TheThunderbird.ca from UBC journalism » Cultura Vancouver: Latin living

Canadian Mariachi Festival

Ursula Diaz — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:15:34 +0000

Vancouver will have its very own again this summer. This is the third year for the three day event.

The of mariachi go back hundreds of years, but the “modern” mariachi began in Jalisco, back in the nineteenth century. A traditional mariachi group has at least two violins, one trumpet, a guitar, a

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(a guitar with a convex back) and a

, a dancing technique that consists in performers driving their shoes into the floor.

Mariachis traditionally wear traje de charro
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, consisting in a high waist jacket and tight pants ornamented with embroidery and silver ornaments.

Mariachis wearing their traditional outfit. Photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlmaral/

From May 4th to May 9th you will have the chance to see five international mariachis performing. It´s funny that actually just one of them is Mexican, two from the United States and two from Canada. Los Dorados and Los Castorcitos are based in Vancouver. The main event of the festival is the Gala, it will take place at the at UBC.

This music is one of the most important elements in Mexican folklore and culture. Even if you don´t speak Spanish you will get the intense feeling that comes with a good mariachi song.

Chilean women exiled in Vancouver

Ursula Diaz — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:13:15 +0000

The of 1973 was marked by . The so called Dirty War in Latin America lead to the disappearance of thousand of dissidents, many people could escape from their country as political refugees. Chilean women found in Vancouver a good place to start a new life.

wrote . She is a a lecturer at the University of Washington-Bothell. The book shows how culture, gender and the anger that exiles felt, contributed to create a social movement.

The name of the book was borrowed from , a magazine created in 1989 by a group of exiled Chilean feminists women living in Vancouver. They used to write a poem in every issue of the magazine. One of them dedicated to women that have been politically threatened at various points in story.

They used to call us witches

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The book focuses on the movement organized by exiled women in Vancouver. The author tried to be inclusive of all experiences. It is based on real interviews with Chilean women. She tried to place emotions in a social movement and to express the sorrow of loss of country, family and culture exiles went through.

Shayne shows Chilean exiles as a motor for revolution. Women were trying to create a new social order for their country, to be useful from their exile. Shayne said that the effort of the Chilean women deserves to be in a book.

Real Mexican crafts in Vancouver

Ursula Diaz — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:05:30 +0000

When I arrived to Vancouver I had to decide whether to give up my Mexican food habits. I had three options: I could hit Tex-Mex restaurants everyday. I could pay huge amounts of money for imported products at special grocery stores or I could give up altogether and learn to eat other kinds of food.

My roommates are all Mexican. I have seen how one by one, all of them had to quit jalapeno peppers and started eating curry or whatever is on sale. All the Latin American stuff that we used to consume back home is either hard to get or expensive.

That´s why when my friend Maria told me that she was planning to set an altar for the “Día de Muertos” (Day of the Dead) celebration, my first question was: that sounds good but is it gonna be a Taco Bell style altar?

I mean, where in Vancouver can we get “papel picado”, sugar skulls and Virgin Mary candles?

You´ll see, this is a really important celebration for Mexicans. This is the day where the souls of our loved ones come and visit us once a year. We prepare the food that they used to eat, the “pulque” they used to drink and offer them a big feast. It is really a big deal.

To my surprise, Maria´s altar looked like the ones I saw when I was a little child.

I needed to visit the place where Maria had bought all her stuff, so the next day she took me to “Tierra del Sol”. This store is completely dedicated to selling Latin American handcrafts.

The music in the store sounds like some Putumayo record. The place is packed with clothing, jewelry and handicrafts. Everywhere you look at, you will find hanging devils, gecko mirrors, Che Guevara memorabilia and Pancho Villa pictures. All together, the sparkling colorful objects look exactly like a Mexican market.

One of the stars of “Tierra del Sol” is Frida Kahlo. The Mexican painter is printed in handbags, t-shirts and posters. Mexican wrestlers, Virgin Mary and José Guadalupe Posada´s La Catrina are popular as well.

The store is located in Commercial Drive, probably the hippest drive in Vancouver. In this bohemian neighborhood you won´t find a big mall, you´re more likely to find an Ethiopian restaurant or a vegetarian taqueria.

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The prices are high, but you need to consider that everything is imported from Latin American countries and that all the products are hand-made.

If I was still living in Mexico, I would probably think that “Tierra del Sol” is just another tourist shop. But since I miss my country so much, I am glad to know that I can buy a “piñata” if I want to. It is the relief of knowing that I´m not that far away from home.

Passage, Cuban art in Vancouver

Ursula Diaz — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:57:10 +0000

If you look through the window of the Access Gallery, you see a vast dark sea. You will find yourself swimming alone in the middle of the night. Similar to the experience that many people shared as they escaped from Cuba. They are called Balseros people who
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leave Cuba on fragile rafts risking their life in the middle of the ocean.

Passage

is an installation created by Cuban artist Osvaldo Yero. The window of the gallery is painted black on the inside. From the outside, you can see a slash of paint that works as a peephole.

If you get really close to the slot, you can see a flash light that flows across the darkened room. The beams of light reveal what it seems to be a school of fish but actually is a cluster of knife blades. The light disappears after a few seconds and there you are again, in the middle of the darkness of the ocean.

The installation plays with the light in the gallery. You can only see it from the outside. Passage creates the feel of solitude from the street.

Yero evokes the journey of Cubans, but also of all the immigrants that arrive to a new country. In just a couple of seconds, he represents the dangers and problems that immigrants need to overcome in order to start a new life. He knows what he is talking about, in 1997 he immigrated to Canada. His family is still in Cuba where he often visits.

Access Gallery is located on 206 Carrall Street. The installation is presented as part of Bright Light, a temporary public art project that includes 14 galleries in Vancouver´s Downtown Eastside. Most of the works are free and will be open to the public until March 21. You can visit the gallery or take a tour which includes visit to almost all the Bright Light works offered by The Miss Guides , an urban walking group.