Music and Gender

 I have written and could write countless pieces about the machismo in Mexican culture. As a first generation Mexican-American daughter, I know firsthand just how engrossed gender roles are within our culture. Not only could I list countless examples of how gender roles have personally affected me in my own home, but there are countless examples out in the world. Perhaps one of the biggest examples of how gender roles have influenced traditional Mexican music is in the concept of mariachis. 

In Mexican culture, a mariachi is a small musical ensemble composed of a variety of mostly stringed instruments and whose players are historically composed of all men. The genre arose from the western regions of Mexico and can be traced as far back as the 18th century. Mariachi songs typically deal with themes of love, betrayal and machismo, a Spanish word which loosely translates to “strong or aggressive masculine pride.” Mariachi groups vary in size, but often consist of a violin section, a trumpet section, and a rhythm section that features acoustic guitars, vihuelas (a guitar-like instrument which is often compared to a lute) guitarron, a large guitar-like instrument which carries a bass tone, and the occasional harp. Below I have attached a video of a mariachi group and what it typically looks like:

Initially, mariachi groups were made up of all male members, which may explain the sexist lyrics and themes commonly seen in the genre. One reason given for the traditionally masculine composition of mariachi groups is due to their performances taking place in environments deemed “not acceptable for women,” such as places where alcohol was present, in addition to the traveling performances would entail. 

However, as women’s suffrage and equality were brought to the forefront in Mexico during the 20th century, women became increasingly involved in mariachi. In 1946, the trailblazing group Las Adelitas formed in Mexico City, becoming the first all-female mariachi band, and were followed a few years later by other popular groups. 

Despite progress made in the genre by pioneering women, mariachi music continued to be dominated by men when it made its way into the United States in the mid-20th century. Although the exact origins of the mariachi in the United States are blurry and ambiguous, all-male groups began to form in the United States and were popularized in the mid-20th century. The convention of male mariachi groups was only broken when Las Rancheritas, the first all-female mariachi group from the United States, was created in Texas in 1964. As time went on, women began breaking into the U.S. mariachi scene with more all-female groups, such as Mariachi Las Generales and Mariachi Estrellas, formed in the 1970s, and one of today’s most popular all-female mariachi groups, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, formed in the 1990s. 

I do not wish to bore you with a more extensive history lesson so I will conclude my blog with a clip of a performance by Mariachi Reyna: