By Colleen Flanagan, Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows News
Multicultural week kicked off at Maple Ridge secondary on Monday with the mariachi group Los Dorados.
The third annual event celebrates five different cultures during the week, starting with Hispanic Day. That also included a pinata and traditional Mexican food for lunch.
Alex Alegria, lead vocalist and guitarist with Los Dorados, asked the crowd gathered at the MRSS library, cómo estás, how are you, before explaining some of the history of the mariachis.
Mariachi comes from the Aztec language Nahuatl, meaning happy time, Alegria explained.
“So we’re here to bring you a happy time.”
The band – made up of Patrick Ernst on violin, Michael Krywulak on violin, Diego Kohl Guitarron on the Mexican bass,
Mark D’angello on trumpet and traditional dancer Marisol Villanueva – started with with a folk song originally from Tepic, Nayarit in western Mexico, called El Son de la Negra.
Alegria noted that this is the most traditional of all the mariachi songs.
“During the Mexican Revolution, the people put together an army to fight the government,” he said. “And they stole a train. The train was a black train and this train helped a lot through the Revolution,” he said about the meaning of the song.