VOA慢速英语--墨西哥流浪乐队&重金属摇滚音乐——Metalachi

Metal or Mariachi? Metalachi Offers Best of Both Worlds

What do you get when you mix the sound of heavy metal rock music…with Mexican mariachi music?

The answer is Metalachi.

Metalachi’s members call themselves the first and only heavy metal mariachi band. They mix the traditional mariachi sound from Mexico with modern Heavy metal.

The group performs songs like “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by the band Twisted Sister and “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS in their one of a kind style.

“I think we’ve transformed the music enough to say that we actually came up with our own genre¹,” said Metalachi’s trumpet² player, who likes to be called El Cucuy.

He spoke³ to the Reuters news agency at one of the band’s recent shows, in Los Angeles, California.

He added, “There’s some people that consider either mariachi music or metal music almost like a religion…but most of the time, people love what we do.”

The band’s members keep their true identities secret. But all of them are from the Los Angeles area. They have been playing together for about eight years.

The five members of Metalachi are classically trained mariachi musicians. They play in a traditional mariachi setup with a singer and four musical instruments: trumpet, violin, guitar and a guitarron, or bass⁴ guitar. They do not have a drummer setting the beat, which is usually an important part of heavy metal music.

Guitarist Paco Halen says the guitarron and the guitar provide most of the sound that a drum set would.

The usual lead guitar parts and solos are provided by Kyla Vera, who plays the electric violin. She is the only woman in the band. She says people who enjoy Heavy metal have grown to like mariachi after seeing Metalachi perform.

“Everyone seems to have a really good time,” she noted⁵. “Even if they weren’t into one or other of the genres⁶, most of the time this kind of bridges the gap for them.”

Metalachi is currently performing in the western United States. In 2019, the group plans to perform on the high seas on two music cruises.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

genre – n. a kind or classification of literature or art

cruise – n. the act of sailing on a boat or ship to a number of places for pleasure

solo – n. a musical work for a single voice or instrument; a performance in which the performer has no partner

classically – adj. of or relating to a system from earlier times

style – n. an expression, custom or technique

transform – v. to change; to develop

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译