Macha Mexico: A Lesbian Guide to Mexico City » darketos

Mercado del Chopo

Anahi — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:30:33 +0000

Few places in Mexico City tell the story of “alternative” culture in the city like the Mercado del Chopo does. The market was born in the early eighties, during an alternative rock festival hosted by the Museo del Chopo. Legend tells that the festival, and especially the market, had such a success that the museum decided to extend the permission for the market one more week. For many, the little, improvised market was an opportunity to learn about new music, innovative rythms, and meet people with the same interests. Also, the market was a place where it was allowed to exchange items, meaning that if you were a teenager with no money, you would be totally able to negotiate and maybe, have that cassette or that record you wanted so much. Those were the romantic eighties: a time when the internet didn’t exist and getting underground music was a big adventure.

Goth clothes in the Mercado del Chopo

After those two weeks, the market proved to be strong enough to survive by moving to another street, very close to the museum. The appearance of the audience and rumours about the marketing of drugs were enough reason to send the police to kick out the vendors off the street. Yet, sellers and buyers moved from one street to another, until they ended up on Aldama street, in the Colonia Guerrero, close to the now disappeared Buenavista train station. In this location, the market became the place where new groups can reach out audiences interested in new music and new styles, not only because they can sell their records here, but also because the street also works as an open stage that attracts all kind of audiences.

During the nineties and later on, the Mercado del Chopo was a great place where you could find Rock en Español, a pure musical movement that in those years was also know as “Musica en tu idioma” (Music in your own language). For those familiar with Mexican rock and pop, groups like Café Tacuba and Maldita Vecindad found in this market a place and support to create an important music scene entirely in Spanish.

In spite of the great job done by the organization in charge of keeping the market alive, the Mercado del Chopo faces criticism from purists and what a friend of mine calls the “forevers”, referring to the old guys who are stocked in the past and want everything to stay the way it is, who say that the market is now under the “evil” hands of teenagers interested only in fashion or commercial music. Maybe part of this is true since most of the stalls in the market sell merchandise, and exchange can be found only in the very last section of the marketplace, at the end of the street: the Espacio Anarco Punk, where some people sell and/or exchange CD’s, records, videocassettes, cassetes, DVD’s, and books. But music is fashion, and it always needs refreshing airs to keep itself alive. Also, the Mercado del Chopo has been able to adapt itself to the swirling changes of the industry—which includes using the internet as a tool to gather and keep a community together: for example, you can listen their radio station by clicking here, and after thirty years, it is still fascinating to walk on this street to watch young people showing off their best clothes and their great make-up.

Mercado del Chopo, Aldama street, between Sol and Luna streets. Saturday, from 11 to 4 hrs. Revolución Metro Station and Buenavista Metrobús Station

2nd Annual Rock and Sexual Diversity Film Festival

Anna — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:30:55 +0000

Today is the opening night of the Second Annual Rock and Sexual Diversity Film Festival, which features film screenings, musical performances, a fashion show, and several dance parties.

According to co-organizer Artemisa Téllez, the festival aims to create a space that is welcoming for the GLBT punks, emos, darketos (goths), and others who may not feel at home in more mainstream gay venues. “There are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people who may mostly go to straight venues because they prefer the scene there to what they find in the Zona Rosa. This festival is an event for them, but one that is explicitly gay.”

a group of emos protest machismo, homophobia, and "emophobia" at the marcha del orgullo in june 2008

The festival begins tonight at 5:30 at Buzón de Arte in la Romita. Highlights for tonight included screenings of Todd Hayne’s cinematic tribute to glam rock Velvet Goldmine (at 6:00 pm), a screening of the black and white John Waters cult classic Mondo Trasho (at 9:15), as well as performances and art exhibitions in between.

There is no official website for the event, but the full schedule can be viewed here.

Buzón de Arte is located in the Romita, a small neighborhood in the northeast corner of Colonia Roma, a short walk from Metro Cuautémoc. Callejón de Romita, núm. 8, Col. Roma, between Puebla y Durango

El Under

Anahi — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:23 +0000

The Under, Mexico City’s foremost darketo (goth) club, is a must for those seeking a different corner of chilango nightlife. Located in the colonia Roma, The Real Underground was opened a few years ago in order to create a space that was welcoming to members of this subculture. The proprietors of the club, darketos themselves, seek to provide non-mainstream musical groups a space where they can perform and their fans can hang out without being disturbed. What is interesting about this place and its economics (if I can say that) is that here, you definitely won’t find the typical guys trying to fight the system by avoiding any kind of marketing. Instead, the Under is run as a business that satisfies a very specific market.

Regulars at El Under (pronounced ünder) wear deep dark mascara, white make up, corseted waists, high heels and velvet coats. However, it is common to see punks, rockabillies and emo kids sharing this place that looks a little bit like the rec room at the Adams Family mansion. The club is, in fact, housed in an old, beautiful house built in the early 20th century, with wooden floors on both of its two stories. Two giant murals have been painted on the walls of the main rooms, one of a mysterious castle and the other, creepily, of the “Singing in the Rain” scene from A Clockwork Orange.

People who don’t dare to dress up to explore the night are still welcome at the Under. All you need here is the willingness to listen and dance to good music without a pretentious attitude. In my experience, my machas and gay friends have never been disturbed, even in PDA cases.

If you pick the right day, you might hear an interesting band or dance to DJs from all sectors of the chilango scene–and sometimes from abroad–spinning 80s and 90s music.

Beer is cheap and there is a little hot dog cart around the corner if you get hungry.

El Real Under;Address: Monterrey 80, Colonia Roma. A couple of blocks from Durango Metrobús station. Very close to Insurgentes subway station. Tel. 5511 5475. myspace.com/el_under