New Orleans Every once in a while, there is a story almost too good to be true, even if it is one of those real-life miracles where the exception proves the rule. I can’t resist the story, even as I concede its improbability. Our union represents sanitation workers in New Orleans. ACORN organizers wastepickers and street sweepers in several of the major cities in India. In Mumbai’s Dharavi community, seen as a megaslum and a target for massive development and relocation that we are opposing, our plastic container percussion group, Dharavi Rocks, which would be known here as a junkyard band, has played all over India and even outside of Amsterdam at a festival in 2024. All of which makes the rise of Mexico’s Macario Martínez from the ranks of one of the thousands of streetsweepers along Avenida Reforma and other streets in Mexico City to a national music celebrity irresistible to me.
I picked up the story in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, as they reported:
Until recently, Macario Martínez was one of the thousands of fluorescent-green uniformed street sweepers in Mexico City, toiling with their long-bristled brushes in 8-hour shifts for about $10 a day. Then came the video. Martínez, a 24-year-old aspiring musician and composer, surreptitiously recorded himself riding on the back of his garbage truck as it rumbled down the city’s tree-lined Reforma Avenue, his fellow sweepers unaware. He made several takes early one morning and then laid the images over a plaintive, romantic song he’d written about a love scorned. At 7 p.m. on Jan. 27, he posted it on TikTok. Waking up the next day for his 6 a.m. shift, Martínez was shocked to see “Sueña Lindo, Corazón” (“Beautiful Dream, My Love”) had around 100,000 views. His previous videos had topped out at about 1,000.
The video and the song went viral, maybe partially because of the tune and lyrics, but likely as much from his unique backstory. On TikTok, the video has been viewed 43 million times and counting. Martinez’s Spotify account went from 1000 to over 2 million. As his listeners and fame grew, the rags-to-riches saga exploded. An interview on TV recorded a video of the host buying Martinez, a guitar which was viewed tens of millions of times on social media. He’s now off of the garbage truck and working with music fulltime while playing to huge crowds. He might be a one-hit wonder, but he’s spreading fairy dust everywhere.
These dream machines, whether in music or social media, are as rare as hen’s teeth. Helping manage radio stations, every day aspiring artists flood my email with their songs hoping to get airplay, looking for the same break that Martinez found on TikTok, hoping that lightning will strike. For a while, largely so I would feel better about holding so many hopes in my hands, I forwarded all of the new music in my inbox to several volunteers who tried to put the pieces together for a new music show that we could showcase. They were quickly as overwhelmed as I had been, making this one of those good intention things that aren’t quite making it to showtime.
Martinez’s story is wonderful, but also delusional. Yes, it can happen, but likely won’t. The message from the Journal reporter is that social media and platforms like TikTok are the new way to make it to the top. I doubt it. The message should be that it’s worth following your dreams for as long as you can, even if they never come true. That’s more realistic. There’s pride and honor in the struggle, if you can survive somehow, even if you never “make it” according to the usual metrics. These are great stories, but the moral should really be that the journey is what makes life rich and rewarding, not that there’s gold at the end of the rainbow. Keeping your feet on the ground, while one eye is in the sky is a life well lived, and that’s something to be proud of. So, good for you Macario Martínez and all of the dreamers following their dreams wherever they might lead. Go all ye, and do likewise!