Q: What were some of your earliest experiences with music?
A: My background is Appalachian and Mexican-American and I grew up in Appalachian Ohio. Both sides of my family are musical—I started piano lessons when I was five and moved on to trumpet in the 5th grade. I continued playing trumpet throughout high school and as my primary instrument in college. Music was all around, both in the formal spheres of piano lessons and recitals and music in church on my Appalachian side, and also the traditional Mexican and country music that was played at family gatherings of my Mexican-American side.
Q: How did you become interested in combining Latinx and Appalachian musics?
A: I started investigating this early on in graduate school. The original idea for my dissertation was gender and feminism in bluegrass music. As I got deeper into my research, I realized I didn’t see my own heritage represented in the stories of the women I was studying. Where were people like me? I learned that there is a rich history of Latinx culture in Appalachia, but it needs to be talked about more. I changed my dissertation topic to Canciones de Los Apalaches: Latinx Music, Migration, and Belonging in Appalachia.
Q: In a video on your website, you refer to “Mexilachian” music and provide video examples of performances you have recorded and participated in. What do traditional Mexican and Appalachian musics have in common that make for such a successful fusion of styles?
A: Oh, there are a lot of things they share, both thematically and stylistically. Ranchera waltzes (a traditional Mexican genre) and bluegrass waltzes tend to have similar lyrical themes that focus on love, loss, and a sense of place, of “home.” There’s real emotion required to sing them, and both make use of an affective vocal style, what’s called the “high, lonesome sound” in bluegrass. A lot of Mexican and Appalachian musics are informed by the African diaspora, as well. For example, bluegrass and old-time use the banjo, an instrument of African origin, and son jarocho (a folk music from Veracruz, Mexico) uses call and response form and African-derived rhythms.
Q: What is the focus of your current research?
A: Right now, I’m working on a book project that focuses on Latinx-Appalachian festival spaces. At these festivals across the Appalachian region, there is a distinct culture of music, dance, and food, but there are so many overlaps in how these relationships are approached. Take corn, for example. In Mexico, a tortilla is a working-class food, like cornbread in Appalachian culture. Both are iconic staples of diet. So often, Latinx and Appalachian cultures are presented in contrast to each other—there are a lot of stereotypes about Appalachia as a desolate, white, backwards place and that Latinx people are nowhere to be found there but the reality is much more nuanced. I’d like to think my work and interests are true to me and where I come from, grounded in place and community. I’m interested in what it means to belong to a place with a history or popular narrative that may not include you. Music is a powerful way to think through this question.
Q: If you could recommend one musician who deserves more recognition, who would it be?
A: I would have to say Linda Ronstadt. A lot of people don’t realize she is of Mexican-American heritage and had a profound influence on bringing mariachi into the mainstream. In 1987 she released the album Canciones de Mi Padre, which won a GRAMMY award for best Mexican/Mexican-American album. She was already a very popular rock and country singer, but she really went out on a limb to claim her heritage and put something out to the world that was her truth. In a lot of ways, she set the stage for the mainstream success of artists like Selena. My grandfather loved Canciones de Mi Padre, and when I hear those songs I think of him.
Sophia Enriquez is teaching Latinx Music Cultures (MUSIC 237/LSGS 337) this fall. In Spring 2022, she will teach Music of Appalachia (MUSIC 290S-01) and Borderlands, Musical Crossings (MUSIC 190S-05/LSGS 290S-05).
