(26 Aug 2018) OPERA FLASH MOB SURPRISES MARKET VENDORS IN MEXICO CITY
A troupe of four opera singers surprised shoppers at one of Mexico City’s markets, chopping beef while belting out romanzas, courting fruit vendors with arias or, in the case of the tenor, moving a woman to tears with lines like “eyes that cry don’t know how to lie” from the Spanish-language opera La Tabernera del Pueblo.
The tenor is a market vendor himself: Francisco Pedraza sells shoes seven days a week near the Basilica of Guadalupe.
He trained to sing opera via private lessons from the age of 16 until 30, but he felt excluded from the tightknit opera circle in Mexico.
He performed when and where he could, often as a back up singer for bands that play regional Mexican music.
One day in June, the opera crew appeared at the market where Pedraza sells shoes for a soundcheck.
Pedraza, who is 50, approached the group’s artistic director.
He auditioned on the spot and was invited to join the troupe.
Pedraza’s wife runs the store while he’s out singing.
The opera singers are on tour as part of a pilot programme that began in June and concludes in November.
Juan Carlos Diaz, coordinator of the community cultural action program for Mexico’s national fine arts institute, says he is already planning more impromptu operas in 2019.
The idea is to awaken interest in the arts by bringing opera and dance performances to places where people gather, such as public markets and metro stations.
Diaz calls them “spontaneous interruptions in social life.”
The fine arts institute is also coaching kids to make puppets and other crafts at city museums.
The concept also taps into deep cultural roots for Mexicans.
Indoor markets are a modern adaptation of the open-air selling that has taken place in Mexico City since the days of the Aztecs.
Interaction with the crowd is key to the performances.
It’s a way for onlookers to feel like they are part of the spectacle, to awaken an interest in the arts and to show Mexicans that fine art is within their reach.
The idea is to break down barriers and dispel notions that opera is only for elites.
The show wraps with the cheerful so-called drinking song from La Traviata.
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