La Candelaria In Tlacotalpan, Veracruz
Guadalajara 19th International Mariachi Festival: August 27 - September 12, 2012
So it is fitting that the capital of Jalisco celebrate this quintessential musical tradition, and the annual International Mariachi Festival — begun in 1994 — brings together groups from all over the world.
The National Charro Championship runs concurrently.
¡Viva México en Guadalajara! read more
Mexico's gift to opera, Rolando Villazon
Mexico's Mariachi Museum needs music
When the honorable and distinguished city leaders of Cocula, Jalisco select me as communications consultant for their mariachi museum, I shall recommend minor enhancements.
The host who greets visitor...
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A Mexican song tours the state: Caminos de Michoacan
Caminos de Michoacan (an old ranchera song) by composer: Bulmaro Bermude is a musical tour of this Mexican state.
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Agustin Lara in Washington, DC's Gala Hispanic Theater
This June one of Mexico's most venerated composers comes to Washington, DC. The life and loves (and there were many) of Agustin Lara will be brought to the stage in a work commissioned by the Gala Hisp...
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Did You Know? Consuelo Velázquez and "Bésame mucho".
The song "Bésame mucho" (Kiss me a lot) was written by a young Mexican woman who had never been kissed. This article is a tribute to Consuelo Velázquez, who died January 22, 2005, at the age o...
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Did You Know? Popular children's chorus features cockroaches and pot smoking
La Cucaracha (The Cockroach), one of Mexico's best known corridos, is a comic, satirical song, with infinite possibilities for creative verses. Versions of La Cucaracha have been performed by countless bands and musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Bill Haley & His Comets, Doug Sahm
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Did you know? Mexico's Nobel Prize nominee and music revolutionary
A Mexican who tried to revolutionize the world of classical music was once nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1950, Julián Carrillo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. The nominat...
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Jose Garcia Olvera - El Professor De Los Pobres
Olvera has been teaching a choir in Santa Ana Tepetitlan, for boys aged six to 13 years old, five days a week for the last 23 years.
The first time I hear the choir Ninos Cantores d...
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Xalapa Symphony Orchestra
This past February I had the pleasure of attending the first concert of the 2005 season given by the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra. It was the first time I had heard the orchestra, and I was impressed by t...
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La Bamba explained: the music of Veracruz
Can you hear Ritchie Valens belting that one out? One of Rock and Roll’s most copied songs (from garage bands, movies, and college marching bands, to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). La Bamba is an ode to an era, the anthem of the American Boom generation. Many of us over the years continue to sing that catchy song without thinking much about it. But in truth, there is a whole lot more here than meets most peoples ears.
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Music & Dance In Mexico
MUSIC
The music of Mexico provides a rich tapestry of rhythm, tone, and variety. Its roots are based on a compelling history of disparate influences.
From the music of the Mariachi, the Corri...
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The Music of Mexico
Mexican music has its roots in the Indian flute,
huehuetl (drum) and conch shell. The Spaniards brought their musicians with them as the Indian music proved inadequate for bullfights.
Bul...
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Viva Mexico! Viva El Mariachi!
Nothing better exemplifies the lively spirit of Mexico than a fiery shot of tequila, dashing charro horsemen and the stirring strains of a mariachi band. Jalisco is the heartland of these emblematic fi...
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A legend in his time: composer Agustin Lara
Music is the universal language that crosses all barriers and penetrates the heart. There was no composer who understood the emotional draw of music better than Agustín Lara, and no song writer who ha...
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The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel
Even though the story starts out calmly enough, by the time you reach chapter two, you're in the middle of the wildest kind of fantasy, part new age and part sci-fi, complete with time travel, space travel, reincarnation, astrology and almost anything else you can imagine. The time span of the book stretches from the fall of Moctezuma to the 23rd century
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The Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato
Guanajuato is, and has been for a long time, a centre of culture and education. In one way or another, it has always been prosperous, either through the richness of its farmland or its mines. There was...
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Guanajuato's sonic landscape
Sometime during my first month in Guanajuato, the idea floated into my head of writing an article about the sonic landscape of the city. This of course includes a great deal of music, since it resounds...
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Life and music in Guanajuato
The city of Guanajuato is nestled in a sort of steep basin in the Sierra Madre Mountains and spreads up around the center of the basin. Imagine a huge, terraced rice paddy such as we've seen in photos ...
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The mariachi
Each year here in Guadalajara, we host an international mariachi meeting, with a musical festival and all of the rest included. Mariachis from all over the world come to celebrate the occasion every year. I've even had the opportunity to listen, believe it or not, to Japanese mariachis!
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Pidiendo Posada: The musical score
When reenacting Mary and Joseph's quest for shelter in Bethlehem, participants in the traditional Posada processions stop to sing a litany at several designated homes. The verses alternate one by one between those seeking lodging outside and those responding from behind the door.
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What is the mariachi?
The only thing more Mexican than tequila is the 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.
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Maldita Vecindad y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio
A riotous image of a storm of people bolting down a wide Mexico City avenue, in the midst of a live Maldita Vecindad rock performance from the back of a moving truck, comprises one of many memorable vi...
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Encounter of two musical traditions in Mexico 1998
"I'm playing yesterday's music and nobody pays any attention to it any more," lamented Juan Reynoso, the virtuoso violinist from Guerrero's Tierra Caliente, just a few days before President Zedillo han...
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