 The only thing more Mexican than tequila is mariachi and it seems a shame to have one without the other. Mariachi goes beyond music, it is the sum of a cultural revolution expressed through a group of musicians, dressed in popular clothing (most recently charro suits) which encompasses the essence of Mexico and its people. It is something cultural, spiritual and traditional that is unique to this country, an experience not to be missed. Mariachi is a type of musical group, originally from Mexico. Usually a mariachi group consists of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, one vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar) and one guitarrón (a small-scaled acoustic bass), but sometimes featuring more than twenty musicians. The original Mariachi were Mexican street musicians or buskers. Because of their great popularity many Mariachi are professional entertainers doing paid gigs in the mainstream entertainment industry. One of the best known mariachi singers is Jorge Negrete. Tourists frequently confuse mariachis with all types of buskers seen in Mexico, such as jarochos. Mariachi refers to musicians who dress and play in a style typical of the Mexican state of Jalisco, although the style and music played has spread far beyond the limits of Jalisco and jalisciense music itself. Generally a guitarrón and a vihuela must be included for a group to be considered a mariachi band. Mariachi music as we know it today originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco, according to popular legend in the town of Cocula, in the 19th century. The mariachi was the distinctive version of the Spanish theatrical orchestra of violins, harp and guitars which developed in and around Jalisco. By the end of the nineteenth century, the vihuela, two violins, and the guitarrón, which had replaced the harp, were the instruments of the mariachi.
The most classical mariachi sound is founded in the son jalisciense which is a son that comes (as the tequila and mariachi itself) from the Jalisco region. A very good example of son jaliscience is the popular musical piece El son de la Negra. The mariachi play besides sones jaliciences, rancheras, corridos, sones jarocho, sones istmeños, huapangos (or sones huastecos), boleros, canciones, jarabes, danzones, valses, pasos dobles and recently cumbias and other modern rhythms.
Prior to the 1930s, photographs show early mariachis dressed in calzones de manta, and huaraches, homespun white cotton pants and shirts and leather sandals, the clothes worn by most peasants in Jalisco. During the 1930s, however, many mariachi took to wearing the traje de charro, consisting of a waist-length jacket and tightly fitted wool pants which open slightly at the ankle to fit over a short riding boot. Both pants and jacket are often ornamented with embroidery, intricately cut leather designs, or silver buttons in a variety of shapes. This outfit is often complemented by a large bowtie, a wide belt and a large sombrero. It is said that General Porfirio Díaz ordered a mariachi band to wear charro suits while playing for the United States Secretary of State. If true, this may be the source of traditional dress for mariachi bands.
In the 19th century, many Mariachi were itinerant labourers moving from one hacienda to another, often more than the average labourer. With the revolution, however, many of the haciendas were forced to dismiss the mariachi, who then wandered from town to town singing songs of revolutionary heroes and enemies, and carrying news from one place to another. The Mariachi took to playing in public venues for tips. One of the most popular of these venues was San Pedro Tlaquepaque in the state of Jalisco, a fashionable place for the residents of Guadalajara to spend the summer. From the beginning, mariachi music was dance music. The traditional dance technique associated with both the son jalisciense and son jarocho is the zapateado. When dancing the zapateado, which originated in Spain, the performers drive the heels of their boots into the dance-floor, pounding out swift, often syncopated rhythms which complement that of the musical instruments. Another typical mariachi dance, the Jarabe tapatío or Mexican Hat Dance, from Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, has become the national dance of Mexico. It is highly stylized, with prescribed movements and costumes. The male wears the classic outfit of the Jalisco horsemen, similar to the outfit of a cowboy, or charro, while the female wears a hand-woven shawl and a bright sequined skirt.
Until the 1930s, Mariachis were semi-professional and almost entirely unknown outside their own region. This began to change when Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, founded by Gaspar Vargas in 1898, went from Jalisco to Mexico City. President Lázaro Cárdenas invited them to play at his inauguration in 1934, and later to accompany him in his campaign in 1936. Silvestre Vargas, who had taken over from his father as leader of the Mariachi Vargas in 1928, soon hired a trained musician, Rubén Fuentes, as musical director. Together, Vargas and Fuentes standardized musical arrangements for many of the popular sones and insisted on the use of written music, which greatly facilitated the exchange among different mariachi bands. Their arrangements were used by the great singers of their time, including Pedro Infante, Lola Beltran, and José Alfredo Jiménez. Influenced by jazz and Cuban music in the 1950s, they introduced the trumpet into the standard ensemble, which now included six to eight violins, a guitarrón, a vihuela, a guitar, two trumpets, and occasionally a harp as well. Trumpets were also introduced to mariachi music to accommodate the technical limitations of music recording equipment available for the cinema. However, nowadays trumpets have become an essential part of the signature mariachi sound, as exemplified by the opening notes of "El Son de la Negra". Aided by the advent of radio, television, and the movies, mariachi music went on to become a definitive part of Mexican culture, and the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán appeared in over 200 films in the 1940s and 1950s, often considered the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Today, mariachi music is played around the world in places as far away as Japan and Europe. This integral part of Mexico's culture and history is celebrated each September in its birth place, Jalisco.
|
