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A14 PEOPLE /ARTS
Wednesday 20 July 2022
Mexican art of mariachi takes center stage on U.S. stamps

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRY- “We all need a little bit of
AN a moment to relax and feel
Associated Press happy once in a while and
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — this music does it,” he add-
There are few corners of the ed. “So I think that’s some-
globe where the echoes thing that makes us Latinos
of mariachi music have very proud to see some-
yet to reach, filling street thing that started in this re-
corners with the sounds of gion of Mexico and all of
the blasting trumpets and a sudden it becomes part
strumming guitars that form of the Southwest culture, it
the backbone of Mexico’s becomes part of the United
traditional genre. This image provided by the U.S. Postal Service shows a special series of mariachi stamps States as well. Before you
Now, all that festive fever designed by artist Rafael Lopez. know it, it’s universal, it’s
is being packed into a tiny Associated Press international.” López grew
U.S. postage stamp. ing with their instrument. tinos are proud to be able director of the mariachi up in Mexico City surround-
The U.S. Postal Service on Fri- While the outfits are or- to share that with other cul- conference and just work- ed by mariachi music. He
day celebrated the release nate, the backgrounds are tures, López said. ing to keep it alive. So it’s plays the guitar, the violin
of a new series of stamps simple and bright, inspired And having it recognized full circle for me, being a and the six-string guitarrón
honoring mariachi. The first- by the palette of another now on the stamps is a bo- student and now being that provides the bass line
day-of-issue ceremony was Mexican craft papel pic- nus, said Robert Palacios, able to share that passion.” for a mariachi ensemble.
held in New Mexico’s larg- ado, the banners of elabo- executive director of the The effect of mariachi can He knows where each
est city as musicians and rate paper cutouts that are Las Cruces International be like magic, Lopez said, band member needs to
fans from around the world often put up for parties and Mariachi Conference, leaving people in a festive place their hands to cre-
convened for a weekend other events. which is held every Novem- mood and turning strang- ate that special tone. And
of concerts hosted by the While mystery surrounds the ber in the border city. ers into quick friends. But that’s reflected in the imag-
30th annual Mariachi Spec- origins of mariachi, López Palacios, 32, plays the gui- he can’t explain whether es on the postage stamps.
tacular de Albuquerque. said there’s no doubt the tarrón and credits the mu- it’s the beat, the outfits, the The images also were in-
The five graphic stamps beats and rhythms that sic for keeping him out of singing or everything com- spired by movie posters
were the creation of artist evolved over centuries in trouble when he was in bined. “It’s a universal thing from Mexico’s golden era
Rafael López, who lives and tiny Mexican villages are middle school. that mariachi has and it’s of cinema during the 1940s
works in both Mexico and now known around the “It just turned things around hard to explain,” he said, and ‘50s and by travel post-
San Diego. Each features globe. There’s something for me,” he said. “That’s during an interview from his ers put out by the U.S. gov-
an individual performer special about mariachi’s what I wanted to do and studio in San Miguel de Al- ernment in the late 1930s
dressed in traditional cloth- celebratory nature and La- now 20 years later I’m the lende, Mexico. and early ‘40s.q

Review: Bourland autopsies the

princess myth with precision

By DONNA EDWARDS limited resources to ending play as lover Finn’s gleam-
Associated Press Apartheid. Then they threw ing jewel sequestered in
It’s about time someone themselves into Caroline the castle. Yet the writing
took the princess story and her burgeoning run- is smart enough, the story
that’s normalized to girls ning career, which brought good enough, to get swept
and autopsy it with abso- her all the way to a world- away in their chemistry un-
lute precision. record-shattering gold at til reality comes crashing
“The Force of Such Beauty” the Olympics. back.
opens on the night of Caro- But that was before the fall Carefully crafted wordplay
line’s second attempt at es- that ground her running flits through the pages. Dr.
caping Lucomo, the small career to a shattering halt. Sun “treats” Caroline’s de-
European country in which And it’s not for the faint of pression, the castle they
she became a princess. But heart; Bourland holds no live in is called the Talon
author Barbara Bourland punches with absolutely and the name of the coun-
quickly jumps back in time gruesome descriptions of try, Lucomo, literally means
to reveal every excruciat- medical trauma. king.
ing and exhilarating detail The silver lining? This life- Descriptions fit for dreams
that led to this moment. altering tragedy leads our or nightmares, vivid and
Once caught up, the story heroine directly to a prince evocative, capture how
sadistically marches on to through a meeting of hap- one’s environment can af-
the very end of Caroline’s penstance at a glitzy medi- fect everything, like the
breathtaking story. cal recovery center. secluded cottage where
Caroline is from South Af- The red flags are there from Caroline and Finn’s love
rica. Her first race was two the beginning. The stage is feels timeless and unshak-
months after Nelson Man- set for misery. Bourland re- able, or the red dirt of Jo-
dela became president veals from the first handful hannesburg that is so home This cover image released by Dutton shows “The Force of Such
in 1990. Her white parents of pages that Caroline is to Caroline that she tastes it Beauty,” a novel by Barbara Bourland.
volunteered their time and trapped at wit’s end on dis- in her mouth. q Associated Press