Band of the Week: Mariachi Fuego

While there may be an inclination to treat Mariachi Fuego like a novelty act, you’d be missing the point. The group’s genuinely entertaining live show is enough to get the most cynical of us out of our chairs, and now the Dakota Tavern is hosting Mariachi Mondays, which has the band kicking off every work-week with a bang. We caught up with band founder and trumpet player Rob Dickson to talk about what’s coming up for the band.

Can you talk a bit about how you guys got together?
I had been playing mariachi music for about ten years in the Toronto area when I decided it was time to form my own group. I wanted to have greater musical control and I also had a vision about the type of customer service I wanted to offer.

How did the residency at the Dakota come about?
A couple of years ago I contacted Shawn Creamer [owner of the Dakota] about the possibility of performing there. A few months later he called me to see if we would be interested in performing for St. Patrick’s Day at the Dakota. I loved the irony of having a mariachi band play for St. Patrick’s Day, so naturally I jumped at it. It has since become somewhat of a tradition. We have just recently undertaken the Mariachi Mondays gig and are hopeful it will take off.

You guys have clearly been playing this type of music for a while; you really know how to put on a show. Were you guys playing in other mariachi or similar bands before Mariachi Fuego?
We all met playing in different mariachi bands. I have been playing with some of these guys for ten years or so.

Is there much of a mariachi scene in Toronto? If so, who are some of the other bands to check out? Would you encourage more musicians to start playing the style?
There are a few other bands in the city. The music is great fun to play so I would encourage anyone who has the skills and the passion to look into it.

Mariachi instruments like the guitarron and the vihuela seem like they would be hard to come by around here, where does one procure such instruments?
Mexico is the place to get them.

From what little I know about mariachi music it seems to be a genre with a lot of history. Is it important for you to honour those traditions?
We do try to honour those traditions. As with any type of folk music there are purists and there are progressives. I would like to think that we fall somewhere in the middle.

I remember you talking about Mexico on Monday. Have you ever had the opportunity to play there? How does it compare to Toronto?
I have had the opportunity to play in Mexico twice. Needless to say the pressure to perform a certain way there is very high. But on the other hand the people there where always thrilled to see that there music has reached up to this country. A Canadian mariachi is quite a novelty down there.

Do you guys write much of your own material or do you concentrate more on traditional songs?
Pretty much totally traditional music, although Oscar [the guitarrone player] has a few originals we are working on.

I know from your website you’ve recorded a few songs. Are there any plans to release an album in the near future?
We are currently working on an album, which will include some unconventional tracks along with the usual traditional works. Hopefully [it will see] a fall release date.

Recommended track: “Guantanamera”

Mariachi Fuego are:
Rob Dickson – Trumpet, vocals
Oscar Perez – Guitarrone, vocals
Osvaldo Rodriquez – Violin, vocals
Jairo Mantilla – Vihuela, vocals

Mariachi Mondays, Dakota Tavern, 416.850.4579

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