Corona Daily 129: The Mexican Mariachi

The pandemic has reshaped many businesses.

Mariachi is the regional Mexican music that is at least two centuries old. The size of a Mariachi ensemble varies, but usually includes singers, violinists; trumpet and guitar players. All of them take turns, singing lead and chorus in turns. Performers wear elegant charro outfits, decorated with embroidery and silver or gold buttons.

The lyrics talk about human emotions and life: machismo, love, betrayal, politics, revolutionary heroes and country life. The music is boisterous, it electrifies the surroundings. Mariachi bands play at weddings, quinceaneras (a girl’s fifteenth birthday), serenades (performances for young couples getting engaged), Valentine’s Day, Mother’s day and other joyous festivals. Mexicans can’t imagine a birthday celebration without “Las Mananitas” or a wedding without “Somos Novios”.

For Mexicans living in the USA and other countries, Mariachi music is the sound of home. It’s the music their parents danced to at weddings, teenagers played after a heartbreak, and families crooned while drinking Tequila.

The French believe the word Mariachi comes from marriage.

Though Mexican, the music is spread internationally, hundreds of Mariachi bands operate in the USA. In America, schools and universities have Mariachi music groups. Just like Tortilla or Tequila, Mariachi represents Mexico.

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Mariachi musicians earn only when they perform. Last April, all of a sudden, invitations were replaced with cancellations. Weddings and engagements were off. Restaurants and bars shut. For two or three months, music was silent, the ensembles worried about survival.

And then the invitations began once again. For funerals and burials.

Mariachi Nuevo San Diego started playing at a funeral on a daily basis. In the past, they would do it once a month. This is true of most bands. They have turned to playing songs of pain and sorrow to ease the passing. It is not discussed, but they suspect in most cases, the cause of death was covid-19.

When the Mariachi singers arrive, people are grieving and crying.

“When you are singing, it’s not just singing.” Said one performer. “You have to interpret the song, and you have to also feel what you’re signing, and it does take an emotional toll. For me, the hardest part is when I am at a funeral and it’s an open casket.”

“We have work because people are dying. We cry with them. It is emotionally draining.” Said a lady singer.

Mariachi groups have now been playing at funerals for months. Just like doctors in the covid wards, they feel overwhelmed as well.

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In February, facing the stone archway of a retreat center near Los Angeles, the dark wooden coffin holding the body of Juan Jimenez was wheeled next to the masked Mariachis. The group lifted violin bows, hands went on a golden harp, and fingers plucked at the bass guitars. After the priest’s prayer, the group played for an hour: songs of grief and goodbyes, like “Las Goondrinas” (the Swallows). The playing was particularly passionate, the sombreros were off. Juan was one of their own, a respected guitarron player, 58, a victim of the coronavirus.

The Latinos are particularly susceptible to the virus. Mariachi musicians have lost family and friends and music teachers and band members. They have been coming in contact with mourning people on a daily basis. Not all of them are masked, or observe safety protocols. California has an Organization of Independent Mariachis. Of its 400 active members, 80 Mariachis died during the pandemic.

“Every time I go to work, I pray that I am one of the lucky ones to return home.” Said a Mariachi singer, the secretary of that Californian organization.

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Mariachi groups now look forward to summer time, hoping they can go back to playing their noisy and cheerful repertoire.

Ravi