by Yours Truly
Unless you haven't been reading the local press recently, are an entirely indifferent American (they DO exist in Merida - Yoh noh LAY-oh ell peri-YO-dico) or live on Alacranes where news travels at the pace of the local crab population, you've probably heard that the city of Merida is/will be the capital of culture for the Americas this year or next year or whatever.
I think about this constantly ever since I first heard it. Cultural Capital of the entire American continent? Merida? Yucatan? This is a delicate subject since a small percentage of the seven readers of NotTheNews probably feel that there really is a culture happening in the formerly white city (and not just in their refrigerators) and will probably cancel their free subscriptions.
But let's think about this for a second. Merida, the Cultural Capital of the Americas! Ahead of La Habana, Cuba; ahead of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago in Chile, and about a hundred other places that spring to mind when the words 'cultura' and 'Americas' are combined in the same sentence. Guanajuato comes to mind doesn't it? Miami? What's going on here?
Sock Culture in Merida
Are they perhaps talking about sock culture? An actual conversation once not overheard by yours truly went something like this:
"It's terrible. Nobody wears socks anymore. Everyone goes barefoot in their shoes nowadays."
"I know. People just don't have a cultura del calcetin (sock culture) anymore."
Maybe sock usage is on the rise as the local population follows the fine example set by the ever-increasing number of waches arriving from Mexico City who definitely have a sock culture - a good wach will take years to understand that in Merida he can take off his socks and wear bare feet under his sandals or imitation Sperry Topsiders. There he will be, on the beach, wearing a too-small bathing suit, perhaps an undershirt and sandals - with socks, preferably dark brown or black. Running for exercise? No problem. Running shorts, raggy T-shirt, tenis and black socks almost up to the knees.
So maybe socks are back and the world has recognized Merida as the sock culture capital of the Americas. This still would be unrealistic, since there are a lot more sock users in say, Acapulco, where the waches have taken over more thoroughly than way down here in the southeast. So if it isn't sock culture, could it be...
La Cultura de la Glorieta
This is another culture, one that Merida is justifiably famous for. In a recent local newspaper article, the subject at hand was the glorietas or roundabouts, in Meridas streets. The gist of the article was that in Merida people generally respect the rules of the glorieta, since we have so many, in contrast to other parts of the much-loved republica, where there is no 'cultura de la glorieta'. Certainly us foreigners from north of the Rio Grande don't have much in the way of glorieta culture.
Perhaps at an inter-Americas level, Meridas' roundabout culture is far superior to that of other cities, and that's why the formerly white city is the Cultural Capital of the Americas.
Yet, somehow, that doesn't make much sense either... so let's look at
some of the more traditional manifestations of culture as this neurotic
foreigner understands it:
Musical
Culture in a Tone Deaf World (top)
Perhaps the culture they are talking about is different from my humble understanding of the word. When you say culture, I think art, music, foreign films, local theater groups, and a general level of sophistication and wordliness in terms of anything 'cultural'.
Let's talk about music for example.
The vast majority of the population, through no fault of their own and thanks to decades of mind-numbing and patronizing official policies, protein-less diets and a mostly inefficient public education system have been left totally malleable and at the mercy of the powerful ruling class, much like it was under Moctezuma. This very large social group has no concept of what classical or jazz music is; no inkling that music can be in or out of tune, and is under the perpetual erroneous perception that volume is directly proportional to quality. It is like a species of subculture that can be appreciated fully on radio stations like 95.3 and 98.5 on your FM dial, and on the local television stations when they transmit live shows from Progreso during the summer or those fabulous 'bands' that 'play' their 'songs' on a showcase program on Sundays. While the music may make you tap your feet, the tropical-ranchero genero is a real eye opener if you have any kind of musical background.
This socio-economic group is the greater majority by volume in Yucatan and Merida, and they probably have no idea of what the hell all this culture stuff is about and could care less even if they did. They generally laugh at opera, think choirs are for homosexuals, and can't stand jazz. This is, I repeat, for those politically sensitive readers out there, NOT THEIR FAULT. But it IS the reality of the situation.
Choral music in Yucatan is practically unheard of. There is a local choir (aside from the church variety where well-intentioned participants bellow out hymns as loudly as possible during mass and not necessarily in tune either) that can be hired for special events. At one such event, where no-one from the clase popular was present and everyone could be considered educated, cultured and would consider themselves very first-world, a doctor (a doctor, not a corn farmer mind you) commented that the choir seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of fags but admitted he was ignorant in the subject. No kidding. He proved that ignorance is not limited to those who have no choice in the matter. At the school level, a choir class was started but the four kids who attended proved the theory that no one really wants to learn music - the only culture kids are getting is futbol, that idiocy which grips them early and never lets them go, turning them into adults who can spit out statistics of every fool in the field, but know nothing about anything else. If young U.S. males are stereotyped by the oversize, braindead, football or basketball scholarship-flaunting-U.S. Marine-wannabees, the young Mexican males are not far behind, except that it's futbol futbol futbol. So the general attitude is: let's skip that choir stuff; we don't want our sons to be gay, and enroll them in soccer. Choir music in Yucatan is a non-entity.
