Europe’s only all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Las Adelitas, have managed to navigate lockdown, family responsibilities and the technical complications of recording separately to create a spirited and vibrant rearrangement of a mariachi classic ‘El Toro Relajo’ which we are very pleased to share with you. I’m no expert on mariachi but have always found the ‘country music’ of Mexico to be authentic folk music and full of life and energy and this talented group of players have managed to encourage me to explore further into the genre. I’m a convert to their sound now, the male bands have much to live up to!
London based and with members from Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Italy and the UK, they are in bandleader Anita Adelita’s words “Breaking gender stereotypes and making mariachi popular in a non-mariachi continent!”. The traditional set up of horns, guitars, strings and the wonderful soaring voice of Jari Castillo were arranged and produced by Anita herself and alongside a video created under the same challenging circumstances of 2020, makes this a spectacular accomplishment.
“The recording process was a huge challenge firstly because many of us are mothers and our children of course were around 24 hours a day during lockdown. I have sole care of my triplets and their little brother who are all five and under and they wanted to get involved. So, for ‘El Toro Relajo’, I had them dress up in their Mexican outfits and dance in the garden. You can see them in the video!”
“The recording was further complicated by never-ending building works outside my window. So I’d wait for the builders to have short breaks and rush to record during those times!”, explains Anita. “Much of the work was produced in the midnight hours and the process took a lot longer than initially envisaged. However, it was amazing and empowering to manage it, to complete it and to end up with three high quality recordings.” This is the first of three new recordings that will be released over the next few months but for now, let this song make you smile as much as it made me. ‘El Toro Relajo’ translates as ‘The Messy Bull’ but there’s nothing messy here, just great playing, great energy and a great song