NPR-style concerts bring Mexican music to New Castle market

Why Should Delaware Care? 
A series of Tiny Desk Concert-inspired musical acts in a small Mexican grocery store in New Castle is platforming up-and-coming artists while opening Delaware’s music scene to regional Mexican music. 

The bananas set the tone. 

The bristling piñatas then join the chorus overhead. Next, the humming of the produce fridges follows. 

Then, Carlos Mayo-Jimenez breaks through with his guitar. And Jesus Manuel Beltran Mendez finally joins the symphony with his voice. 

The Wilmington-based band Ilusión is playing a gig — inside a Mexican market nestled off of U.S. Route 13 in New Castle. 

Rows of tomatoes, tortillas and papayas serve as their backdrop. Customers stocking up on their weekly groceries serve as their audience. 

In the vein of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, José Luis Aguilar Garcia created his own monthly series of “Mercadito Concerts” inside his family’s grocery store, Fiesta Fresh Market & Carniceria.  

Aguilar Garcia, the 28-year-old owner of the Wilmington-based independent music label VPS Music, said he hoped the project would spotlight up-and-coming, independent artists while also bringing more business to the market. 

And by bringing more Mexican culture to Delaware, Aguilar Garcia said he hopes people will feel a little bit more at home when they come to the market. 

A ‘fresh’ take on Tiny Desk

Aguilar Garcia first got the idea in 2023 when he attended a Tiny Desk Concert in Washington, D.C., for DannyLux, one of the artists his label represented. Then in 2024, Dariell Cano — a Mexican-American artist whom VPS also represented — was briefly staying in Delaware, and Aguilar Garcia asked him to stop by the shop. 

With an extra employee vest lying around, Aguilar Garcia asked Cano to put it on and pretend he worked at the market for a social media post.

“That’s when it sort of clicked,” Aguilar Garcia said. “What if we start doing live concerts?” 

The series took off from there. 

Delaware’s central position along the Northeast Corridor could work as an incentive for bands traveling between shows in Philadelphia and New York City during their tours, Aguilar Garcia said. 

In May 2025, Julio César, a regional Mexican musician, was traveling as a supporting act with singer-songwriter Ivan Cornejo in a nationwide arena tour. The tour was set to have a concert in New York City before traveling to Florida for their next stop. 

Aguilar Garcia reached out to César’s management and asked if they could stop by the market on their way down to Florida. César agreed. 

Nearly 60 people streamed into the quaint market to watch César’s free concert, Aguilar Garcia said.

“It’s really cool just to open up the scene over here in the East Coast,” Carlos Mayo-Jimenez, a member of Ilusión, said about the Mercadito Concert series. “It’s a really great starting point, in general, for the moment that we’re trying to start here.”

Concerts sprout from family business

Back inside the market, Ilusión is playing their newest song, “Colores,” as they continue their set. The song premiered Thursday night. 

Wires snake from Ilusión’s microphones to the control center that Aguilar Garcia set up near the entrance of the store, near the Coca-Cola cans. Aguilar Garcia periodically checks the focus of the video behind the camera.

Aguilar Garcia — a native of Puebla, Mexico — co-owns the market with his sister and dad. Aguilar Garcia’s father worked at the New Castle Farmers Market down the road for roughly 20 years before establishing his first grocery shop in Carneys Point Township, N.J., in 2019.  

The Fiesta Fresh Market & Carniceria in New Castle then opened in May 2024. 

Aguilar Garcia hopes brands may soon sponsor the series of Mercadito Concerts to help keep them going. For now, Ilusión’s strums and singing taper off, and the atmosphere returns to everyday-market sounds — refrigerators humming, shopping cart wheels turning and bags crinkling. 

Then the next song begins.

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