I have been asked to do this on May 5th. The hours are 4-8 PM ad am wondering about playing other than Spanish music. I mean, I could, but that is a long time for one genre. I play and sing, so there is some variety. How about 2/3 spanish(Mexican and Latin), and round it out with other music.

I would appreciate your opinion, as they are going to leave it up to me anyway.

Bernie

I guess I would need to know alot more to make a sugestion.

What type of venue?
Private party?
What type of crowd- age, race.
Dancers?

Just to be clear what 5 de Mayo is....

"The 5th of May is celebrated in the United States among the Mexican-American population, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Various Mexican-American societies use the celebrations to commemorate the overthrow of the Mexican Imperial Monarchy headed by Maximilian of Austria. The Imperial Monarchy was imposed from 1864 to 1867 on Mexico by Napoleon III, Emperor of France (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte)".
It was the date on the battle in Puebla Mexico leaded by the General Ignacio Zaragoza, whom won on that encounter. Important, BUT no the most definitive or importance in History as the Mexican Independence in 1810.

This is NOT the most important holiday in Mexico, that would be the Mexican Independence (from Spain) and that is celebrated September 16th.

For entertaining purpose, you could play all kinds of MEXICAN music like, Rancho Grande, Cielito Lindo, in the romantic side, Rhumbas or boleros like: Besame Mucho, Amor, What a difference a day makes(Cuando Vuelva a tu lado), Solamente una vez(You belong to my heart).
If your crowd is younger, any song by Alejandro Fernandez or Luis Miguel....You can YouTube those Mexican artist to get ideas.

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mdorantes

Bernie, You are right – you can not play one type of generic music all night. Generic music is what you flavor the evening with honoring the event. The rest of the job will depend on the ages that are present. Are they dancers? As I play what are they responding to?

I once played a 4-hour job where they did not dance until the last half-hour. I tried everything I knew, Latin, Glenn Miller, Disco, 50’s and in the very last 30 minutes some of the young people got up to dance. As they began to dance I understood, I was no longer puzzled. I was playing Run A-round Sue and the young people were dancing a box step. I glanced at the bar and on one was drinking. They were a religious group from Pennsylvania. Amen!

And I was taking the blame for doing a bad job. Believe in yourself and your music and play the best of what you consider is great music.

John C.

Thanks for the replies. This is a public event being sponsored by our local Culteral Center. For the most part, I imagine the attendees will be seniors. I think I will go for a mix that is appropriate for the age group. I have a large eneogh repitoire to adjust there.