Female mariachi band celebrates Día de los Muertos

Approximately 250 people filled the Union United Methodist Church, 485 Columbus Avenue, on Saturday afternoon, November 2 for a concert celebrating Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by performer and music educator Veronica Robles and her all-female mariachi ensemble.

Tickets to the performance, which featured colorful, traditional costumes, makeup, music and dance, cost $5.00 with proceeds benefiting Robles's Veronica Robles Cultural Center in East Boston, which teaches Latin American music and dance styles to children and adults.
The performance was part of the Neighborhood Arts program, a collaboration between the Celebrity Series of Boston and Union United Methodist.

Robles sang and played the Mexican vihuela, an instrument shaped like a small guitar with a deep body and five strings. Dancers from the Cultural Center twirled gently in a couple dance, followed by a dramatic procession and dance with candles atop their heads.

In keeping with her mission as a performing arts educator, Robles led the audience in singing, dancing and clapping, teaching simple movements and providing lyric sheets for audience participation.

Robles's vocal performance was vibrant and expressive throughout, and about halfway through the show, she shared memories of her late mother and teenage daughter before launching into Colombian composer Omar Geles's "Los Caminos de la Vida."

The show concluded with a singalong of the traditional ballad, "Cielito Lindo." After the concert, Robles signed autographs and posed for pictures with audience members.
While most Latin Americans and other Catholics remember the dead in solemn religious observances in the triduum All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day from October 31 through November 2, the Mexican Día de los Muertos celebrates the return of the dead with vibrant makeup and garb, processions, altars and food and gifts to remember departed loved ones.