The Mariachi Band That’s Only Playing Funerals

In the Rio Grande valley, NPR speaks with a mariachi musician whose band’s usual slate of weddings and quinceañeras have been postponed by Covid-19 social distancing policies, and replaced by funerals.

The members of the band, El Mariachi Continental, dress in black suits and wear face masks, standing six feet apart in cemeteries to play songs like “Las Golondrinas.” “It’s just gotten very, very sad and very serious,” says the band leader, Hector Guerra.

“We played the funeral of a 40-year-old lady last week,” he says. “Her husband came up to me and told me, ‘Thank you so much. Do you remember that you played at our wedding 20 years ago?’ and I was freaking out. I was so sorry.”

A Priest, An Editor And A Mariachi Player Talk Life In The Rio Grande Amid COVID-19