Scholars, performer0, and aficionados of Mexican music have long listened to the region through a filter that amplifies its Hispanic and Indigenous heritage. While rooted in longstanding ideas about national identity, this approach silences the role that Afro-Mexicans played in shaping musical genres and traditions. Mindful of the large African and Afro-descendant population living in the area during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, this talk examines Black sounds from colonial Mexico, and it reflects upon resonances with present-day practices and other diasporic traditions. Sarah Finley is an associate professor of Spanish at Christopher Newport University.