Choir does exist at the official level, but only in the imagination of the director of an important cultural institution which shall remain nameless, since for the populace the monies (if any) destined for such programs never materialize. Have you ever heard of Pavarotti? Did you know he came to Merida to sing in Chichen Itza? Did you know that the director of said unnamed cultural institution insisted on having the Coro de Yucatan sing "with Pavarotti" at the great event? Would you like to read about one member of the Choir's experience during the Pavarotti concert in Chichen Itza? It's an exciting read!!!
All Yucatecans are justifiably proud of their musical heritage with all the trios and composers and so on. But what's happening today? Where is the talent coming up now? Where is the stimulation from any sector - private or public - to get kids into music and teach them the basics? The kids in poverty-stricken Cuba, subsisting on a diet that features such delicacies as crushed grapefruit peelings spiced up to be fried as a steak, are more musically educated than kids in Yucatan AND they are more successful at sports too.
Are there any new Yucatecan composers to speak of?
Any new musical talents that are not copies of what's already been done, or are not simply famous because they've sold a lot of CD's to the dancing tone-deaf socio-economic class that I've mentioned previously?
No, everyone's out playing soccer and memorizing the vital statistics of every player in Mexican soccer and baseball. At school they learn reading (sort of) writing (even less) and 'rithmetic.
Music? Nah...
Painting, Sculpture
(top)
Same thing for the visual arts.
"No son of mine is going to paint or make a clay pot when he could be doing something macho like kicking a ball around and swearing at the referee."
Since visual arts is also considered a cultural thing, perhaps the 17 people who paint or sculpt or carve, paid off the judges who voted, and this is why Merida is to be selected Cultural Capital of the Americas. There can't be any more than a handful of people doing anything locally in the visual arts; again there is dismally little support from the government, so the majority of these photographers, painters, sculptors and so on are rich kids who have Daddy's economic safety net to fall back on when the paintings don't quite cut it in the real art world. Some are good, some are not.
Does anyone buy their art or let alone see it besides their immediate relatives? I don't think so. The good ones (artists) become famous outside of Merida, the Cultural Capital of the Americas, and eventually move elsewhere or simply ship their stuff there while creating here.
Maybe the cultural thing was awarded to Merida because of all the handicrafts like straw hats and colorful hammocks and crooked little wooden toys being made in Merida by desperate and jobless people who have turned to handcrafts to make a few pesos for tomorrow's lunch? Just a thought...
Dance
and the Theater
(top)
If Mexican fathers are reticent (look it up) about having their kids sing and paint, imagine how strongly they feel about having their boys dance or act on stage. The girls will go to rythmic gymnastics class which is actually good for them, or maybe dance class where they will learn useless dances such as 'hawaiiano' and 'tap'. It's all a social thing really, where they'll learn to mingle and have their mothers prepare them for that high point in their social life where they dance in a semi-coordinated fashion at the country club for charity.
Are there dance associations in Merida? Yes, one or two, as in any small town. They are probably operating on such miniscule budgets with donations being the norm as opposed to any official sort of funding. Argentinian Sylvia Kater and her talented troupe of intrepid tango dancers comes to mind, but they are pretty well self-sufficient. Several small dance academies exist, each headed by one or two talented dancers and lots of aspiring students; but nothing to make Miami or even Okeechobee culturally nervous.
Then there are the municipal and state jarana dancers, who are basically props for official functions more than actual dance troupes. The only requisite is that you look decent and kind of Mayan in an hipil, depending on the event, and that you can learn the local Mayan dances, like the Heladios Dance, which features several drinking glasses and a bottle affixed to a tray balanced on the dancers head, and others. This is a little joke folks, I know it's not called the Heladios dance - it's real name is the El Tucho dance.
Theater? There probably is a small theater community in Merida, but again it's a small underfunded clique that tries it's best to perform in undernourished theaters to tiny audiences who can't or won't pay even the most modest entrance fee.
The only time theater becomes a real general sort of thing, is when a 'play' comes to town featuring male soap opera 'stars' wearing no clothes. Suddenly, theater is on everyones lips! Culture comes to town! The women are clamouring to see it and animatedly discuss whether or not they should be allowed by their husbands to see the 'play'. The macho husbands are outraged that such 'theater'should come to town and threaten the moral tranquility of the home. The fact that they can and do go to see strippers any afternoon of the week... that's beside the point. We're talking about our wives here!
