Flor de Toloache

One Liner: Mariachi ladies

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia entry, but Mariachi and Ranchero
Home: NYC

Poster Position: 18
Day: Sunday at 2:15
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  The band name makes me think of those stupid tall floor lamps that everyone had in the 90's.  Weren't those called torchieres?  Well, this band name actually means Toloache flower, according to the google.  Also according to google, "Toloache" is the name for a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants in New York City.  Also, it is a plant that could make you hallucinate or die!  Sweet!  I'm ready to drink a love potion with this stuff in there!  Pronounced like toll-o-ah-chi.  Make sure you properly pronounce it when you don't go see this at the Fest.

Anyway, this is real deal mariachi music.  The band was apparently originally a trio, but has now swelled to a ten piece group of ladies ready to bring the mariachi thunder to your doorstep.  Their Spotify bio says they also do a mean cover of Nirvana in their live show.  Hell yeah.  Some songs are Spanish, some are in English.  And most importantly of all, they did a Tiny Desk concert, so enjoy some of this action.

Their Latin Grammy nomination was in the "Ranchero" category, which they won in 2017.  If you look at the winners in that category, there are some Fernandezes who freaking slay that stuff.  11 of the 17 awards have gone to Vicente, Pedro, or Alejandro Fernandez.  Alejandro is apparently Vicente's son, and Vicente is The King of Ranchera Music and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Pedro, meanwhile, isn't part of the family, but created a stage name to honor his favorite singers. Sorry, went on a tangent.  I don't know jack about Mariachi, so the rabbit trails are long and wide for me.

Two albums.  2014's Mariachi Flor De Toloache, then 2017's Las Caras Lindas (the cute faces).  I can't tell any appreciable difference between them - both sound like a lot of very good singing, some basic guitar strumming, some horns, and a little fiddle here and there.  I'm straight up unqualified to review this stuff.  Reminds me of good dinners eaten at fine TexMex restaurants all over Austin.  I won't be doing this show.