Friday, July 11, 2014
Musics of the World Week #3
Title- Popurri
Performers- Mariachi Los Camperos
Culture- Regional Mexican/Latin
Orchestration- Trumpets, Violins, Harp, Guitarron, and Vihuela (Plucked Instruments).
This week I chose to submit a video of a Mariachi Band for my blog. Coincidentally,
I will be doing my fieldwork observations this weekend of a live Mariachi Band. I
will be the first to say that I am not familiar with the historic aspects of Mariachi
music; however, I love how Mariachi music sounds. What I like about this particular
performance is how the different instruments are aligned with the vocal aspects of
the performance. Furthermore, I feel that the role of context in musical structure
is very important in music and particularly for the performance provided in the video.
For example, the harp, violins and trumpets provided an introduction to the vocal
section of the song. At 1:48 the strings and trumpets provide solo aspects to the performance.
At 5:19 there is an emotional change to the performance with the string instruments. At 6:12 the rhythm and feel of the performance is very similar to the beginning of the song and ends with
strong vocals along instrumentation.
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Within a minute of watching this video, my 8 year old son came in and said "can I listen to the mariachi band with you?"
ReplyDeleteI immediately turned to him and asked "How did you know it was a mariachi band?"
He responded with "because of the way they are dressed..."
Not being deterred, I probed further, "How did you know that's how they dress?"
"Because we saw a mariachi band on America's got talent last season."
Ha! This style is so recognizable just by the clothing that my son, that with very little previous exposure, he was able to tell what it was. Interesting, don't you think? As for the music itself, I loved it! Great changes from major to minor and back again, quick but smooth transitions between sections, tight and solid harmonies by both the violins and the singers, and the addition of a harp, which I am not used to seeing in this style very often. Great use of the stage as well, moving to accentuate the "important" lines during the piece. I'm with you in that I am not as familiar with the style and it's history as I probably should be, but I love the way it sounds and the energy that performers frequently bring to mariachi.
Wow!!! That is absolutely amazing that your son was able to recognize the mariachi band by their attire. Now that you mention it, I do recall the mariachi band on Americas Got Talent last year. I went to observe a live mariachi band last night for my fieldwork project. I was absolutely amazed with their performance. The music was so crisp and clear with variations of musical structures.
DeleteI agree with what Darren said about the movement about the stage. This performance actually visually demonstrated the importance of context in musical structure by moving the important lines to the front for their "shining moments." I wonder what the song is about and how the lyrics would influence the choice of instruments and musical structure. I wonder if text painting is a common trait of mariachi music.
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