Culture at last in the Cultural Capital of the Americas!!!!!!!!
On one occasion Yours Truly went to take the kids for some theater downtown and the featured play was 101 Dalmations - ONE DAY ONLY!! said the sign. So in we went, with the errant hope of infusing the kids with some 'culture'. It turned out to be actually only 11 dalmations running offstage and then on again a lot, and a lengthy intermission where the kids got to pet the puppies and DOG FOOD was promoted for a good length of time! That and the lip-synch Hansel and Gretel fiasco at the semi-restored Peon Contreras, was enough to convince this resident of the Cultural Capital of the Americas that culture, as I understood it, was simply not an option.
Merida does boast a very clever teatro regional featuring that local hero, Cholo. But even they, who are immensely popular, have to resort to all kinds of juggling acts to get the money in to pay the bills. They SHOULD get official government funding and have the best little theater in town, but instead, they are struggling.
The Culture of Dinero (top)
The one outstanding culture in Merida is the culture of business, which tramples everyone and everything, from historic monuments and avenues to holidays. Everything is about money money money. The richest families do not for a moment consider donating that chunk of land that they have lying around for a city park or a new theater or art gallery; rather, it could be rented or sold and therefore yield more money money money!
When the city announces plans to revitalize the horrendously dilapidated 'Centro Histerico' or hysterical I mean historical town center, the businessmen are up in arms over the money money money they'll lose if the streets are closed. Nevermind that these same greedy comerciantes are for the most part responsable for the absolutely ugly condition of the center of Merida. They have spent the last 100 years ripping down beautiful old buildings (cost too much money money money to repair and maintain) to replace them with squalid monoblocked arquitecturally-challenged 'constructions' that house all kinds of businesses catering to the clase popular who don't know and can't afford any better. These same buildings are covered in cables, painted signs on every possible surface promoting something like "blusas, camisetas, shores". Shores, in case you were wondering, is taken from the english shorts, as in short pants.
Maybe Capital de la Cultura refers to the culture and worship of the almighty dollar and rampant capitalism? I was going to put the 'almighty peso', but at 10,000 per dollar it's not real mighty.
What's left?
So we have theater that's got
a) the dog food promotion during intermission instead of wine and cheese orWe have dancing Mayans at official building openings and welcomes for foreign dignitaries. A choral program that takes top marks for maximum promotion and minimum exposure, that again, performs at (and recruits and rehearses two weeks prior to) any official functions and banquets where 'culture' is the word of the day. We have some rich kids and the occasional well-off foreigner dabbling in photography and painting and sculpture and a lot of hungry campesinos making straw hats and clay figurines for cash. No new theaters or cultural centers have been built with public money since god knows when.
b) semi-naked soap opera 'stars' and
c) lip-synching childrens productions where the actors lipsynch the words and dance to the music coming off a scratched vinyl (!!) record player hidden backstage
Cultural Capital of the Americas? Not in the traditional sense! Ahh, but then we have ...
The Mayan Culture (top)
It has occurred to me, having discussed this with others, that perhaps the reason Merida was chosen as the Cultural Capital of the Americas is the fact that it is a great place from which to start exploring all the ancient Mayan ruins and restored arqueological sites that are so plentiful in the state of Yucatan and the rest of the area.
The reason this small city is known internationally is it's Mayan heritage and all the history that surrounds us and that we can practically still breathe, in spite of the best efforts of many to make Merida more and more 'cosmopolitan'. Tourists make a great effort in terms of time and money to visit important sites like Palenque, Uxmal and Chichen Itza, which are the more restored and accessible ones. There are many more hidden ruins that hardy, more intrepid visitors (usually non-Yucatecan) locals like to explore as well.
I would have to concur (look it up) that because Merida happens to be located in the middle of all this former glory that has passed on into history, it would seem to be legitimate awarding it the Cultural Capital of the Americas title. Probably no other city in the Americas can boast the cultural background that Meridas original inhabitants left long before the Spanish came to ruin what was left. The Mayan presence in Yucatan is so strong, that it can't be wiped out by the Sam's Clubs, Costcos, Fridays, Liverpools, Sears and Burger Kings.
And no matter how embarrassing it may be to to some people to have Mayan blood; or how badly maids and gardeners and chauffeurs are treated simply because they are Mayan; or how apathetic the locals are when it comes to the history of the Mayans, the Mayans, and not anything the present day Yucatecans have done in the last 50 years, are the only reason that Merida enjoys the international popularity it does; it's about time someone took notice. Maybe this way, local attitudes towards all things Mayan will change a little, for the better.
And if that happens, then Merida can truly and proudly call itself the Capital de la Cultura de las Americas.
copyright (not) 1999
lawson_william@hotmail.com