Amira Sayed Breaking language barriers, the renowned Mexican Mariachi music has managed to gain a foothold in many countries worldwide, creating a solid fan base with its unique genre, performance and instruments. The Mariachi Garibaldi band has brought this distinctive music to Egypt for the first time ever, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Egypt-Mexico ties. Together with the folk ballet troupe "Yaocuauhtli", the Mariachi Garibaldi band offers the audience a musical trip to Mexico, to dive into its traditions and culture. Performing for the first time in Egypt and Africa, the group of 30 artists presents diverse performances that fuse music, dance and singing, reflecting Mexico's cultural diversity in several concerts organised by the Ministry of Culture. Speaking to The Egyptian Gazette, Jeff Nevin, the Director of Mariachi Garibaldi, said that the group was the performing ensemble from Southwestern College, the first school in the world to offer a college degree in mariachi music. "We have performed in many countries including Belgium, Germany, India, Canada, Brazil, Russia, France and China. This means we have been to Europe, Asia and South America. This is our first visit to Africa," he said. "Mariachi music," Nevin added, "is a combination of African, Spanish and indigenous Mexican music. "So, there is a strong connection between African and Mexican music." Shedding light on Mariachi's instrumentation, Nevin said the band had seven violins, two trumpets, one guitarrón(big Mexican guitar), three vihuela (a guitar-shaped instrument) and two standard guitars. "All the band members sing besides playing music," added the Mariachi artist. "What makes Mariachi unique is the harmony of the sounds produced by the diverse instruments. For instance the combination of vihuela and guitarron is amazing," Nevin said. Regarding the audience response to Mariachi, Nevin said that people feel the music and interact amazingly with it. "Of course, our experience here is different and unique. I expect that Egyptians will love Mariachi and will be eager to know more about it even if they do not understand the lyrics. Music breaks language barriers," he said. "Music and dance bring peoples of different cultures together. This is the purpose of music," Nevin added. He said he hoped to organise joint cultural events with Egyptians by fusing Mariachi with Egyptian or Arab music. "Definitely, it is possible to fuse diverse genres of music." In order to give a full picture of Mexican culture, Mariachi Garibaldi is usually accompanied by the Mexican Folk dance group Yaocuauhtli. Speaking to the Gazette, Mexican Ballet Dancer Laura Cisneros said she was happy to be performing in Egypt for the first time. "In general, most of our dances show the relationship between men and women, the Mexican way. Our folklore is rich and diverse. Each province in Mexico is famous for a certain type of dance. We perform a collection of dances in the hope of providing a complete image of Mexican culture," she said. The name Yaocuauhtli consists of two words in the indigenous dialect: "Yao" which means "Warrior", and "Cuautli" which means "Eagle". Dancer Cisneros said she admired Egyptian folk dance and belly dance in particular. "Dancing is a way of expressing our feelings. So, the people of each country express their feelings through dance in their own way. But, all in all we share the same feelings as humans."
