Anakaren Rodríguez IT SEEMS LIKE THE ENERGETIC BASSIST APPEARS TO BE PLAYING AT EVERY CLUB AT THE SAME TIME —BUT WE’RE ASSURED THAT’S JUST AN ILLUSION
TEXT CARLOS ROSADO van der GRACHT PHOTOS BÉNÉDICTE DESRUS
I
nside a Centro bar, Anakaren Rodríguez takes a sip of her drink and tells us that music was never really a choice for her because it runs through her veins. A daughter and granddaughter of musicians, Anakaren was 4 when she took an interest in music. It happened when her family was at a Buddhist temple, where she was quickly drawn to the triangle. During her teenage years, she began studying music while concentrating on the guitar and bass. “In the beginning, I was quite shy, but I really looked up to a local musician, Ligia Cámara, who was not only amazing at her craft but, like me, did not really fit the mold of what most people figured a female musician should look or act like,” Anakaren says. Anakaren started out playing the guitar for local audiences with her first YUCATÁN MAGAZINE | ISSUE 8
band, Fresas Descompuestas, which stayed together for four years. During this time, she also took an interest in the instrument she is now best known for, the bass. Anakaren continued to make a name for herself with several local bands and, before she knew it, found herself in high demand. “It is then that I realized, wow I could actually make a living doing this,” Anakaren says with a wide grin. When the pandemic hit, Anakaren suddenly found herself out of work, but instead of sitting idly by, she decided to take a cellphone repair course, which has been her side hustle ever since. Now that bars and other venues have opened up again, Anakaren can be seen and heard jamming with several bands, including local favorites like Swinga tu
Madre, Mezcabanda, and La Sorora del Caribe. Anakaren has become so prolific that many of her colleagues joke that she seems to have the power to be in more than one place at a time as “the bassist of all of Mérida’s bands.” In 2021, Anakaren formed a band — made up entirely of women — called Las Infiltradas. The band’s lineup is Cristina Trujillo on voice and guitar, Sofía Mitchell on the saxophone, María Fernanda Chí and Andrea Santoyo on percussion, and Anakaren of course, on bass. Like all of Anakaren’s bands, Las Infiltradas ooze with energy and never fail to get audiences on their feet. “Music is what I love, it is what I was born to do and nothing, not even a pandemic can keep me off stage for long.” 37
