Chicano Music in the U.S.
Alexandro D. Hernández conducts research on U.S. protest music within the Chicana/o, Latina/o, and black populations. Hernández focuses his research on the jaranera and jaranero movement in the United States, a community of activist-musicians that utilize the son jarocho as music for social justice primarily for immigrant inclusion, housing rights, and peace movements.
His research on the son jarocho is featured on National Public Radio’s Alt.Latino
Hernández is a two-time Smithsonian Institution Fellow and is published in the anthology Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism, The Journal of Pan-African Studies, and Smithsonian Folkways.
In addition, Hernández is an active performer of Mexican traditional music and in artcore post-punk band ¡Aparato! He is the producer of Afro-Mexican folk music group Las Cafeteras and their album It’s Time, has collaborated with quintessential Chicano rock band Los Lobos, and is a featured musician on an upcoming Smithsonian Folkways release of children’s music.
Ph.D., Ethnomusicology, UCLA 2014; M.A., Ethnomusicology, UCLA 2009; B.A., Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio 2005
