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Being a Mariachi means depending on people having gatherings and parties to book you for a gig. But with the ongoing pandemic and strict social distancing, these Mariachi bands find themselves struggling to make money, stay afloat, and play the music they love. A big part for many, Mariachis remind people of the hometowns in Mexico, memories, passed loved ones, romantic relationships, and simpler times. The ballads sung by the mariachis are shared in tune with those listening.
Before the pandemic at any Mexican party or plaza or restaurant, you can find a Mariachi singing Las Mananitas or songs requested from those listening. But as the pandemic rages on and people are confined to their house and social distancing is enforced, Mariachis are finding it hard to get booked. With an increase in COVID-19 deaths, the only jobs these Mariachis are finding are playing funerals. They share the pain and mourning of a passed one's family by playing songs that remind the families of their loved ones. Mariachi Divinas, a San Diego-based Mariachi band, have averaged about three to four funeral gigs weekly, where a prior once-a-week funeral was played pre-pandemic. Even with proper safety and regulation protocols, Mariachi members are taking an extreme risk playing. KNBC-TV Channel 4 has reported that in Los Angeles there have been at least 20 mariachi deaths amid the pandemic. “It’s the only option they have to make money,” Paredes, director of University of San Diego’s mariachi ensemble said. “They need to play.” Even though Latinos only make up for 40% of California's population, they comprise nearly 56% of covid cases and 47% of covid deaths. People don't just become mariachis for the fun of it, for most it has been a way of life. They are introduced to the culture at birth and through traditions of former family playing in Mariachis. To not only have your job taken but your love of playing taken away at the same time is hard to deal with. "To be told that on the weekend there won't be any work, it saddens me," Rodolfo Torres of San Jose-based Mariachi Mi Mexico por Siempre said, "not only because I'm not making money, but because I can't do what I love." This struggle Mariachis are facing does not stop at city, state, or country borders. In Mexico, where the hearts and origin of the genre lay, bands have taken to the streets hoping to get passerby's to pay for a serenade or ballad. Hit hard by the lack of seriousness taken by the Mexican President at the beginning of the pandemic, lack of tourism, and pandemic regulations, Mexican Mariachi bands are also finding themselves in the same boat as the Mariachi bands in America. In Garibaldi Plaza, Mexico City, prior to the pandemic, you could find the streets and plaza center filled with Mariachis playing their joyous music. Street vendors, store owners, and restaurant workers would make the plaza lively with culture alongside the Mariachis melodic tunes. But now in the pandemic, the plaza is a ghost town as Mariachis try to find somebody who is willing to pay for a strum of a guitar, blow of a trumpet, or ballad. More than 90% of Mexican businesses are labeled as micro-enterprises, small dependent stores, companies, and markets that are self-sustained and dependent on a day's work and pay. Making the support from the government is hardly anything and leaving many without a safety net or steady income to survive. “We want help, we want the people to know that the mariachis live on,” Marcos Montes, a musician tells El Universal. “We want to work and need the support of people — perhaps not with handouts but by coming to see us and by hiring us.” The evidence is there in the streets, through the quietness carried in the wind that these Mariachis across nations have all been hit hard by the pandemic. But there is no doubt that with the love of Mariachi music, the strong Mexican will embedded in those musicians, and the need for music and connection in these trying times, Mariachis will preserve. “When the world ends, the two things to survive will be cockroaches and mariachis,” Mariachi Gabriel Jimarez says, strolling off in search of a serenade.
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AuthorScarlet Ruiz Archives
April 2021
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