Puebla

The sound system at El Cuescomate

When Ramón Rojo Villa brought Sonido La Changa to Puebla, he arrived with a small van, speaker cabinets, horns and a rotating light. In an interview he remembered a packed venue called El Cuescomate in the La Libertad neighbourhood. Other equipment was already there; the visitors from Mexico City were judged, at first, by the size of their setup.

Rojo’s account turns on what the equipment could do rather than how much space it occupied. He recalled a large bass speaker and his own voice on the microphone. La Changa came from Tepito in Mexico City, but Puebla was one of the early places outside the capital where it played and found an audience.

A sonido is more than a person choosing records: the name can refer to the sound system and its operator. Rojo described buying Colombian records, including cumbias, to play at dances.

Puebla has its own sonideros. Sonido Famoso, led by Jaime Guzmán, developed a catchphrase from the crowd’s reaction when he played romantic songs at dances. In 2025 the Puebla sound system appeared on a bill with La Changa at the city’s Centro Expositor.