About us
The name means “Pulse of Life” and that is precisely what this Hudson Valley-based collective delivers: a ceremony-celebration rooted in Son Jarocho, the four-hundred-year-old music born at the collision of African Yoruba rhythms, Andalusian melody, and indigenous voices on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz. Guided by the harmonies and poetry of Mateo Cano plucking the requinto and Maria Puente Flores strumming the stringed-drum jarana, and with Mina Devore playing the violin, the sound of Pulso is a groove that soothes the heart. As an embodiment of joyful resistance, their performances focus on cultural exchange. Every fandango they play is both a concert and a commons, it is a space where people feel how music and dance can aid in the process of collective liberation.
MEET THE BAND
MARIA PUENTE FLORES
Voice | Jarana | ZapateadoMaria Puente Flores was born and raised in Mexico City. Singing and rapping were her earliest approaches to music and poetry as collective spiritual practices. She moved to the Bronx in 2020 and Son Jarocho music found her homesick on a Sunday afternoon in Harlem. Ever since, she has been an avid practitioner-student-teacher of Son Jarocho and, in 2022, she co-founded the musical ensemble Pulso de Barro. Her voice is an earthly fire that intoxicates every room with joy.
MINA DEVORE
ViolinMina Watanabe DeVore is a Japanese-American violinist, composer, and painter based in the Hudson Valley. She has a BA in music from Bard College where she studied jazz performance, music production, and recording techniques. She has a strong foundation of classical violin training under her belt, beginning her studies at age 3. Growing up in a multicultural household, Mina has always loved to bridge cultures through music and has played in many bands from k-pop, rock, jazz to folk. She is now the violinist for Pulso de Barro.
MATEo CANO
Voice | Requinto | ZapateadoBorn in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in Veracruz, Mexico. Deeply influenced by Son Jarocho, he’s been hearing it ever since being in his mother’s womb. As a bilingual Mexican-American artist, he found his calling in community building and sharing of this tradition in the USA, allowing for its preservation and evolution and reflecting the dynamic nature of cultural practices as they move from rural origins to urban settings. His keen ear, attention to detail, and love for afroamerindian rhythms and instrumentation are passed down through three generations of music educators
ADRIANA PERICcHI
Voice | Jarana | ZapateadoAdriana Pericchi facilitates accessible dance spaces that feel grounding and intuitive and draw from the many traditions she's a student of. Adri was born in Venezuela, raised in Puerto Rico and is grateful to have added Kingston to her list of homes almost 7 years ago. She'll light up with folkloric traditions as well as urban rhythms. She is a musician, dancer, land lover, party visionary, and English-Spanish translator & interpreter. She is deeply nourished by weaving community, loving, play, liberation... and reggaeton :)
VICTOR LISABETTE
ViolinVíctor Lissabet grew up in Maryland, DC with a Cuban dad and a Colombian mom – Latin rhythms run through his veins. In Pulso de Barro Victor plays the Leona: a four-stringed bass Son Jarocho instrument. With a background in music therapy, Victor has been teaching music at High Meadow since 2017. Victors’ teaching skills combined with his groovy baselines are foundational to the texture of the music that makes everyone dance.
KRISTA SPERONI
Voice | Requinto | ZapateadoKrista Speroni – born in Hawaii – is a songstress, educator and plant grower who has been a practitioner of the tradition of senegalese Sabar drumming for about a decade. She gives free Sabar workshops on Mondays at the African Roots Center in Kingston. Krista is the heartbeat of Pulso de Barro and infuses every Son Jarocho repertoire with the flavor of the tradition that she bears. The stories behind the songs, and the rhythms of each tradition, lend themselves to a conversation between cultures. Krista can also see harmonies as if they were colors, steeping the choral arrangements of Pulso de Barro in intention and depth.
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