicians share their love songs to Boyle Heights, singing of gentrification, cultural loss, and what remains.
Listen to the ConversationTwo generations of women songwriters Lysa Flores and La Marisoul unpack love, decolonization and sanctuary space in Boyle Heights.
Listen to the ConversationTwo versatile artists take us through the multiracial history of Boyle Heights from redlining to the Jewish Bakers Union to the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Listen to the Conversation
