By Adriana Mendez
San Miguel de Allende has a good vibe. One gets a feeling of contentment and well-being as soon as one arrives in the city, more so when walking along the cobblestone streets. It seems as if the colors of the colonial facades, the courtyards, and recesses of the buildings are repositories of a Jung-style collective unconscious, a permanent invitation to national and foreign visitors to discover the soul of the city.
A place can have a good vibe for many reasons. The minerals—especially quartz—in the soil of the nearby archeological site at Cañada de la Virgen may encourage positive thoughts, but I believe it is due to San Miguel’s “bohemian soul,” which came alive in the 20th century, when the city welcomed so many artists with open arms.
One artist, Pedro Vargas, was a San Miguel native. My imagination runs wild when I envision the gatherings organized by the former owner of Villa Santa Monica, José Mojica, in the early 1930s. He was a poet, singer, actor, and philanthropist who eventually became a priest. I can visualize film director Indio Fernández and hear the voices of Pedro Vargas and María Grever rendering songs composed by El Flaco de Oro and Agustín Lara, as well as María Félix and Dolores del Río displaying their beauty and sophistication. I imagine Cantinflas enlivening the gatherings with his jokes and performances. I also think of David Alfaro Siqueiros, who lived in San Miguel and left a beautiful legacy, an unfinished mural, in one of the rooms of the Ignacio Ramírez cultural center, El Nigromante, also known as Bellas Artes.
Today, this bohemian past continues with artists from different disciplines: musicians, writers, actors, dancers, plastic artists, architects, and chefs. They keep the artistic spirit of their predecessors alive.
San Miguel enjoys a wide variety of artistic and cultural events and shows. There are jazz concerts, opera, flamenco, aerial dance, the International Writers Conference, a tango festival, bridge tournaments, and culinary events. Recently the city hosted Cervantino Festival performances. These events and others are held in San Miguel’s many artistic venues, such as the Ángela Peralta Theater, the Cultural Center at Ignacio Ramirez, the Casa de Europa, the Allende Institute, La Fábrica Aurora, El Sindicato, and the Biblioteca. The latter has its own theater, the Santa Ana. Some restaurants and hotels also serve as venues for performances.
In this city, any day of the week is good for enjoying a bohemian musical scene. Identifying them is as simple as checking the “Que Pasa” section of this newspaper. I wish the days had more hours to allow me to enjoy the many performances and talent in this city! “Sabineros Tuesdays” and “Flamenco Saturdays” are great at El Tupinamba. The guitars and voices of the twins Omar and Ulises Ayala and the dancer Sally Avigdor are exceptional.
I am a regular customer of Cent’anni, whose piano bar is home to bohemian music to suit all tastes. On Wednesdays, Johnny Favorite sings Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, and Elton John hits, and you can request your favorites. The O Band plays and sings Latin rhythms on Thursdays. On Fridays, you can hear the voice of Angie Montes, accompanied on the piano. For lovers of rock, Downtown performs tunes you can dance to. On Saturdays, Flaka, dressed in funny and original outfits, spreads good vibes and warmth with her beautiful voice. The perfect ear and the skillful hands of Alex Gutiérrez, “the pianist” of San Miguel, accompanies all these voices. Grava Suelta closes out the week with its Saturday evening performance. The group play music from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, so all ages can dance to their repertoire.
San Miguel’s bohemian atmosphere is reinforced by sporadic visits of international personalities like Meryl Streep and Negro González Iñárritu. Further, many artists live here for periods of time. They include Pedro Friedeberg, Damián Alcázar, Laureano Brizuela, and Benny Ibarra. As mentioned, the options for meeting places are vast. The combination of sophistication and romance provides an environment conducive to dreaming, undertaking new projects, and feeling the good vibes. What José Mojica, Pedro Vargas, María Félix, and the great personalities at the beginning of the 20th century sowed has borne rich fruits in this beautiful city. Do enjoy bohemian nights in San Miguel!
