For ten days each year during the International Mariachi Festival in Guadalajara, more than 500 mariachis perform in concert halls and street markets - musicians famous and unknown gathered to celebrate the passionate music that is the beating heart of the Mexican people. Now for the first time, MARIACHI: THE SPIRIT OF MEXICO captures the excitement of this event in an exuberant display of the best of mariachi, headlined by the world's best groups - Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos, and Mariachi América.
Plácido Domingo hosts and narrates, and even performs his favorite mariachi song, "Paloma Querida." The operatic tenor, who cites his Grammy for 100 Anos de Mariachi as the award in his career that means the most to him, says, "I have loved mariachi ever since I first came to Mexico from Spain as a child. When I courted my wife, I hired mariachi singers to serenade her just as lovers do today. So how could I pass up a chance to experience the greatest mariachi festival in the world?"
Throughout the special, host Plácido Domingo explores the history of mariachi and the emotional songs that have journeyed from the countryside to the concert hall. MARIACHI: THE SPIRIT OF MEXICO demonstrates the wide range of mariachi music - passionate love songs performed on a stage covered in red and white rose petals, celebratory anthems of Mexican culture even a mariachi rendition of "Ave Maria." The groups featured in the special come from North and South America, Cuba, Spain, and as far away as Croatia, and perform in venues ranging from the historic Degollado Theater to an outdoor market, a diversity that reflects the very nature of the music itself, which is reinvented in each generation the further it spreads beyond Mexico.
MARIACHI: THE SPIRIT OF MEXICO features performances from the 9th annual International Mariachi Festival (September 2002).
SONG LIST:
El Mariachi - Mariachi Vargas, Mariachi América & Mariachi Los Camperos
Pajarillo (Little Bird) - Mariachi Vargas
La Negra (The Dark-Skinned Girl) Mariachi Real Jalisco
Noche Criolla (Caribbean Night) - Mariachi Vargas
Balajú - Mariachi Vargas
La Fiesta del Mariachi - Mariachi Los Caballeros
Sin Ti (Without You) - Mariachi Vargas, Mariachi América & Mariachi Los Camperos
Guadalajara Mariachi Vargas, Mariachi América & Mariachi Los Camperos
Temas de España - Mariachi Los Camperos
Veracruz es Bello (Beautiful Veracruz) - Mariachi Vargas
La Bamba Mariachi Vargas
Bésame Mucho (Kiss Me Again) - Mariachi Vargas
Sabor a Mí (You Have My Essence) - Mariachi América
Los Pollitas (The Baby Chicks) - Mariachi Los Camperos
Cielito Lindo (My Beautiful Darling) - Mariachi Vargas, Mariachi América & Mariachi Los Camperos
El Aventurero (The Adventurer) - Mariachi Real Jalisco
Tequila con Limón (Tequila with Lime) Local mariachi group
El Tren (The Train) - Mariachi Los Camperos
El Toro Viejo (The Old Bull) - Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán
España Cañí - Mariachi Los Camperos
A Puro Dolor (Sheer Agony) - Mariachi América
Por Amor (For Love) - Mariachi Vargas
Ave Maria - Mariachi Los Camperos
Viva Mexico (Long Live Mexico) - Mariachi Los Camperos
El Cascabel (My Rattlesnake Rattle) - Mariachi Vargas
La Negra (The Dark-Skinned Girl) - Mariachi Vargas, Mariachi América & Mariachi Los Camperos
Paloma Querida (My Precious Dove) - Plácido Domingo
To order a copy of this exclusive home video, dvd or cd, go to SUPPORT 21.
Produced by WLIW New York in association with KCET Hollywood. Executive Producer: Roy Hammond; Producer/Director: Leo Eaton (Eaton Creative, Inc.); Artistic Director/Music Arranger: Rubén Fuentes. Underwriters: Mexico Tourism Board, Jalisco Tourism Board, and the National Endowment for the Arts.