The mariachis usually arrive on time at that moment when mezcal and tequila light the heart and the spirit turns red. The first famous woman who dared to overshadow men was María de la Luz Flores Aceves,Fight Kings, temperamental singer who specialized in ranchera and mariachi and who in this case serves as a precursor to the first female mariachi group in Puebla, made up of 10 women and which, since 2018, has been triumphing in the city and the State. The Women’s Mariachi Puebla group became known through the program promoted by the municipal art and culture institute Jueves de Mariachis, which presents free concerts every week in the Puebla zócalo. This is how many people saw for the first time a group of female mariachis performing a very masculine repertoire to which they gave a particular style and their hiring skyrocketed.
I see the group rehearsing and I meet La Pilla Gómez and Ana Cecilia García Guerrero, guitarist and first vocalist. “Through femininity we give a different touch to our music, with respect and pride, because mariachi was also made for women,” says Ana Cecilia. They all wear traditional charra clothing, with a turned-down collar shirt and skirt.
Diana Rossano, founder of the group, has been singing since she was 12 years old. She has shared the stage with great artists such as Estela Núñez, Juan Valentín or Aida Cuevas. Currently, also as a trumpet player, she leads Femenil Mariachi, “a 100% female group that aims to be a reference for other women who aspire to belong to this wonderful musical genre that I fell in love with since I was a child.”
The wonder of life together singing and performing outdoors blooms every Thursday in the zócalo. “Here we are all good companions, there is more trust, the support is different, compared to the male bands. Sometimes we have to adapt the repertoire because most of Mexican music is made for men, tessituras for men, lyrics for men. “It’s a double job.”
The repertoire depends on the context, but Rossano is devoted to songs by Lola Beltrán, such as black pigeon (“you took on the parrandas on your own, / black dove, where are you?”), by Juan Gabriel, songs like That’s how it went (“I am honest with him and with you, / I love him and I have forgotten you”) or Eternal love, and for those that symbolize Mexican folklore, such as Mexico Beautiful and beloved either The blacksmith (“Oh, how beautiful, how cool / the party at my ranch, / with its chinas, mariachis and songs, / and those charros who wear wide hats”; a version loaded with symbolism with its arrangements and their voices).
Although they have begun to compose their own songs, Diana Rossano explains: “We seek to be a reliable musical reference for our roots, where a violin or a trumpet sounds like Mexico. What makes mariachi special is its diversity and adaptability and that is what we also want to explore as a female group of this genre.”
By listening to Women’s Mariachi Puebla Passing your hand and voice over the scars, you feel the shelter of the songs in such a way that you cannot help but think of that ode by Claudio Rodríguez that said like this:
It’s hospitality. It is the origin / of the party and the song.
#Mariachi #longer #men
