Mexico’s female mariachis defy macho culture

MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― With her hair tied back, large hoop earrings and high heels, Isabel Aguilar stood confidently in front of her five fellow mariachi musicians, all men, and sang to a mostly male crowd in a Mexico City square.

Aguilar, a violinist, is among the few female musicians in Plaza Garibaldi, a tourist spot famous for its roving mariachi bands, crowded restaurants and booze-fueled nightlife.

For the past 16 years, the 32-year-old mother-of-two has defied the quintessentially macho culture of mariachi music, the disdain of many of her peers and even the disapproval of her father, who was himself a mariachi musician.

“He would say that women should stay at home,” Aguilar said of her father.

There are around 20 women among the 2,000 buskers registered with Plaza Garibaldi’s Mexican Mariachi Union, still trying to break the male domination of this symbol of Mexican culture that emerged in the 19th century.

Mariachi is a style of folk music involving mostly stringed instruments and traditionally played by an all-male ensemble.

Some male mariachi musicians still have a hard time accepting the presence of women like Aguilar, who performs in a long brown skirt and the traditional embroidered “charro” jacket.

“I will refrain from commenting,” said a veteran member of the famous Mariachi Vargas band as he sat on a bench watching Aguilar play her violin.

Women, he told a colleague, still have a “long path” before they reach the level of men.

Although not all male mariachi musicians look down on their female peers, several women mariachis say they have to battle to earn the respect of their colleagues, who accuse the women of evading their domestic chores, and sometimes exclude them from gigs.