I love mariachi music, but I forgot that in addition to being Mexico’s national music, it is also great party starter. The banner photo on this page is the afterparty on the terrace of the theater where Mariachi Real Ajijic played their final show in a three-day celebration of their 8th Anniversary. They just don’t stop.
I was reminded of this Friday night when I went to the closing night of the 8th Anniversary celebration of Mariachi Real Ajijic. MRA is the most renowned mariachi in the Lakeside area, an hour from Guadalajara and in my opinion one of the best mariachi’s in Jalisco.
The anniversary celebration was held at the Lakeside Little Theatre in San Antonio Tlayacapan in Chapala, about an hour from Guadalajara. LLT is the largest and oldest English-Language Theater in Mexico, so giving its stage for three days to a mariachi that sang almost exclusively in Spanish was a bit unusual, but a great idea. The celebration was sold out, the seats filled with Mexicans and Expats, and the party after the final night was a happy mixture of both cultures, drinking tequila, eating tacos (brought by the mother of one of the musicians), and dancing in conga lines together.
The concert itself was an extravaganza of Mexican music and culture, plus a some “gringo” music in Español. The stage was filled with Mariachi musicians, the students of the Pedro Ryes Mariachi School, folk dancers, a floreador (rope spinner), borrachos (actors playing drunks) , and Sayacas – dancing clowns wearing wooden masks who cross-dress as women- local cultural icons.
The Mexican music were the classics; the gringo music was “Mexicali Rose”, and medley of Beatles songs (yes you can do the Beatles with a Mariachi), and Broadway tunes including songs from Jesus Christ Superstar and “Memories” from Cats including a wonderful female Cats dancer in full makeup, costume, and tail.
In the finale, they were all on stage – 45 people with the audience on their feet cheering and clapping and yelling otra (encore). There was an otra, but it was not onstage, it was in the after party.
The two bands – Mariachi Real Ajijic and the band of the Pedro Ryes Mariachi School, moved into the theater’s outdoor Terrance, set up their speakers and kept going. And the tequila flowed (but not to the students! ) and everyone sang and danced. Conga lines snaked through the terrace with expat retirees, Mexican couples and grandparents, and the teen-aged students laughing and singing and pulling in people as they danced.
At one point, when the party had wound down and the worn out dancers were collapsed in chairs, Edwin Origel Mendez – La Voce de Jalisco – one of Jalisco’s most renowned mariachi singers, serenaded the gathering. The guests were astounded. A man who routinely sings to thousands was walking up to them and serenading them personally, a once in a lifetime event.
But even in Mexico, the party must end (the theater has neighbors so they had to close the terrace at midnight), instruments and equipment were moved into the parking lot and loaded into cars and vans while knots of musicians continued the conversations. All in all , one of the best nights I have had with a mariachi – they know how to get the party started.
Patrick O’Heffernan
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