Plaza Garibaldi
Plaza Garibaldi is a plaza in Mexico City famous for its gatherings of itinerant mariachi and jarocho bands (buskers). The plaza is surrounded by numerous restaurants and bars catering to aficionados of mariachi music, the most famous of which is Salon Tenampa. It is served by the Mexico City Metro station Metro Garibaldi.
Plaza Garibaldi is named for Giuseppe Garibaldi II., who was a lieutenant colonel (teniente coronel) in the army of Pancho Villa during the initial victories of the 1910 Mexican Revolution.[1] Garibaldi was the son of the Italian hero of the Risorgimento, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Lt Col Garibaldi was ignominiously sacked by Villa after the first battle of Juárez in 1911, but the name of the plaza (formerly Pila de la Habana) stuck nonetheless despite the way he left the Army of the Revolution.
Plaza Garibaldi is also the name of several restaurants (in Anaheim, California, San Jose, California, Toronto and Boston) north of the border that specialize in mariachi music, a park in Chicago, and the subject of a large mural in Richmond, California. [2]
The plaza was a noted hangout of Mexican movie legend Pedro Infante, a painting of whom graces the interior of Salon Tenampa, charro star Jorge Negrete, and the "queen of ranchera music", Lola Beltrán. Many Mexican movies have been made with Plaza Garibaldi as a backdrop or central point of the action.
Plaza Garibaldi has several sculptures which make us remember several figures in ranchera music (among many others, the images of singers or composers who are or were working only with this type of music or mainly with this type of music can be seen there: Lucha Reyes, Lola Beltrán, Javier Solís, Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, José Alfredo Jiménez, Lucha Villa, Cuco Sánchez, Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernández, and many others).
References
- ^ [1] in honor of his actions in the battle of Nuevo Casas Grandes
- ^ [2]