The San Marcos community came together to celebrate local musicians at The Porch on July 11 for the second performance of Mango Beat, a San Marcos concert series.
The series aims to bring members of the San Marcos Latino community together, leading to a small yet lively audience of San Marcos residents filling local San Marcos bars and enjoying sets from Mark Sun, 40 Hands, Gallo Y Lobo, Rey Mancera and Little Jack Heart Attack, who is the event organizer.
“Little Jack Heart Attack” is Cody Hollyfield’s stage name. Hollyfield is a local musician and the host of Mango Beat. Hollyfield said he is proud of the event’s ability not only to provide the community with good-quality music, but also to provide a safe space for the Latino community in San Marcos.
“[The reason I started doing this was] meeting a ton of really talented Latinos within the music space and seeing them be unapologetically themselves,” Hollyfield said. “That pushed me to do something that spoke to me and could speak to people that were to come to the shows.”
Hollyfield said he wants Mango Beat to empower local artists and the community.
“I don’t like tying my name to stuff because Mango Beat would feel like it’s something that I did as opposed to something that the community made happen,” Hollyfield said. “I believe that what the artists are going to do tonight is going to make the show because they’re the ones drawing the crowd. That’s the goal: continuing to do good for community.”
Mango Beat was created after Hollyfield began performing music in San Marcos and wanted to create a unique community of Latino musicians in San Marcos after recognizing a lack of Latino-led music spaces.
“I’m from San Marcos, and I have been performing in San Marcos for the last three years,” Hollyfield said. “I found this great community within San Marcos through doing music and I see Latino people all around me. They don’t necessarily have a space, so I want to continue to build community with people that live [here].”
Various musicians were showcased at Mango Beat, with each performer bringing new genres to their set.
“We have Mark Sun,” Hollyfield said. “He’s a really good instrumental hip hop artist and a solid beat maker. We have 40 Hands and he kind of does it all. I’ve heard him do instrumental hip hop, ambient stuff, drum and bass and experimental electronic [songs]. He stays creative and always has something new. I’m going to do a mix of some electronic and some cumbia. We have [Gallo y Lobo] who is a cumbia DJ and Ray Mancera who will be playing with his band as well.”
CJ Baker, a bartender at The Porch, said the event was well-received by locals and people from out of town alike. She said she was “so excited” for the event and getting to experience the community.
Thomas “40 hands” Contreras, local musician, performed electronic hip hop with elements from different genres on a keyboard.
“It’s a rare opportunity for me because of my music genre,” Contreras said. “For this show, I’m playing hip hop with jazz elements.”
According to Contreras, music is meant to inspire, and he uses this mantra in his own creation of music.
“It’s an opportunity for me to showcase what I do and my music. I hope to inspire and build a community.” Contreras said.
Hollyfield said the musicians fed off of the excitement of the crowd, which built a community that was empowering and continues to grow.
“It means a lot that people were receptive to [Mango Beat] because the artists had gotten really excited,” Hollyfield said. “To have a specific show where the where the people are the focus, it means the world to me that every everybody came with the same excitement that I had for the event.“
