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Musica Popular-Mariachi


thebes

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Hola senors and senoras, to a celebration of the popular music of Mexico, a south-of-the-border treat that has spread throughout gringoland.

 

Yes Mariachi musi,c a traditional foot stomping delight from Western Mexico.  Although there all types of bands and styles I think the following best describes a modern/traditional Mariachi band:

 

"In the complete Mariachi group today there are as many as six to eight violins, two trumpets, and a guitar - all standard European instruments. Then there is a high-itched, round-backed guitar called the vihuela, which when strummed in the traditional manner gives the Mariachi its typical rhythmic vitality; a deep-voiced guitar called the guitarró n which serves as the bass of the ensemble; and a Mexican folk harp, which usually doubles the base line, but also ornaments the melody. While these three instruments have European origins, in their present form they are strictly Mexican."

 

Now I came to appreciate this music thanks to my ex-wife. She studied in Mexico City and did Peace Corps type stuff in the mountains of Mexico near Gaudalajara, until yellow fever forced here evacuation stateside.  She used to love hanging out in the main square in that town, often befriended by the local bands, probably given that she was as a young long-legged blonde,  fluent in the colloquial Spanish of Mexico.

 

Anyways she came home knowing the lyrics to literally dozens upon dozens of mariachi songs. Over the years we'd run across a Mariachi band from-time-to time and I'd always get here to play what we called "Stump the Mariachi", often to the band members amazement .

 

Anyways, it may not be Cinco de Mayo but I think I'll be spinning some mariachi music tonight.

 

Here's a good wide selection of the style.  Mariachi International, a London pressing with many of the most popular songs.

 

Anybody care to join me? 

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My wifes family were very very famous Mariachi's... Hermanos Zaizar.

 

They were responsible for probably the most famous Mariachi Song ever written... La Malagueña.

 

 

that song really pulls at the hearts strings and sets the Paradigm for songs written after it... specially with it's "yodel" movements.

Edited by Schu
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I'm sure she made frequent trips to Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City to listen to the many bands that played there. I spent many nights there and spent many pesos drinking cerveza and an occasional tequila during my winter trips to Cuernavaca and Mexico City. The charro tradition has been around for a long time. José Alfredo Jiménez is best known and most loved in ranchera music. Juan Gabriel has carried on the mariachi tradition and has influenced many Mexican and Spanish singers. Enjoy the music! I listen to it frequently.

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Hey Schu, just how cool is that!  So does your wife ever take you out on the dance floor?  How's her singing chops?

 

Frank, yes, you are right, she used to hang at Plaza Garibaldi, but I'll to check, but I think she memorized most of her songs in Gaudalajara.

 

It's fun, uplifting. I love it on those rare occasions when I turn on the tv and go a wandering through cableland, and, then, wallah, a channel with a Mariachi band up on stage!

 

How about a full band with a pressing called "Fiesta Del Mariachi", the San Xavier de Tuscon

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