Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea “Risk It All”: Bolero romance for Mother’s Day
I thought about Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea as I enjoyed a concert by the young, mostly student Mariachi Juvenil Ajijic last night at a Mother’s Day night in a big local restaurant. I had seen Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea during a trip to Disneyland in the early 2000’s. I don’t recall thinking much about them then, beyond “oh, a girl mariachi group”. But when their latest release, “Risk It All,” popped up on my feed this morning, it seemed like the stars had aligned, and I had to write about the song and the band.
If you don’t know Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea, you should. They are a pioneering mariachi based in Los Angeles, which has won 2 Grammys, and has a long‑running Disneyland residency (which is what they were doing at Disneyland when I saw them). They are also known for adventurous crossover music that, early on, began to push mariachi beyond strict tradition. They are great at blending traditional mariachi with jazz, pop, and other Latin genres, releasing more than twenty albums, each of which broadened mariachi into a new direction.
Founded in 1999 by trumpeter Cindy Shea, they are one of the most visible and influential mariachis in the United States, with some fanbase in Mexico. Before forming the Divas, Shea studied trumpet under Latin jazz legend Arturo Sandoval, worked in the salsa and Latin jazz circuits in Miami and Los Angeles, and performed with artists such as Celia Cruz and Yari More, experiences that later shaped her hybrid mariachi style.
As I said, they blend mariachi with other forms of American music and Mexican regional music, paving the way for mariachi punk bands like Mariachi El Bronx, and Pancho Villa’s Skull, and for mariachi blues and rock and bands like Topeka-based Maria the Mexican and Guadalajara’s Mariachi Rock-O or Charlotte’s Mariachi Mexicanisimo and Mariachi Zafiro. But their 2024 release, “Bluetooth”, a dance‑floor‑ready regional‑pop crossover featuring Becky G hit a happy nerve with audiences and is a staple in playlists for parties in Chicano neighborhoods.
Which brings me to “Risk It All”, their latest release. It feels like a throwback to a 1940s film score, with Cindy Shea’s glorious vocals entwined with a violin and scaffolded by a soft-tempo Cuban-Latin beat. Very entertaining to listen to, it evokes images of Vivien Leigh & Laurence Olivier in a black and white film, but with the roles reversed in the lyrics. The mariachi flavor is in the tempo set by a guitarrón, the texture of mariachi-style violins, and a melody that flows through trumpets. As an extension of mariachi, it is subtle and lovely.
It’s dancing music, but not the “Jarabe Tapatío” (otherwise known as the Mexican Hat dance). Rather than the lively kicking up of heels and colorful trabajo de falda of the Mexican folklorico,“Risk It All” puts you onto the dance floor for a romantic bolero with mariachi shades—music you slow‑dance to.
So, if you are looking for intimate, close‑hold, swaying mode music very much in the vein of a stage‑worthy serenata after you host a candlelight dinner at home (for those of you who still date and invite your date home for a romantic dinner), you might just want to “Risk It All”. And you don’t have to wait for Mother’s Day.
Patrick O’Heffernan
