Pride and a powerful woman take the stage
I was in Mexico City last weekend on a tour of the city’s murals, of which there are many. I like murals because, like rap and country music, they tell stories of the times. In Mexico, whose culture of murals goes back to 900 BCE, the words of the prophets are definitely written on the freeway walls, and its history is in mural museums. We spent 4 days looking at them
But Saturday night was for music, Malinche: the Musical, written and composed by Spanish musician Nacho Cano, formerly of the band Mecano.
Malinche is a rock concert combined with a full-scale Las Vegas-style floor show (60 performers), Hollywood-style special effects, including an erupting volcano, human sacrifice, and the burning of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. And some really, really great music.
For my American and British readers who may not have heard of Malinche, she was an Indigenous woman who was enslaved and then given to Cortés. A brilliant woman, she became his interpreter, acting as translator, advisor, and ambassador to various Indigenous leaders, helping Cortés build the army that defeated the Aztecs. She also gave birth to his child, chronicled as the first Mestizo, and earned her the title of the Mother of the Mexican race. She is a contested figure viewed as a traitor for aiding the Spaniards, as a brilliant, determined woman survivor navigating limited choices under coercion, and becoming the “mother” of Mexico’s Indigenous–Spanish people.
The band was fantastic. Backing the singers is a 4-piece rock band: Pablo on drums, Milo on guitar, Constanza Jarra on keys, and Tuchi Mudha dancing Linday Sterling style while playing a violin. Pablo’s drumming during the human sacrifice (you don’t actually see the heart) shook the hall with a flaming beat on the kick drum and multiple toms in tune with 4 women on tom-toms on a huge Aztec temple where the sacrifice took place. The music rose in volume and excitement as the victim was carried up, crescendoing and ending with a guitar scream by Milo. Whew!
There is at least one breakout song, Destino Mexico Magico. It praises the Mexican race as the combination of the best of Spain and the indigenous people of MesoAmerica and predicts a bright future – pretty accurate since Mexico is now the 14th largest economy in the world.
It also rehabilitates Machinche from the curse of facilitating the Conquest; Natalia Huerta sang “I Will be called the Traitor Queen,” but goes on to recall that she gave birth to the Mexican race.
I don’t know if the show will travel- it is too big for Broadway, so only a place like Las Vegas could hold it. The main cast are all “swings”- they play multiple roles. I want to give everyone credit because we only saw one set of players Saturday night; here are the rest:
Malinche: Luisa Buenrostro, Hazael Montecristo
Cortes: Javier Mota and Alexis Olvera
Father Olmedo: Javier Navarro , Luis Sanchez (watch this one, he is a tremendous singer and will top the charts soon on his own, and he is from Ajijic!!)
Moctezuma: Eduardo Siler. Governor: Apolinar
Video on YouTube. A banda mix of Destino Mexico Magico by El Recoda is on Spotify, but the video music captures the spirit of the musical much better.
