6TH ANNUAL MARIACHI WOMEN’S FESTIVAL | Saturday, March 30 San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
In celebration of International Women’s Month and St. Patrick’s Day, the 6th Annual Mariachi Women’s Festival returns to the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse with a lineup of mariachi women ensembles from England and the United States. Performances will include well-known mariachi favorites and Irish-Mexican fusion as a tribute to Mexico’s historic war heroes of the Irish battalion, Los San Patricios. 
The 6th Annual Mariachi Women’s Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse from 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. The event features headliners and two-time GRAMMY award winning Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea, Grupo Bella, mariachi performer Catherine John (member of the Mariachi Femenil Orgullo Mexicano of San Francisco), and Las Guadalupes UK from London, England. Their performances will be a combination of traditional mariachi music along with special songs performed by John that blend mariachi with Irish tunes based on her CD “Fandango Bragh!”. A highlight of the show will be a captivating performance by Irish/Scottish bagpiper, Tress Maksimuk, joined by Irish dancer, Shaunessy Sinnett. Adding to the beauty of the female mariachi ensembles’ presentations, will be dance performances by members of the Ballet Folklórico de Los Angeles de Kareli Montoya.
“The festival has become a tradition in Los Angeles and I’m proud to present and feature such incredibly talented women in the highly masculine world of mariachi music,” said Dr. Leonor Xochtil Perez, founder and director of the Mariachi Women’s Festival. “Mariachi music transcends borders and having groups from the U.S. and England brings this to life. This year, the evening will feature a special tribute to Los San Patricios, the heroic Irish battalion of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 which is a bit of history that is hardly known in the U.S. These Irishmen were from a different land but shared common experiences that bonded them with the people of Mexico. I’m excited to tell this story and showcase the music prepared for this magical evening.”
A free outdoor pre-concert performance will launch the festival at 5:30 p.m. featuring the community’s mariachi women and girls of the Mariachi Conservatory of Boyle Heights, the folklorico group “Los Angelitos” and San Diego’s Mariachi Tradicional. A mini Mercado will provide food, arts and crafts all evening.
“We are proud to continue our support and promotion of our traditional music interpreted by female musicians and singers,” shared Consul Carlos Eugenio Garcia de Alba Zepeda, Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles. “The Mariachi Women’s Festival is an excellent effort we are happy to be a part of in one of the most Mexican cities in the United States.”
Dr. Leonor Xóchitl Pérez is a scholar and leading advocate of mariachi women’s history, Mariachi Women’s festivals and has a traveling exhibit featuring over 100 years of history of women’s participation in the world of mariachi music. The exhibit will be on display starting 3/9/19 in Tucson, Arizona at the Historic Sosa-Carillo House in association with the play American Mariachi presented by the Arizona Theatre Company. The play focuses on the creation of an all-female mariachi in the 70s. The exhibit will end with the launch of Tucson’s first Mariachi Women’s Festival on Saturday, May 4, 2019 at the Leo Rich Theatre. Dr. Pérez continues giving academic presentations on her research on women in mariachi at colleges and universities throughout the world including in Kazakhstan, Canada and Ireland. She is scheduled to give a research presentation on mariachi music in Bangkok, Thailand at Chulalongkorn University in July. For the second year, the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles serves as a proud partner of the Mariachi Women’s Festival. For more information about the festival and Dr. Leonor Xochitl Perez, please visit: www.mariachiwomen.org To purchase tickets for the 6th Annual Mariachi Women’s Festival, visit: http://bit.ly/MWFtickets2019
