Last night at the Del Mar Fair, our ears were filled with Spanish and the canciones y música de los mariachis. Mickey and I had great seats in the fifth row of the 4th grandstand section just to the left of the stage for great viewing. At first, I thought that this section was too expensive for the stereotypic blue-collar first- or second-generation Mexican American because when the show started, the area was only half-filled. Apparently, however, at 7 p.m. when the female mariachis left the stage, the 'purists' who came to hear 'real' mariachi - Mariachi Sol de Mexico and the ranchera singer Angeles Ochoa, appeared to fill up the seats. ¡Que lástima! for those people. I.M.H.O., they missed out on an impressive but admittedly different sounding arrangement of mariachi songs by 'muchachas'.
Nevertheless, these 'real' aficionados brought an energy to the performance that wasn't there before, as men surrounding us made 'ooiii - ooiii' sounds, whistled, and shouted in the midst of performances and later when Angeles sang, the crowd sang along with her during her warm up, like an old-fashioned hootenanny. Mickey didn't enjoy the participatory part of the performance, having to listen to some off-key singers behind us, but if we had known the words to join in, it would've been a different experience, I'm sure.
I think that art has to change if it's going to stay alive. I've never been an aficionado of mariachi, but it was delightful to see so many young talented men and women involved in this creative tradition. It was a true blending of cultures too with violinists from L.A., San Francisco, Tijuana, Ensenada, and Hernandez's relative (guitarist) from Jalisco along with a 65-year old harpist from Russia. Oh la la!
A new week stretches out in front of me, and the sun is inviting me out! What's happening in your world?
2 comments:
Ooo, that sounds like a fun festival! Earlier this weekend there was a Summer Solstice Festival in SB. One of my co-workers told me she recognized some of the festival workers from Davis! I guess they travel around. There were snowcones, which were the best part, but for some reason you had to buy "food coupons" in order to get anything from the stands, and there was no refund for the coupons if you bought too many. I made very sure I purchased the exact right amount!
Ah, snowcones! The symbol of a fair! I also saw cotton candy yesterday which I haven't seen since Disneyland!?!
Yep, it's kinda sneaky how they sell you coupons for the food, and then you could be stuck with several dollars worth of unused ones at the end. Actually, this is the way Disneyland used to run decades ago. That's how they made their money. You had coupon booklets with tickets for different rides. Some rides were more expensive than others, and if you didn't buy the expensive coupon book, you couldn't get on many of the 'cool' rides.
These thoughts take me back to childhood....
Post a Comment