La Jornada: Ensamble Coincidencia places women at the center of Jarocha music

In the recent 20 years, women have gained presence in harp playing; They have formed ensembles and expanded the instrument’s repertoire with new compositions and arrangements of traditional music. An example is Coincidencia, a group led by the Veracruz harpist and composer María Cristina de la Rosa, which performed a few days ago in Xalapa, Veracruz.

In interview with The Day, On her return to the country after a tour of Colombia, De la Rosa highlights the growing role of women in the performance of the harp, an instrument in which their presence was scarce, except for some prominent figures such as Cristina Cabrera and Adriana Cao.

“Twenty years ago there were few harpists of Jarocha or traditional music in Mexico. Now, there are many more, very young ones,” he says. “The young women have a genuine interest in traditional music or classical music, they know the repertoire, the songs of yesteryear, they are interested.”

Cristina de la Rosa, daughter of Alberto de la Rosa, one of the greatest exponents of the Jarocha harp in the world, attributes this rise of women in the harp to the work of figures like her father and other leaders, such as Raúl Monje and cultural groups in Veracruz.

“They planted, and now all that is flourishing. You go to a harp festival in Xalapa and the number of harpists there is impressive. The problem is that now the programs last too long because everyone wants to play,” he emphasizes.

In this context, Coincidencia emerged on November 25, 2022, when Cristina de la Rosa organized a concert that mixed her own compositions with traditional sounds such as Balajú, Siquisirí y The rattlesnake “I invited some of my father’s students and other colleagues with whom he had collaborated before. It went very well, the public and us liked it a lot, so we decided to continue.”

The concert was held at the Clavijero theater, in the port of Veracruz. It featured five Jarocha harpists, a classical pedal harp, and piano. That day they played a piece together, and alternated playing songs arranged for piano and harp, and a special work for jarocha harp and concert harp.

“There we realized that it was a good project, and since then we started working on putting women at the center of Jarocha music,” she says. “Our main objective is for the public to leave with the idea of ​​the female presence on stage, that we are capable of doing it, of creating beautiful music, of spreading emotions.”

Coincidencias is made up of Cristina De la Rosa (conduction and jarocha harp), Alejandra de la Rosa (piano), Victoria Pérez Morales (jarocha harp), Franchesca Filobello (jarocha harp), Fátima Domínguez (jarocha harp), Vania Crivelli (jarocha harp), Huitzi Cruz (pedal harp), Rubén Melgarejo (jarana), Raúl Monge (jarana), David Melgarejo (Bass), Jaime Barranco (percussion) and José Eduardo Acosta (production).

In the past four years he has developed more compositions, a visual spectacle and a versatile program that allows him to perform on different stages. “We have more pieces in assembly, we work with Mexican illustrators to present visuals and reinforce the scenic part, and we work with choreography to have a scenic proposal.”

The challenges

The ensemble has performed at festivals in Veracruz, the Cervantino of 2025, at the Pitic Festival in Hermosillo, Sonora, and recently toured the municipalities of Villavicencio, Restrepo and Acacías, in the Eastern Plains of Colombia.

One of the biggest challenges for the group, says Cristina De la Rosa, is to coincide.

“They all have a primary activity: they play in cultural groups at the Universidad Veracruzana, they teach, they are students. So, it is not possible to always have the same cast, although the musical ecosystem around the harp is becoming larger, and that allows us to have guest musicians.”

Another important challenge is making arrangements for the assembly. “Music does not exist, nowhere will you find scores for three or four Jarocha harps, a piano and a classical harp. All of this has to be done, put together, decided and rehearsed.”

Most of the arrangements for Coincidencia are made by Cristina de la Rosa; sometimes Jonathan Totena or Alberto de la Rosa.

“It’s about breaking ground, opening a path, and we are not alone. We have the support and guidance of the teachers who accompany us in bass and jarana; they make our path a little easier,” says the harpist.

Another difficulty is the mobility of the group, since traveling with a harp has its challenges. “Even if we agree to participate and they don’t pay us anything, our transfer is complex because we have to pay the extra to bring instruments.”

In the midst of these challenges, he considers that something that has allowed the ensemble to maintain itself over time and evolve has been the attitude of the traveling companions. “They really want to participate; when I tell them what the conditions are, they respond: ‘I’ll get in’. I see all of them committed.”

For Cristina de la Rosa, one of the greatest lessons from promoting a project with other women is that “through music we have known how to combine very well; we are aware of our weaknesses and we support each other. Not everything is hunky-dory, but we have created a sense of camaraderie, of sisterhood.”