Mariachi is one of the most popular forms of music in the world, a living musical tradition that provides a constant serenade to all aspects of life in Mexico and beyond its borders. It is the heart and soul of Mexico and its culture.
Mariachi bands and the ranchera songs they accompany are an essential part of Mexican culture. Originating in Jalisco in Guadalajara, the music came to Mexico City and found a home in Plaza Garibaldi. For more than one hundred years the Plaza has been considered the capital of mariachi. For a small tip, lovers, families and solitary dreamers and go down to the plaza and have any number of mariachi orchestras surround them and sing them a song. Formerly called Plaza Santa Cecilia, after the patron saint of music, the shrine to St. Cecilia remains in the center of Plaza Garibaldi, the original mariachi feminil.
In Mexico City mariachi groups are particularly the domain of men, but throughout several generations there have always been a handful of brave women mariachis and these are the subject of this film. In 2012 Doris Dorrie spent eight weeks with her crew in Plaza Garibaldi, documenting the music and daily lives of the women who play mariachi in Mexico City.
The film focuses on the life of Maria Del Carmen, a young ranchera singer who sings in Plaza Garibaldi, where she and her family have lived all her life. Singing mainly with all-male bands, Maria del Carmen is one of the very few women who consistently braves the tough street life of 'pay-per-play" in the Plaza. Her fierce presence is an important element in the film.
The music I.
The film also chronicles the lives of Las Estrellas de Jalisco, a mariachi group anchored in its women players. Every weekend they travel many miles to Mexico City, leaving their families behind, to play in the Plaza, at local cantinas, parties, funerals and weddings. As women, every time they go to play at an unknown party they are taking a risk, but they have chosen this life of music. Director Doris Dorrie follows Las Estrellas into the graveyard during the 'Día de los Muertes' celebration and into their homes, far from the action of Plaza Garibaldi.
Also featured in the film are Las Pioneras de Mexico, a group of elderly women composed of former members of Las Coronelas and Las Estrellas de Mexico, two legendary all-female mariachi bands from the 1950's and 1960's. Although they rarely play in Plaza Garibaldi, these women truly embody the spirit of 'mariachi feminil'. Rough, tough and seasoned, their voices reflect years of parties, concerts, cantinas and celebrations. Despite jealous husbands, time to raise children, and a general sense of difficulty they endure, professionally playing and singing regularly throughout Mexico City.
The music of mariachi may appear to be party music, music of celebration. But when you dig deeper, the lyrics are almost always ironic, nostalgic , fatalistic or just sad. It's this juxtaposition that makes the film so fascinating -- despite the harshness of their lives and the opposition they face as women, they continue to find joy and humor by playing the music that expresses their everyday lives and their souls so well.
The music II.
Mariachi may be an essential part of Mexican culture but it’s considered a man’s domain. Female mariachis struggle to claim their rightful place in the squares, like Mexico City’s famed Plaza Garibaldi, and sing the music they love. In her newest film, award-winning filmmaker Doris Dörrie accompanies some of these remarkable women both on and off stage. Juggling work, motherhood and homemaking with their musical careers is challenging but once they step into their role as a mariachi singer the difficulties of everyday life in Mexico City wash away and they sing the famed folk music of their country.
Doris Dörrie is one of the most famous filmmakers in Germany. Since 1976 she has made more than 30 feature films and received numerous national and international awards. Some of her best-known films are BLISS (2012), HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE (2008), NAKED (2002), AM I BEAUTIFUL? (1998), NOBODY LOVES ME (1994) and "MEN" (1985). In 1999, she was a member of the international jury at the Festival de Cannes. Her film CHERRY BLOSSOMS - HANAMI (2008) received the German Film Award in Silver as well as the Bavarian Film Prize in 2008.
Besides making films Doris Dörrie staged several operas since 2001 and is a well-known author of short stories and novels, among them THE BLUE DRESS (2002). She is currently Professor for Creative Writing at the University of Television and Film in Munich.
Doris Dörrie
FLYING MOON PRESENTS:
MARIA DEL CARMEN ESTRELLAS DE JALISCO LAS PIONERAS in QUE CARAMBA ES LA VIDA!
Director of Photography DANIEL SCHÖNAUER Editor FRANK MÜLLER Sound Recording DANIEL SEILER
Sound Design ANDRÉ BENDOCCHI-ALVES CLAUDIA ENZMANN Mixing HUBERTUS RATH
Research and Assistant Director ANA ÁLVAREZ Production Manager SABINE GLAESSNER Line Producer Mexico
VLADY DÍAZ Associate Producers RUTH STADLER ROSHANAK BEHESHT NEDJAD
Commissioning Editors (WDR/ARTE) JUTTA KRUG DR. SABINE ROLLBERG Co-Producers SONJA EWERS
HELGE SASSE Producer HELGE ALBERS Director DORIS DÖRRIE
A FLYING MOON PRODUCTION with SENATOR FILM PRODUCTION in Co-Production with WDR and ARTE
and in Association with 212 BERLIN, Mexico
Funded by DER BEAUFTRAGTE DER BUNDESREGIERUNG FÜR KULTUR UND MEDIEN DEUTSCHER FILMFÖRDERFONDS MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG FILMFERNSEHFONDS BAYERN
FILM- UND MEDIENSTIFTUNG NRW FILMFÖRDERUNGSANSTALT.
Developed with the Support of the MEDIA PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.
(c) FLYING MOON FILMPRODUKTION GMBH / SENATOR FILM PRODUKTION GMBH
The team
