Mariachis delight quarantined Colombians with jolts of street music

BOGOTA (Reuters) – The boisterous music – usually heard at family celebrations and raucous birthdays – bursts through the eerily quiet streets of Colombia’s capital, Bogota. The mariachis have arrived.

As the Andean country waits out two months of a national coronavirus quarantine, musicians playing the traditionally Mexican genre are lugging guitars, trumpets, violins, speakers and microphones to street corners, accepting tips from delighted residents who dance on their balconies.

The pandemic and accompanying shutdowns have cut the musicians off from their usual work, band leader Hubert Ramirez said, as his group set up on a new street.

“The poor mariachis are shut in,” said the father of five. “So we decided to go out, we’ll make people happy and they can support us and that’s…