This is our 4th summer trip to Mexico to immerse ourselves in culture, music, food, history, anthropology. Our previous trips were to the west coast and the state of Colima, and two trips to the east coast and the state of Veracruz. There is so much to say about each of these previous trips, but I want to start this blog posting with our 2009 trip to Guadalajara. We will be staying in the embedded suburb of Tlaquepaque, wherein we hope to find mariachi music a-plenty.
This is the first time we will have a computer along, and recording devices for music, so I plan to share and post some of the best music we find.
Our trips have always followed some temptation of local, live music. In Colima, we planned our trip around a trip to the smaller town of Comala, where, we were told, we would find botaneros serving up tapas and music for not much money. In Veracruz, we planned to stay at the Plaza de las Armas, where we would hear jarocho music, Carribean sounds, and the everpresent danzon.
Last year our Veracruz trip started in Mexico City where we spent one evening chasing mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi. This is the only disappointment we have had: Garibaldi is supposed to be the de facto capital of DF mariachi culture and music. There are MANY musicians crowding for attention there, but we heard none we like as well as our own favorite group (Mariachi San Antonio) here in Pasadena, CA.
So this year we are going to the home of mariachi:Guadalajara. I am taking a violin, and armed with three songs, I will attempt to get some experience playing on the street with real musicians. We have been warned: as in DF, we are likely to find that the best mariachis are STILL those who have made careers of it in the US. The money is better and those who can go north to make a real living. I figure there are plenty of guys who have family in Mexico and make a good enough living there that the risk of leaving isn't really worth it.
So maybe there are good musicians, willing to let me sit in- me a middle-aged gringa who has studied her butt off to learn these three songs.
This is the first time we will have a computer along, and recording devices for music, so I plan to share and post some of the best music we find.
Our trips have always followed some temptation of local, live music. In Colima, we planned our trip around a trip to the smaller town of Comala, where, we were told, we would find botaneros serving up tapas and music for not much money. In Veracruz, we planned to stay at the Plaza de las Armas, where we would hear jarocho music, Carribean sounds, and the everpresent danzon.
Last year our Veracruz trip started in Mexico City where we spent one evening chasing mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi. This is the only disappointment we have had: Garibaldi is supposed to be the de facto capital of DF mariachi culture and music. There are MANY musicians crowding for attention there, but we heard none we like as well as our own favorite group (Mariachi San Antonio) here in Pasadena, CA.
So this year we are going to the home of mariachi:Guadalajara. I am taking a violin, and armed with three songs, I will attempt to get some experience playing on the street with real musicians. We have been warned: as in DF, we are likely to find that the best mariachis are STILL those who have made careers of it in the US. The money is better and those who can go north to make a real living. I figure there are plenty of guys who have family in Mexico and make a good enough living there that the risk of leaving isn't really worth it.
So maybe there are good musicians, willing to let me sit in- me a middle-aged gringa who has studied her butt off to learn these three songs.
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