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A strange musical weekend but the kids saved it

This weekend has been a kind of a long strange musical trip, I was planning to cover a concert by Arablab, a project of Arabic music with experimental, fusion, and psychedelic cross-border music.  It was at the state-run CCAR auditorium, so I knew the seats would be comfortable and sound good. That was Saturday night, so for Friday, I decided to catch Frad at a local restaurant venue – 150 seats with room for dancing.  I could rock out and have dinner.

Frad was great. Hard rock covers with her particular and enjoyable twist. Her guitar-player husband blew everyone away and the band was perfect. But the restaurant’s food menu had been cut to three entrées – none of which I liked, and the waiter took 45 minutes to ask if we wanted food. We decided to leave after the first set and eat elsewhere. We missed some music, but our tummies were happy. 

And I still had Arablab to cover Saturday night for Music Sin Fronteras.

Unfortunately, Arablab canceled. Not sure why, but I suspect low ticket sales were at least partly to blame. Arab music is an acquired taste for Westerners, and apparently, it is for Mexicans too. 

That left me with a Mariachi Real Ajijic concert Sunday in celebration of Cinco de Mayo –  not a big day in Mexico, but a good excuse for a mariachi concert. I love MRA  –  they are one of the top mariachis in Jalisco, the birthplace of mariachi. But I had covered them before, so it was dicey as a writing topic unless they surprised me. They did – or rather the opening act did. 

The opening act was a long set by the students from the Pedro Ryes School of Mariachi.  I knew the school, having covered the installation of its first piano last year, and from knowing the director, Danny Medeles. But the school, named after a famous mariachi player from the area,  had existed for only two years and was training kids under 18, some as young as 9 years old who had ever touched a musical instrument or sang before. 

 I knew there was potential, but I did not expect much in that short time and was not keeping track of the school. I went because the headline act was Mariachi Real Ajijic, one of Jalisco’s best and friends of mine. I understood that the afternoon concert was a fundraiser for the school, which was great.

Boy was I wrong! They were so good they received two standing ovations. They announced that they had been selected as finalists in the International Mariachi School competition in Mexico City and were chosen to give the opening concert. I also learned that the female students had earlier performed at the Gala de La Mujer Mariachi,  and the school participated in the very selective  La Estrella Infantil in Guadalajara’s Plaza de Mariachis.

Not bad for a bunch of kids who had only two years of instruction in music.

They entertained us for over an hour with full band songs and solos and some astonishing singing. I was especially impressed with 13-year-old Amanda Enciso Jacobo,  With a voice that could shatter a tequila snifter and the stage presence of a polished star, she captivated me and the rest of the audience of 250 or so.  All of the soloists and the entire band had the talent and stage confidence of experienced entertainers twice or three times their ages.

The afternoon ended with a foot-stomping blow-the-roof-off performance by the venerable Mariachi Real Ajijic, including “Flight of the Bumble Bee” and a rendition of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” that had everyone in the audience singing along. All in all, a pretty good ending to a weekend that started off as a long strange musical trip.

Patrick O’Heffernan, PhD., is a music journalist and radio broadcaster based in Los Angeles, California, with a global following. His two weekly radio programs, MusicFridayLive! and MusicaFusionLA are heard nationwide and in the UK. He focuses on two music specialties: emerging bands in all genres, and the growing LA-based ALM genre (American Latino Music) that combines rock and rap, blues and jazz and pop with music from Latin America like cumbia, banda, jarocho and mariachi. He also likes to watch his friend drag race.

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