Heavily Outnumbered, Mexico's Female Mariachis Defy Macho Man Culture Agence France-Presse
go to original July 6, 2013

The mariachis belong to a proud Mexican tradition. The bands are mainly made up of men and the musical genre is the quintessential embodiment of Mexican machismo. But women are trying to be a part of this male-only musical world by fighting prejudices and gender discrimination. (AFP)

MEXICO CITY - With her hair tied back, large hoop earrings and high heels, Isabel Aguilar stood confidently in front of her five fellow mariachi musicians, all men, and sang to a mostly male crowd in a Mexico City square.

Aguilar, a violinist, is among the few female musicians in Plaza Garibaldi, a tourist spot famous for its roving mariachi bands, crowded restaurants and alcohol-fueled nightlife.

For the past 16 years, the 32-year-old mother-of-two has defied the quintessentially macho culture of mariachi music, the disdain of many of her peers and even the disapproval of her father, who was himself a mariachi musician. “He would say that women should stay at home,” Aguilar said of her father.

There are around 20 women among the 2,000 buskers registered with Plaza Garibaldi’s Mexican Mariachi Union, still trying to break the male domination of this symbol of Mexican culture that emerged in the 19th century.

Mariachi is a style of folk music involving mostly stringed instruments and traditionally played by an all-male ensemble.

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