Rancheras y Recuerdos El Mariachi Real de Mexico... in Humboldt by Shareen McFall
H
alf of Juan Cortes’ face was painted white like a calavera as he entered Rita’s restaurant in Arcata. Holding his guitarron to his stomach Juan guided behind him el mariachi. The trumpets blared, the strings of the violins vibrated and the guitarist and vihuela strummed away to the song, Cielito Lindo: De la Sierra Morena, Cielito lindo, vienen bajando It was Día de los Muertos. “Thanks for the applause and don’t forget to leave a tip in the jar,” Juan said. The restaurant was crowded and smelled of chips and salsa. The band stood by the entrance of the kitchen and as they performed the servers were constantly clashing into them, it looked like a cha cha with two left feet. “It’s a disgrace that the mariachi is not as well respected,” said Juan. “The mariachi is used for celebrations but we only play while people are eating, we don’t really play for dance parties and it seems like people respect us less because of it.” After each song the crowd looked up from their plates and gave an applause until the band made a mistake. Mario Galvez, 25, and Jeronimo Cortes looked at each other and smiled amidst the frustration of being off key. The applause was more reserved. “We were used to having set pieces where everyone knew where to come in,” said Galvez. “We would learn it the right way, I guess, the musical notation way. They learn stuff in a different way, they just hear it and then play it. It’s not as technical, but its still almost the same thing.” Only a step away from a customer who sat consuming his burrito stood Hector Cortes, his salt and pepper hair revealed he was the oldest from the group. After two songs Hector put down his trumpet and picked up a violin.
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Hector, 65, is the founder of the band, El Mariachi Real de Mexico. During the summer Hector had a stroke. He was on the second floor of his apartment building and on his way down the stairs, it happened. While unconscious from the fall he was taken to the hospital and then airlifted to Santa Rosa. The doctors told Hector to not play the trumpet for at least two months. “With the trumpet you make force with this,” Hector said pointing at his head. “I felt lightheaded and I couldn’t play but since I know how to play the violin I picked it up and continued playing with it.” His first attempt at forming a mariachi band in the United States was in 1998, when Hector moved to Humboldt County from Mexico. He tried forming a band with family members that would commute from Bakersfield and Santa Rosa, but it was not successful. “Here my father always suffered because there weren’t enough musicians and so he encouraged us to learn how to play so we could help him,” said Jeronimo who plays the vihuela. Rufino Cortes, 50, is Hector’s younger brother. Both their father and grandfather were part of mariachi bands in Mexico but Rufino believes the death of his father was what really pushed him to learn mariachi. “I think that my childhood pushed me to be a mariachi because I became an orphan, so to speak, at a young age,” said Rufino. “I began to notice that living in poverty was very tough and all my brothers were already mariachis.” Following his brothers footsteps at the age of 13 Rufino moved to Garibaldi, Mexico. “There my brother had a group called El Mariachi Rancho Alegre,” Rufino said. The Mariachi Rancho Alegre was also a family band composed of uncles that would teach them how to perform. Hector performed with the group for many years before he