Mariachi or true Mexican culture

First of all, a happy new year to all of you, not to mention a beautiful new century and millenium. I hope you have had the opportunity to celebrate these special times with your loved ones. Unfortunately for me, I am working in a French ski resort for the winter season, whereas my loved one finds herself in my favourite country, more particular in Guadalajara, Mexico. However, I do not intend to spoil your parties, which is why I’ll dedicate this article to a very festive and very Mexican institution: the Mariachis.

Mariachis and Mexico go together like Spain and bulls or Holland and windmills. Mariachi is often considered to be more Mexican than let’s say Tequila. It is one of those symbols which Mexican identity rests upon. Mariachis are always there to celebrate the great moments in the lives of the Mexican people. They play at baptisms, weddings and even funerals. With the serenata (serenade), they take an active part in the rite of courtship. The serenata used to be a means of communication in a society in which young members of opposite sexes were kept apart. To conquer the heart of the girl of his dreams, the young man would send a message of love. It was the Mariachis who brought that message across, singing their song beneath the window of the festejada. It has become a Mexican tradition and, today, it is not exceptional to be woken up in the morning by Las Mañanitas, the traditional song for birthdays and saint days, echoing through the neighbourhood and making a Mexican girl happy somewhere. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Now, what exactly makes a band a Mariachi band? The word Mariachi refers to the musicians commonly seen in restaurants or strolling the streets, dressed in charro (Mexican cowboy) suits and wearing those typical wide brimmed hats. They play a variety of instruments which include violins, guitars, vihuelas (a 5 string guitar), a guitarrón (i.e. the bass of the ensemble) and trumpets. It is the guitarrón and the vihuela that give the Mariachis their typical rhythmic vitality, a sound reflecting the heart and soul of Mexico. Their songs speak about love, betrayal, death, machismo, politics and heroes of the revolution. They even have dedicated a song to the cockroach or La Cucaracha.

It is not very easy to trace the origin of Mariachis. There are of course, as always, different theories and a great deal of controversy. The truth is that no-one knows and probably no-one ever will. Most modern scholars claim that the word has indiginous roots, whereas popular legend will tell that mariachi is a corruption of the french word mariage (wedding), dating from the french intervention of the 1860s during which Maximillian was Emperor of Mexico. According to this myth the Mariachi was named by the French after the celebration with which it was most commonly associated. The only problem with this theory is that the music was born in a part of Mexico the French never visited and whose history had begun before the French arrived in 1864.

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