Mariachi meets The Smiths at The Ford. It started with a lucha libre Christmas party

Two loves of Mexican American culture in L.A. are coming together in a show called “Mariachi Meets The Smiths” at The Ford.

And you know if you know.

Maira Solis is the show’s architect — as well as the director of Mariachi Tierra Mia, the L.A.-based group that will perform a mariachi program the night of Sept. 27 before launching into a set of Smiths covers with the band, The Last Line of Defense.

As to the enduring love Mexican Angelenos have for The Smiths, Solis will be the first to admit she didn’t know.

“This was, like, not intentional at all,” she said of the crossover.

Learning about The Smiths

The inadvertent mash-up happened in December 2024, just hours before Mariachi Tierra Mia was set to play a house gig — a “lucha libre-themed Christmas party” — when their client asked if the group knew any songs by The Smiths.

That would be the ‘80s Manchester band — led by singer-lyricist (and the Pope of Mope himself) Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr — that crafted songs as gorgeous and achy as they are wry and over-the-top. “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” and “Girlfriend in a Coma” are popular titles.

“I was like, ‘I don't think so,’” Solis said. She double-checked with her husband, Ivan Peña, guitarist and singer.

“He turned around, and he's like, ‘I f—ing love The Smiths,’” she recalled.

The Smiths tour posters photographed in London this month. The band and its lead singer remain very popular with Mexican Americans.

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Carl Court

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Getty Images

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A few hours later, Peña, with a serape draped over his Charro suit and little preparation, belted out “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” — and brought down the house.

“Like, the mariachis were jamming out, the taco people, the bar people, everyone in attendance was just like, ‘Yeah,’” Solis said.

That performance, captured on video, went viral on social media. Then the requests started to flood in.

“Hey, we love all your traditional songs,” her clients would tell Solis. “But can you put a Smiths song in there?”

Learning mariachi's centuries-old songbook one gig at a time

Solis picked up the violin in middle school and continued on in high school. Both schools in Boyle Heights offered mariachi programs that exposed her to the music.

Some of the students, she said, were already doing paid gigs and took her under their wing.

Solis was very much humbled at her first backyard gig, armed with a repertoire of about 20 songs learned from school, around age 14.

“I realized, ‘Oh my God, I don't know anything,’” she said, comparing her knowledge to the music’s vast songbook that has been passed down for generations.

Then there are the subgenres. “People will ask for a bolero, a huapango, a son, a ranchera,” she said.

And the music keeps adding new numbers, such as “Risk It All” by Bruno Mars.

Is it really so strange (yes, that’s indeed a Smiths reference) then, that mariachi would meet The Smiths?

“A lot of mariachi songs stand the test of time because they're very poetic,” she said, as they are commonly about heartbreak and hardships. “The melodies really give life to those words.”

Just like the music of The Smiths.

“That's why they're timeless,” Solis said. “The whole purpose  of our ‘Mariachi Meets The Smiths’ — it’s gonna blend that.”

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