Event Detail

From Mariana Flores Bucio:

MEXPERIMENTAL: Reimagining roots, identity and singing is a project that emerges from my
journey at UC San Diego. It is an exploration of the ongoing question: "Who am I?" and an
expression of my personal identity under constant discovery and transformation.

Born in Mexico, I identify as Mexican. Yet, being part of a country as vast and culturally
diverse as Mexico makes understanding Mexicanness—or Mexican identity—a complex
journey. Chavela Vargas, a Costa Rican-born singer once said, "Los mexicanos nacemos dondenos da la chingada gana" ("Mexicans are born wherever the hell they please"). This phraseresonates deeply, as it expresses how flexible, adaptable, and intentional identity is. I believe Mexican identity is something learned, chosen, and shared, not necessarily in this order, andis an ongoing concept in transformation.

Since childhood, I have sung Mexican traditional music shaped by the nationalism that influenced Mexico during my grandfather's youth, a repertoire deeply rooted in my family tradition. This repertoire has profoundly contributed to shaping my musical taste and practice. Through the years, I have been exposed to a wide range of musics, from Latin genres, pop, rock, jazz, and electronic music among different genres, through mass media and my borderline context (Tijuana and Ensenada), together with classical music and experimental music through educational contexts.

Inspired by the creative UC San Diego Music Department Community, and as a deep personal response, born from reflecting on what resonates most with my identity, I started developing what I called Experimental Mexican Traditional Music, or MEXPERIMENTAL. This project seeks to explore traditional musics from different cultures of Mexico by bringing experimental musical idioms to dialog with them. What fascinates me most is pushing the boundaries of how Mexican traditional music is experienced and performed.

For this concert, I chose to perform experimental arrangements of a selection of my favorite songs from diverse Mexican cultures: Son de Artesa, Son Jarocho, Son Istmeño, Bolero, Ranchera, and Modern Mariachi. In addition to these, I ventured into composition by creating an experimental corrido inspired by the life of my grandfather, Cuco, and writing an introductory décimas, a traditional poetic form.

The arrangements for this concert emerged from a year-long creative journey, shaped through musical workshops with my collaborators. While I, Mariana Flores, provided the structure and initial musical ideas to explore each song, the final arrangements are the result of a collective creative process, with a significant amount of improvisation, reflecting the unique contributions of everyone involved. I’m deeply grateful for their creativity and dedication, which brought these pieces truly to life.