Mérida, Yucatán — Noche Blanca this Saturday features music acts from the famous and the obscure, with around 45 free events scattered throughout the city.
From 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., parks, theaters and other venues will represent very different genres, from chamber music to electronic and tropical music.
Although the evening includes all sorts of theatrical and artistic events, the explosion of musical choices is bewildering.
The Armando Manzanero concert, a Noche Blanca cornerstone, starts at 8 p.m. in the Plaza Grande. He will be accompanied by his son Juan Pablo, and the singer Aranza, who is known for her work with Manzanero on TV Azteca.
Ticul-born Manzanero, 81, is a musician, singer, and composer of Maya descent, widely considered the nation’s premier romantic composer of the postwar era. He received a Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award in the U.S. in 2014.
During the Manzanero concert, alternative shows elsewhere cater to a variety of tastes.
Luna de Música, which features trombone virtuosos, plays on Calle 60 between 51 and 53.
At Parque Santa Lucia, the “space funk” band Nonak V will perform.
In the Museum of Natural History, the City Choir lends its collective voice, and the sound of the Guitar Quartet of Mérida will fill the Museum of Yucatecan Song.
Then, at 10, singer María San Felipe will perform at 10 p.m. in Parque La Mejorada at the same time that the group Los Juglares will be on stage with Yucatecan trova at the Casa Montejo Museum.
At 11 is the other headliner: Young pop star Mario Bautista takes the Plaza Grande stage, likely entertaining a huge tween audience. He is one of Latin America’s biggest stars, who dropped his first album last year.
The vocalist has more than 8 million followers on social media, combining Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and often rules Billboard‘s Social 50 chart alongside superstars like Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.
At midnight, in Santa Lucia Park, a David Bowie tribute is scheduled roughly a year and-a-half after the superstar’s death. The show is hosted by a group called “Shemale and the Voyeurs.”
The Noche Blanca schedule also includes art exhibits, dance and theatrical performances and cinema screenings. This is the eighth time the city has hosted this sprawling event.
Click here for an interactive updated schedule, transportation options and maps.
