August event series ‘Mexican Nights' will bring traditional music and dance to the Ford

Los Angeles Times

01-08-2025

Beginning Aug. 2, the Ford is kicking off 'Mexican Nights,' an event series that seeks to highlight arts traditions from throughout Mexico's storied and diverse history.
Attendees of the series can immerse themselves in the local staples of the boleros scene, watch some of the most decorated mariachi musicians from prominent groups across generations and experience dance cultures from various Mexican states.
Get to know the acts that will take the stage in the Hollywood Hills venue.
The first performance of the summer concert series will feature the reunion of Marisoul Y Los Hermanos Carlos, whose over-two-decade run in the band La Santa Cecilia began with performances at Downtown L.A.'s Placita Olvera. Also featured in the evening's lineup is the brother duo of Bolero Soul, whose 40-year run was inspired by their grandfather's musical tendencies in the Mexican state of Jalisco in the 1930s.
The Boleros de Noche creative director Roberto Carlos first fell in love with live performance in his mid-teens when he would frequent the now-defunct Teatro los Pinos in South Gate. He recalled one Sunday performance, which his father took him to, that left a lasting impact.
'It was so powerful to see my dad take me to that concert, knowing that I knew he had to wake up early the next day,' Carlos told The Times. 'Meeting the artists and walking through the hallways listening to music in the background — I felt that was one of the first initial steps ... I had a connection with the music that day, with the artist and with my dad. That's kind of what started the dream for me.'
In 2015, Carlos began to yearn for that same level of comfort and awe at music and wanted to share that with a larger audience. Surely enough, there were people who shared his love of bolero music. The first iteration of the event took place in an art gallery in Echo Park.
'At Boleros de Noche, [I want] for us to speak in Spanish, to feel recognized, to do this music as a celebration for all these artists that unfortunately became background music for a lot of like weddings and quinceañeras,' Carlos said. 'How about if we celebrate them and give them a recognition? How about if, through my events, I can take people back to the 1940s to my experience at Teatro los Pinos?'
Recently, the City of L.A. declared Aug. 2 the Día de Bolero, something Carlos is especially proud of given the current political climate.
'I think it's really symbolic, especially right now. It's a statement that our culture matters. I feel it's a necessity. I feel like we need to keep preserving our identity and [keep] our culture alive,' he said. 'I think there's a lot of contributions that Latin American communities bring to L.A., and we need to celebrate and know that we're still here.'
Ultimately, Carlos wants his events to help create a safe and welcoming gathering place for locals.
'It's about bolero music. It's about community. It's about people. It's about the musicians,' he said. 'Many of the musicians were undocumented. They brought this music to L.A. through their hometowns.'
Suzanne Garcia, a lifelong mariachi musician and the producer of Leyendas del Mariachi, knows the thrill of playing on stage — and never wanting that feeling to stop.
'Mariachis play until they're well into their 70s. I mean, retirement for musicians is just not typical,' Garcia told The Times. 'It's in your blood. Many of them have generations and generations of family that have been mariachis and that's what they know. That's what makes them happy.'
That's what the Aug. 7 event is projected to do: provide a place for musicians who are long past their touring days but are still eager to connect across generations through music.
Set to perform at the show are members from Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Mariachi Los Camperos, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, Mariachi Cobre and Mariachi América de Jesús Rodríguez de Hijar.
'For me, just seeing these men perform when I was a little girl,' Garcia said,' it brings back so much nostalgia. Just getting them all together would bring back so many good memories. Mariachi is such a unifying music that, no matter if you're 10 or you're 75, you can play the same songs and be together on stage.'
Having previously been staged at the Soraya in Northridge, the show has brought in people from across the country to appreciate the congregation of musical icons.
'People want to see their legends,' said Garcia. 'L.A. has kind of been a hub where they come and people will travel to see them, because they miss it. They miss seeing them on stage, because some of them haven't been on that big stage for many years.'
The Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company, alongside the Teocalli Ballet Folklórico México and the Mariachi Tesoro de San Fernando, will explore the various customs of several Mexican states through traditional wedding dance and music.
Founded in 2003 by Jose Vences, the L.A.-based Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company has a long history of performing at the Ford, and this year will focus its showcase on the many cultural aspects surrounding the ceremony of marriage.
'We forget that in some places, a wedding can mean different things,' Vences told The Times. 'It could go from the closing of a business, to a ritual that represents a different stage for a couple going from noviazgo into the beginning of a family. That has to be a sacred ritual and an event where the community has to participate.'
The Aug. 16 program will focus on parts of Mexico, such as Yucatán, Morelos, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Michoacán and Jalisco. But the show will also highlight the pre-Columbian cultures found throughout the country.
'In the opening, the Mayan piece, we have the closing of a business,' Vences explained, 'but the beginning of the fall of a town in the Yucatán — and the fall of the city of Chichén Itzá after a wedding.'
Perhaps the most standout feature of the program is the world premiere of the dance company's tribute to the Muxes de Oaxaca — a third gender that has been historically recognized in Zapotec culture.
'I was visiting the coast of Oaxaca, where the Muxes are, and I had a different approach to seeing some of these people, to the point where later, when there was a series about the Muxes on Netflix that brought the topic with such an intensity ... I said it's time to work on this,' Vences said.
The process of respectfully and fully representing the social status and cultural space that Muxes take up required constant consideration to shape the section.
'It is a very interesting way of approaching the history of a group that seems to be very lonely and how were we going to artistically represent some of the feelings of members of this population that doesn't have a 'regular' life,' Vences said. 'They cannot have a 'regular' serenade. They cannot have a 'regular' wedding. How can [we] represent that creatively onstage?'