• ARTS & CULTURE •
Mariachi Manchester was founded in 2014 as a tribute to English rock band the Smiths and their now-former lead singer, Morrissey.
Mariachi band puts a new spin on the Smiths, Morrissey
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By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Pasadena Weekly Executive Editor
rowing up in Mexico City, Moises Baqueiro scoured cultural flea markets for music. Typically, the music was bootlegged concerts or albums. He found a 1989 Cork City, Ireland, U2 concert that was recorded with a Walkman or a “recording device that dates to the ’80s.” “I bought a lot of music there,” Baqueiro said. “Among the music I bought was the Smiths. It was really interesting for me. They always had the lyrics, as it was before the internet. Getting music where I knew what they were talking about was really, really important. They didn’t print a lot of those records in Mexico.” Baqueiro was intrigued, as he was living in 1980s, ultra-right Mexican dictatorship, “if you want to put it that way,” he said. He admired the Smiths’ musically addressing Margaret Thatcher and her conservative government. “For an artist to be so bold and wanting to mention the prime minister, it was heavy,” he said. “At that point, we lived under an oppressive government that controlled the media. From ‘Viva Hate,’ I actually went backward — buying Morrissey and then the Smiths.” When he was older, he founded Mariachi Manchester, a tribute to the Smiths and their now-former lead singer, Morrissey. “My intention was to make a mariachi tribute to Manchester (England), not just the Smiths and Morrissey,” he said. “Of course, we’ll do New Order and Joy Division and Oasis, though.” Some songs proved to be challenging for Mariachi Manchester, such as the Smiths’ “How Soon is Now?” Baqueiro said, by definition, mariachi is many musical genres put in one. “Among the things that mariachi music takes on is from the northern part of Mexico, which is highly influenced by Irish music,” he said. “One of the things we have to remind ourselves of when we’re diving into these difficult musical genres is if the melody is still recognizable, it’s a good idea. We tried it in different ways.” Mariachi Manchester’s set list includes “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “Suedehead,” “Ask” and “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get.” “A lot of these are mixed with songs of the Mexican mariachi catalog,” he said. “We take a
little detour and go into that, without digressing too much. It’s more like a musical parenthetical. We go on a little tangent and go back. I’m dramatic and rude and romantic and kind. “There’s a lot of naiveite in their music when they compose. It doesn’t seem to have cohesive form. Songs like ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side’ and ‘This Charming Man’ are very odd in their form. I don’t know if it’s them being completely knowledgeable of what they were doing.” Baqueiro calls himself a “very premature entrepreneur” who owned his first business, a bar with live music, at age 19. He ran that business until he fell ill and spent six months in bed. Baqueiro’s outlook on life changed. “One day, I bought a plane ticket and ended up in LA,” added Baqueiro, whose brother lived in the United States. “I went to ESL school and there were similarities with the people around me. The urge to communicate with our new environment was important. It was fascinating to be in a room where the world fit in. Everybody was trying to communicate with each other through a common language.” Baqueiro found the United States’ melting pot interesting, something he said Americans do not appreciate. “To me, it was fascinating to drive the 5 freeway and you can go through the world and not talk to a single person,” he added. “You can pull over and you’d end up in any little world — Little Armenia, Little Tokyo — not that Mexico City was not diverse or cosmopolitan. The number of people from different places intrigued me.” He soon considered becoming a musician; however, he wouldn’t call himself a “goth or emo person.” He felt misplaced and detached from the mainstream, though. “Back then, the music was popular, but it transcended and now it’s a thing — part of pop culture,” he said.
Mariachi Manchester WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, March 18 WHERE: The Mixx, 443 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena COST: Tickets start at $12.50 INFO: themixxclub.com 03.17.22 | PASADENA WEEKLY 13
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