My family and I are from a Mexican ethnicity where our music is mostly known everywhere. One of our famous music pieces is a Mexican Folk dance called “El Jarabe Tapatío”. This music piece was composed by Jesús González Rubio in 1924. It originated in the city of Jalisco and was influenced by the Mexican revolution in 1910. The song emphasizes on a story about love, a man trying to conquer a woman by throwing his hat on the floor while dancing and smiling to her. In the beginning, the woman plays hard to get at but towards the end of the song and dance, he accepts him and end the dance with a kiss and their new love.

This song is played by mariachis which is one of the many Mexican genres. The instruments that are used in this piece are violins, trumpets, guitars, Guitarrón, which is a large bass guitar, and a Vihuela, which is a small string instrument shaped like a guitar. Within the instruments, they all create a conjunct melody, a fast paced tempo and a consonant harmony. The way this song is danced is by couples, the men are dressed as a mariachi and the women are dressed with long colorful dresses and both wear boots with heels to tap along with the song. It is a very beautiful dance that represents our Mexican culture. Today, many people dance it in different ways and in different traditional events such as sweet 15’s, church, Mexican independence day and festivals. This genre is still tied to my ethnicity.