23-01-11 Iztapalapa, Mexico City. It is my birthday and this year I celebrate it in a very special way. To begin, here in Mexico, when it is somebody's birthday he/she has not to pay for anyone drink, other people pay you the party and this seems to me a beautiful tradition; it is tradition to engage a Mariachi group to sing a suitable song for this moment to the birthday-boy. That is not the very common and very banal "Happy Birthday"; it is a Mexican tradition, kept by other Countries of Latin America too, to sing "Las MaÒanitas", a very sweet and slow piece (lyrics and music in the video). The best known version is the one sung by Pedro Infante, the best known Mariachi in Messico, in the film "Nosotros los pobres"
In the Mexican culture it is very important to celebrate women's adulthood for their 15 years (that is why the singer is ironic about this number); this social initiation ritual grounds its roots in the pre-Hispanic societies and symbolizes the entry of the birthday-girl in the adulthood.
The Mariachy are not easy to be "turned off" and their energy is contagious; so from the birthday piece we move to the dance piece 'till we end with the melancholy "Cancion Mixteca" which they dedicate me because I am Italian and far away from my Country.. but the words don't reflect my present mood.