Mariachi Veritas de Harvard

This past Saturday was the Mariachi Veritas de Harvard Spring 2008 Concert at Lowell Lecture Hall, a venue that seats 352. We packed the lecture hall on the first day of Passover! Our concert was spectacular, impeccable, simply electrifying. Everything and everyone was on cue, even the audience knew when to fill the gaps with their cheers!

We practiced everyday the week before the concert. The only respite we had was on Friday, when we held our film screening of Compañeras, with co-director/producer Elizabeth Massie as our guest. On Saturday, we started our day at 2 p.m., preparing Lowell Lecture Hall with our decorations throughout the lecture hall. We went through our sound check and practiced a few songs until around 7:30, when we went downstairs and changed for our concert. The concert was to begin at 8 p.m., so we were running a bit late, which is not bad for concerts. We dressed and walked up backstage, ready to go in. When I looked in, I could not believe it was full of people. Seeing the seats was a great experience, one that I did not expect or had experienced, namely because most of my performances were in parties.

We walked in to an enormous roar of cheers from the crowd and began our concert. Here’s the set list with links to YouTube recordings of the songs that exist.

1. México trovador
2. La pistola y el corazón
3. Cielo rojo
4. El crucifijo de piedra
5. Canta, canta, canta
6. Serenata huasteca
7. A pesar de todo
8. El rey
9. Pelea de gallos
10. Cuando sale la luna

INTERMISSION

1. El toro relajo
2. La bruja
3. Camino de Guanajuato
4. Rogaciano el huapangero
5. Por amor
6. Hay unos ojos
7. Canción mixteca
8. Viva México
9. Qué bonita es esta vida
10. [Pilón] La cigarra

Throughout the concert, we received a number of standing ovations, most particularly after “Por amor”. It was sung by Noah Van Niel, Harvard’s resident opera singer/football player. All of us in the mariachi knew that song would come out great, but it was the audience’s standing ovation during the song that floored me. In all honesty, that was the greatest response I’ve ever heard while performing a mariachi song

For reasons of future reference, the sound guys recorded the concert and it was also video taped, so I will have an audio and video record of the concert.

On a final note, members of the MIT mariachi approached me for a project they have been throwing around for a while and which I hope to be a part of… More details on that when the time is right.

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