Yesterday the Lowertown Roots Music Festival began with Mariachi Flor y Canto at one in the afternoon. The temperature and humidity was fierce but folks with lawn chairs in hand began to filter into Mears Park in spite of it. Several songs into their set they began to sing La Cigarra a song that sounds like it should be about smoking cigars, but is really about the cicada, the grasshopper with the unusually long life and known for the sound that the male makes when it beats its belly like a drum. I first heard La Cigarra on Linda Ronstadt's 1987 album of mariachi music dedicated to the Mexican heritage of her father. I remember hearing her sing that song and others with Mariachi Vargas on one of the morning shows when the album debuted....and I've loved it ever since. Flor y Canto did an impressive rendering of La Cigarra....and they sang it in the hot sun decked out in traditional mariachi suits. That means long skirts and jackets for the three women singer/violinists and full suits for the 3 guitarists and 2 trumpet players. At one point the lead singer complained about her attire and the polyester fabric of her costume. I wanted to shout out "summer weight wool will breathe honey"......maybe I'll post something on their facebook wall. The afternoon continued with a variety of roots traditions like gospel and bluegrass, but I left the park and didn't return until headliner Greg Brown took the stage at eight. It was still warm out and there must have been close to a thousand folks in the park by then. I'm not very familiar with his music but I had the feeling that most of the fans in the audience had heard him sing songs about flying his freak flag and fat boy blues before. He didn't seem like he had a weight issue and I thought he looked pretty trim in his cool wifebeater shirt. The evening ended a few minutes early when the festival organizers warned the audience of approaching thunderstorms to the north. The fans did not want to leave until Greg played one more song and he agreed. Warning sirens went off about twenty minutes later and finally lightning arrived to end what was a great beginning for the first annual Lowertown Roots Music Festival.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Hot Afternoon
Yesterday the Lowertown Roots Music Festival began with Mariachi Flor y Canto at one in the afternoon. The temperature and humidity was fierce but folks with lawn chairs in hand began to filter into Mears Park in spite of it. Several songs into their set they began to sing La Cigarra a song that sounds like it should be about smoking cigars, but is really about the cicada, the grasshopper with the unusually long life and known for the sound that the male makes when it beats its belly like a drum. I first heard La Cigarra on Linda Ronstadt's 1987 album of mariachi music dedicated to the Mexican heritage of her father. I remember hearing her sing that song and others with Mariachi Vargas on one of the morning shows when the album debuted....and I've loved it ever since. Flor y Canto did an impressive rendering of La Cigarra....and they sang it in the hot sun decked out in traditional mariachi suits. That means long skirts and jackets for the three women singer/violinists and full suits for the 3 guitarists and 2 trumpet players. At one point the lead singer complained about her attire and the polyester fabric of her costume. I wanted to shout out "summer weight wool will breathe honey"......maybe I'll post something on their facebook wall. The afternoon continued with a variety of roots traditions like gospel and bluegrass, but I left the park and didn't return until headliner Greg Brown took the stage at eight. It was still warm out and there must have been close to a thousand folks in the park by then. I'm not very familiar with his music but I had the feeling that most of the fans in the audience had heard him sing songs about flying his freak flag and fat boy blues before. He didn't seem like he had a weight issue and I thought he looked pretty trim in his cool wifebeater shirt. The evening ended a few minutes early when the festival organizers warned the audience of approaching thunderstorms to the north. The fans did not want to leave until Greg played one more song and he agreed. Warning sirens went off about twenty minutes later and finally lightning arrived to end what was a great beginning for the first annual Lowertown Roots Music Festival.
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