DJ Martha mixes San Miguel
By Lou Christine, May 11, 2007

Martha Alvarado doesn’t sing songs, strum a guitar or pound a drum. Not since her early teens, when she studied classical guitar has Martha seriously worked with a musical instrument. Yet the slender, 42-year old brunette probably entertains more sanmiguelenses than any musician in town.

Martha is a DJ. She’s more than a DJ. Whether cranking out hot dance tunes at live venues around town or providing custom-made, mood-enticing CDs for local bars and restaurants, it’s Martha’s personal touch and special blends that incite the senses or rock the house!

Martha’s demeanor is mostly quiet and far from flamboyant. Within the confines of her control booth, her calm and laid-back nature hardly attracts attention. Yet beneath that calm exterior something’s cooking that yearns to serve up a buffet of back-to-back tunes that stirs the body and jump-starts imaginations. Martha’s taste in music does her talking for her, it’s her way of getting down, seeing people dance and bop to what she’s spinning. Martha’s eclectic mix of rock, Latin, techno and hip-hop, manifests a groovy atmosphere. Her fans, and she has many, hear her musical concoctions as symphonic, rather than a mush of hits delivered by a robot. From her vast collection, she cherry-plucks today’s music or vintages from the past. She also plays arrays of the obscure and esoteric notables, gems and ditties perhaps only recognized by people as much a fan as Martha. In no special order, other than the confines of her melodic mind, Martha weaves a patchwork of listening pleasure into an orchestration. “Each night 
is different. You can’t set the mood beforehand. I play songs as I see the night going. I feel as if I know what to play at the time. I can’t explain it.”

For the most part, her audiences are oblivious to who’s providing the background music. Yet soon enough, her disc-spinning mastery begins to kick in like a potent drug and the previously oblivious find themselves snapping their fingers, tapping their feet, even being so bold as to belt out song lyrics in front of total strangers! That’s part of Martha Alvarado’s magic!

The low- key and unassuming Mexico City girl came to San Miguel in 1991. Early on, she latched onto popular music, claiming Pink Floyd as a major influence. In 1980, when she turned 16, Martha’s father presented her with her first car, a 1976 Dodge Duster, which she drives to this day. Whether stuck in traffic in the nation’s capital or just cruising with friends, the DF rock stations weren’t offering much of an alternative for the young rock fan eager for the latest from the US and UK Cruising down Reforma with a turntable and LPs balanced on the dashboard didn’t seem practical. Voilá! Auto tape players came along so Martha was able to take her favorite tunes on the road. Those riding shotgun pointed out she seemed to have a particular knack and they began asking her to make them tapes. Thus began the makings of a DJ.

She still loves classic rock and roll, especially by the Brits. That’s her first love, yet Martha’s horizons and music appreciation have expanded widely. She’s big on techno, new alternative, bossa nova, classic boleros, and often, while in the midst of a contemporary set, she’ll insert a tasty, time-honored jazz standard, perhaps a Billie Holiday, or the likes of “Summertime,” “Stormy Weather,” or “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” to be followed up or faded in and mixed with a more contemporary rendition of one of those standards. When spinning live, Martha often flies by the seat of her pants. She takes in what she is spinning while cueing up the next tune, so what evolves from her turntable sounds like seamless transition from one song to the next. Yet, if the mood is compelling, she changes up and pitches something more radical in shock jock fashion, alters the mood or picks up the pace with what’s totally different in rhythm and genre. No matter, Martha’s savvy and know-how usually has her plucking excellent ch
oices that have an immediate impact on her listening audiences.

“Good music is good music,” says Alvarado, and if a piece of music moves her soul or rocks her mojo she wants to share it. Her vast knowledge and rigorous search for new, riveting stuff is a continuous education. She maintains contacts in NYC, LA and San Francisco, who ferret out the latest in hip-hop and reggae, plus they search for the newest in electronic songs being imported from Europe. Bands, far from household names, such as Massive Attack, Portishead, Faithless, Moloko and Everything But the Girl, are now on her dance card. Her search and thirst remain everlasting.

Back in 1991, when Martha first hit town, she was a waitress at Mamma Mia’s. Soon enough she was spending more time choosing the in-house music than waiting tables. Customer and local businessman Angel Sierra recognized her talent and said he was opening a bar called Cielos. He invited her to DJ when his main DJ was off. The rest is history. Because of her sterling reputation, she has gone on to be the primary music provider in countless bars and clubs in San Miguel. Martha Alvarado is a sought-out commodity. There’s demand for her at private parties and weddings. She performs live on weekends at La Azotea, on the rooftop above Pueblo Viejo, and her music is likely playing at other local establishments such as Berlin, Nirvana, Petite Bar and El Correo.

Now and then Martha is called out of town but she prefers to stay in San Miguel. She wants nothing to do with having her own radio show, mostly because she isn’t interested in other DJ housekeeping chores. For her it is strictly about the music. Down the road she might like to have her own dance club.

San Miguel is known as a cornucopia of art and artists. Some are visual artists who mold clay, wield brushes and flash cameras. Others use the power of the pen. Martha too is an artist and a prolific one. With her choice of music she stirs senses and enables her listeners to perhaps shed some of life’s ickier distractions. If only for part of an evening, Martha takes them on her own magical mystery tour. That’s what makes Martha Alvarado San Miguel’s Music Lady. 

Lou Christine is a local writer and long-time contributor to Atención.