Going loco for Coco

> The guitar made famous in the popular animated film is now all the rage in Mexico

SALVADOR MEZA has been making guitars since he was a boy, but his leathery hands have never had to churn them out as fast as now – thanks to the hit movie Coco.

Meza, 41, is one of many renowned guitar-makers in the Mexican town of Paracho, which has been producing artfully crafted guitars since the 18th century.

But the sleepy colonial town has never seen a boom like this – all because of Golden Globe winner Coco, a box-office smash that has grossed over US$500 million (RM1.98 billion) so far.

Set in Mexico, the movie tells the story of Miguel, a young boy who secretly longs to be a musician, but is growing up in a family where music is forbidden.

Fate thrusts into his hands a white guitar encrusted with mother-of-pearl, topped with gold tuning pegs and a stylised black skull.

The skull, like the film itself, is a playful tribute to Mexico’s Day of the Dead, a festival of colourful costumes, decorations and sweets during which, according to tradition, the dead come back to visit the living.

Director Lee Unkrich has called the film a “love letter to Mexico”, and Mexico loves it back: it is the country’s highestgrossing movie of all time.

The animators at Pixar, the studio behind the film, based Miguel’s guitar on a real-life version made by an artisan from Paracho – and demand for replicas now has the town’s luthiers working in overdrive.

“I usually work out of my home with my wife and a friend. But now, I’ve had to call up my godmother, my nephew, my cousin,” said Meza.

Since Coco had its world premiere in Mexico in October last year, Meza says he has been sleeping three hours a night and has doubled his output from 50 guitars a week to 100.

The man behind the original Coco guitar is German Vazquez, a Paracho native who emigrated to the United States 25 years ago, slipping over the border to chase the American dream.

After Vazquez crossed the border, he eventually became a US citizen and finally managed to open his own guitar workshop in Los Angeles – which is where Pixar found him.

Now 64, he reminisces with a hint of nostalgia about his trek across the desert.

“It was hard. You arrive with nothing but the clothes on your back, with no money, nothing but your desire to work,” said Vazquez, a critic of US President Donald Trump’s planned border wall.

He said he sees a little bit of young Miguel in his life’s story.

“He wants to be a musician, and he searches for a way to make it happen. He fights and fights until he achieves it.

“I think in that way I’m also like little Miguel ... in love with guitars.

“My life is straight out of a movie.” – AFP-Relaxnews