¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara! represents the concerted efforts of dozens of nonprofit, government, and educational organizations with businesses, private donors, and volunteers concerned with bringing world-class Hispanic music to deserving communities in Santa Barbara County. Viva books big name ensembles that perform three free family concerts, lead workshops, and offer outreach in local schools all in one weekend.
The organizations are many, and volunteers diverse, but the performers deserve accolades as well for the generous gift of their time and music. The ensembles are paid, but most perform at quite a discount considering Viva brings them out for three days of intensive, daylong excursions through the county to local schools for assemblies and workshops culminating in the evening performances. The featured ensemble for the upcoming concert is Mariachi Flor de Toloache, the all-female Mariachi ensemble out of New York City, the members of which are more than happy to embark on the three-day journey with ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara!, explained the band’s founder Mireya Ramos.
“For me, I definitely have always been culturally based in my family, it was all about sharing culture and music,” Ramos said. “I’m very proud to be an ambassador of the culture and music.”
Mariachi Flor de Toloache should not be considered a traditional Mariachi ensemble though for a variety of reasons, Ramos explained, one being the diverse range of cultural and musical backgrounds the band members hail from. Ramos herself is of Mexican and Dominican descent, yet she grew up in Puerto Rico, where she learned Mariachi from her father.
“I learned Mariachi mostly through him,” she said. “He was a mariachi in Puerto Rico where I was raised, and he was the only local Mariachi at the time, but now there are three or four.”
Other band members can trace their heritage back to Germany, Egypt, Cuba, Singapore, Ireland, Columbia, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. The range of musical prowess in the group is just as deep, with classical, jazz, and contemporary styles under the artists’ collective command.
Most of the musicians in the ensemble, Ramos explained, didn’t play Mariachi music before joining the group. Ramos is the principle arranger and composer, carefully guiding the Mariachi style the group employs, but the fusion begins when she lets her creative counterparts explore how the Mariachi ensemble can be used to explore other styles.
“I think we are trying to do something that nobody else has done in Mariachi music,” she said. “I think we’re definitely making history and moving forward with it respectfully.”
Those hoping to hear traditional Mariachi music should note that the ladies in Mariachi Flor de Toloache have tossed out the rulebook and are playing their own game. They can spin a traditional Ranchera or Son styles into a swinging jazz number or even a modern R&B tune.
“Mariachi is such a traditional music, and people are very, very protective over tradition,” she said. “We are not really faithful to the traditional Mariachi because we are adding our own flavor.”
It’s this melting pot flavor that has made Mariachia Flor de Toloache right at home in New York City and established the group as the first and finest all-female Mariachi group in the Big Apple. Ramos knows that allowing each member of the ensemble to authentically express her own view of the music is what makes the group sound like it does.
The group has been wowing audiences since 2004, and is now releasing the debut album Mariachi Flor de Toloache, which the group will be selling and signing at the family concerts in Isla Vista, Guadalupe, and Santa Barbara. The members hope the album and the group’s legacy will serve as inspiration for young people and musicians, Ramos explained. Also, just sharing the music in a forum like the one provided by Viva is invaluable as well, due to the powerful influence music can have on people, Ramos said.
“That kind of work is extremely important,” she said. “I think, for us being young women musicians, we want to show that you can live off of music and there are so many things you can do.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne knows he couldn’t pay the bills with music alone. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 8-15, 2015.