Marketa Huitzilopochtli
Before this month is over I wanted to write a quick piece about the market and music venue series Marketa Huitzilopochtli. The first event of 2024 took place on 1/20 at The Vortex and in my opinion, it delivered a good variety of vendors, food options and Flower&Song by Indigenous artists.
In spite of the rain, folks came out from all over to support this event where among many vendors and artists the community was able to enjoy and participate in an open Danza Mexica circle guided by beloved General Lazaro Arvizu of Xipe Totec.
This was an experience I particularly enjoyed since I was sharing it with my daughter and she has since expressed an interest in participating in Danza once again as she did when she was younger. Something that of course, made my heart smile.
The amount of vendors in this installment, I feel, was just right for the size of the venue which allowed for a variety of artists to showcase artwear, food, one of a kind and limited edition items and as a shopper the size of the market was comfortable and not overwhelming as it can happen when events have too many options.
When it came to snacking, I had the cheese tamales from The Tamale Lady which were nothing less than fuego and so light I was able to share them with my toddler, which he loved! We will for sure be looking for her next time!
Something important to mention is that this event in part was a benefit for The Justice 8 and funds were raised via raffle and a very cool Sip&Paint session facilitated by painter and community gem Mexika Ilhuicacihuatl. I got to sit in this session and she was nothing less than welcoming, lovely and patient.
As far as shopping, y’all know this inflation got us all being a lil more considerate as to where we spend our money so right now it’s more important than ever to keep our $chmickles floating in our community so even though my outing budget hasn’t been huge, when I attend these type of community events I feel it’s a good practice to support at least one or 2 vendors. So after checking everybody out I chose my first piece from Kata Maya in one of my favorite colors. A mustard crop hoodie that came with one of my favorite sayings: “No hay mal que por bien no venga” and a beautiful sage bundle graphic. It’s so comfy and cute! I intend to take very good care of it since as I grow more mature I can appreciate more and more how precious limited run items made by community members are. Howeverssss, it will be in HEAVY rotation during the sweater weather months. For sure.
Personally, I just gotta say my favorite part of the night was to be able to be in attendance to support my good friend and brother CutStonePRO as he performed a set full of heat that also included guest appearances by Audio P and Aspekt the Aztek. With iLL beats and great lyricism, their set was a testimony that HipHop in LA and the ancient art of Flower&Song are still thriving strong amongst real artists with originality, passion and confidence.
Can’t end this without saying Tlazokamatli to the Brown Berets for helping maintain the integrity of this safe space by providing security throughout the entire event.
I hope this series of events lasts for a long time and continues to provide a safe space for community causes and independent artists of all mediums.
Next show is on 2/17 5:30PM to 1:30AM @ The Vortex.
Tiahui!
