A female mariachi band? No one will listen to your mariachi! No one will buy your records! Besides, you're a gringa!
That's what Cindy Shea heard when she decided to put together Mariachi Divas in Los Angeles.
Shea didn't lose heart or sell herself short. She just went against the current... against tradition... against machismo... against everyone who predicted that her gender and ethnicity would spell failure.
Shea took it all as a challenge.
Pretty gutsy stuff for a female trumpet player with blonde hair and blue eyes — not the typical features for musicians clad in the traditional Mexican charro suits favored by mariachis from Nuevo Leon to Los Angeles.
Back when she started — hardly able to speak a word of Spanish — doubters said she was crazy for wanting to form her own female mariachi band. Then the recording companies turned their backs on her, insisting mariachi fans would only listen to big names — Vicente Fernandez or Juan Gabriel.
So Shea decided to open up her own record company — Shea Records.
Nowadays, with near-perfect Spanish, Shea tells about her odyssey of trying to get ahead with Mariachi Divas — her group of 15 women with Mexican, Cuban, Argentine, Colombian, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Honduran, Peruvian and Anglo roots.
The divas have made their mark, with a regular gig at Disneyland, where they are the official mariachi troupe, and a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Album for their Canciones de Amor.
A few weeks ago the Mariachi Divas made it to Grammys again, with another nomination in the category of Best Regional Mexican Album for "Décimo Aniversario."
The famous Fernandez took top honors for his "Necesito de Ti." But the ceremonies showcased how much things have changed on the mariachi scene. Besides Mariachi Divas, the list of nominees included Joan Sebastian and Reyna de Los Angeles, another female band.
Shea took some time before this year's Grammys to answer some questions and provide a few anecdotes from her musical career and life as businesswoman, edited excerpts of which follow:
What is your interest in this type of music?
First of all, I'm a musician, and secondly, I have had mariachi music in my blood since I was a girl. Being from Los Angeles, I have had, and still have, the privilege of living among many cultures, of adopting other traditions. When I was a girl, I used to have a lot of friends who had relatives who were mariachis, or I'd just go to a restaurant and there'd be mariachis. All my life I listened to mariachi music and other genres of Latino music. It's a city in which it is impossible not to adopt part of the Mexican culture, in the food, the music, or traditions. I was one of the musicians with Celia Cruz, and I went on tour for two years with Joan Sebastian. I'm a jazz musician, and I remember the first time I played with a mariachi band, I felt like it was a gift from God. I couldn't pass up that opportunity just because I wasn't a mariachi, because I'm one of those people who doesn't place limits on themselves. I'll never say, "I can't."
How did you think of putting together a female mariachi band?
After working with big music promoters, I wanted to have something of my own. Since mariachi music is my passion, I decided to form Mariachi Divas. I remember there was a lot of criticism, but I achieved my aim because I'm a fighter who gets what she sets her mind on.
Was it difficult to find female talent to make up the mariachi band?
No, not at all. It's not difficult to find musical talent in this city. I'm happy to live in Los Angeles because we have so much musical talent.
Besides the female format, what is another difference in your group?
We decided to let our hair down (laughing), which is also unusual for members of a mariachi band. And something that makes my group unique is that it is made up of women from different cultures — we have even had a Japanese woman and a Swiss woman in our mariachi band. All of us are from different countries, and it's very enriching. For example, I have a trumpet player in my group, and all this time I thought she was from Mexico. One day she told me her mother is from Honduras and her father is from Mexico. Another one is half Mexican and half Puerto Rican.
I like to know the origins of each member because it's important for the enrichment of the mariachi band.
What does it mean to you that Mariachi Divas has been nominated for a Grammy for a second time?
It's very exciting. It's an honor. It feels the same as the first time. This is a dream come true. Just to be nominated is already a victory. I'm living a dream — the only thing that's better than that are the smiles, the applause, the support of my audience.
I have five albums, and with the fourth one we already won a Grammy — and now we're up for another one. And it's strange because we haven't received nominations for other awards. We went directly to the most important award in music, the one given by the The Recording Academy, and that's a wow. It's not easy to be considered by the Recording Academy, how did you manage to attract the attention of this organization? I still don't know how I won the first Grammy. That time, all I did was submit Canciones de Amor album to the academy and I won! Wow!. Of course, I'm always learning more and more about this musical world. I'm a Mariachi Inc., a corporation, I'm an employer. I remember that no recording company wanted to sign us because they told me "You're no Vicente Fernandez or Juan Gabriel." They didn't believe in my project, possibly because of my nationality. Then I said "well... if no one is going to sign me, then I'm going to sign me — so I'm Shea Records. Then I recorded and submitted my record to the Recording Academy, and the album ended up getting nominated. That was a big surprise.
I think everything is possible in this world. I tell everyone to "dream because your dream can come true," of course, as long as you work toward it.
As a woman and as an American in the mariachi worlds, have you received criticism?
Of course I have. It's been really hard — but what's easy in life? Yes, it's difficult because I have blue eyes and yellow hair. I'm the American, the gringa, the blondie... so people prejudge me or they judge me before hearing me play the trumpet or listening to Mariachi Divas. People think that if you're not Mexican then you can't be part of a mariachi band.
And how do you convince the skeptics?
Thanks to my strong personality. If somebody tells me "you can't," I say to myself "yes, I can and I'm going to be better." I'm always fighting with everyone in my life, because I say, "I can," and "I'm going to practice more," and "I'm going to be better." That's my personality, I'm a fighter. We have original arrangements in Mariachi Divas; the sound is different because the girls' cultures contribute to a different style. Divas has its own style, and some people like it and others don't. But for me, if one person doesn't like Divas, I have 100 who do. And if I get bad reviews, I'm going to take them positively, because that motivates me... If someone doesn't like it, then it's their opinion.
What do you feel when you're playing Mexican music?
I feel very emotional because mariachi changes the emotions. Something happens to me when the lyrics are translated into English, I don't feel them as strongly as when I sing them in Spanish. I feel a very deep passion. This music is very passionate. It would seem that it's the same to say I love you... but in Spanish to say me gustas, te quiero y te amo... ahhh they're feelings that go from a little to more and obviously you get more emotional.
How do you achieve harmony in a group of all women?
(Laughing) A lot of people tell me I'm their idol because I'm able to keep the group in balance. At the beginning I thought I needed a degree in music and another one in psychology. The truth is, I have to work overtime in the office in order to deal with the women's issues.... Oh my God.
The thing with the Mariachi Divas is that we're family. We fight like family, but we never stay angry — it's like sisters... Exclamations like "Who took my thing? I want to sing that song! Why her and not me?" And then another one crying about everything — things like that. There's a lot of passion and sensitivity, but I try to keep everyone united. We fight, and then we make up, but one thing is for sure, on stage we are one.
What would you say to Vicente Fernandez before the Grammy?
What an honor it is to be competing with him, since he's such a legend of mariachi music. He can't even imagine the excitement I feel in my heart to be competing against him or Joan Sebastian. But I'm sure the best one will win. Mariachi Divas already is a winner by just being in the competition with these greats.
Nora Alicia Estrada is a writer for Impulso.
Photos courtesy of The Mariachi Divas.
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