What piece of music would you write for one of your favourite cities and one of your favourite periods of time? That was the assignment.
Well, I had to take some liberties here. A favourite time in a favourite city already sets the tone for a happy and pleasant tune, and I found it very hard not making it too sugary and sweet.
One morning I was listening in the car to “Malagueña Salerosa”, the song played at the end of Tarantino’s “Kill Bill II”. The song is a rock version of a well-known Mexican song, although usually played in a more traditional way. It is played by Chignon, the band formed by Robert Rodriguez. Then this idea came to me. Flip it around. Make it a gritty place, an unforgiving and raw Mexico inhabited by Machetes and Mariachis. It is madness, mayhem, you have no idea what is going to happen between dusk and dawn, but it can only end up bad.
And that is what it became. Not a place that can be listed as a favourite, but definitely a favourite one to write music for.
Enjoy “Día de los Muertos”, the day of the dead.
The cover is by Tony Hernandez via Unsplash.