September 16-17 Festival
MUHL5321
I made sure to attend this event. I was expecting to see a bigger event than this, but I had found out that it is a larger celebration in Mexico. In Texas, Cinco de Mayo is the large celebration. It was interesting to note that the only mariachi group for this three day event was Maricahi Amistad. I thought that it would be important to record the Ballet Folkloricos (of which there were many) since they dance to the mariachi music.
Dance is integral to many musical genres and mariachi music is a "dance" music. The dance groups posed many questions for me. Through observation of these various groups I noticed similarities in costume and the region. Red is a prominent color from which I would first expect to come from Spanish influence. I can only assess this through previous study of music of the Caribbean, which also has red as a prominent color.
I made sure to video tape all of the groups and the parade. While at the festival I realised that two other teams were focusing on mariachi and ballet folkorico. We discussed sharing resources, but I know that in the end we neeed to make sure that our focus is not too similar.
I made sure to talk with each "leader" of their respective ensemble to gather preliminary contact information. I think the ice breaker was that each group noticed my camera. I made sure to open a dialogue with offering a copy of the recording. I know that the camera was not imposing in this "festival" event. It is an expected thing to see. It didn't change the outcome of what was occurring. But, the offer to give them something was a great starting point. I made sure to let them know that it could be a few weeks before they received my video, but I will definitely send it to them.
I made sure to attend this event. I was expecting to see a bigger event than this, but I had found out that it is a larger celebration in Mexico. In Texas, Cinco de Mayo is the large celebration. It was interesting to note that the only mariachi group for this three day event was Maricahi Amistad. I thought that it would be important to record the Ballet Folkloricos (of which there were many) since they dance to the mariachi music.
Dance is integral to many musical genres and mariachi music is a "dance" music. The dance groups posed many questions for me. Through observation of these various groups I noticed similarities in costume and the region. Red is a prominent color from which I would first expect to come from Spanish influence. I can only assess this through previous study of music of the Caribbean, which also has red as a prominent color.
I made sure to video tape all of the groups and the parade. While at the festival I realised that two other teams were focusing on mariachi and ballet folkorico. We discussed sharing resources, but I know that in the end we neeed to make sure that our focus is not too similar.
I made sure to talk with each "leader" of their respective ensemble to gather preliminary contact information. I think the ice breaker was that each group noticed my camera. I made sure to open a dialogue with offering a copy of the recording. I know that the camera was not imposing in this "festival" event. It is an expected thing to see. It didn't change the outcome of what was occurring. But, the offer to give them something was a great starting point. I made sure to let them know that it could be a few weeks before they received my video, but I will definitely send it to them.
posted by Ian Rollins at 10:03 PM
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