If you’ve been following the World Cup, you may have seen or heard of that one Mexico National Team fan who has gained international attention.
Yair "El Travieso," a Santa Ana resident, traveled to Qatar to celebrate the World Cup with thousands of fans from all 32 national teams with one special device: a very large speaker.
"The speaker man" -- or “El hombre de la bocina” -- is what people are calling him as he walks the streets of Doha with an oversized speaker as if it were a backpack, sporting team Mexico colors and a Charro hat.
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Yaír “El Travieso” said that people start dancing immediately when they hear the music.
"It's a really fun thing to see people dance," he said.
Yair said that the idea started four years ago at the World Cup in Russia when he was trying to make it as an urban artist and street performer.
"As a good immigrant, I did everything. You know we do everything: I was a dishwasher, a waiter, a cook," he said, very proudly.
“In the 2009 crisis, I lost my job. I didn't know how to pay my rent, and I went out to the streets to pick up cans, to clean windshields. What I wanted was to survive, to continue sending money to my family,” he said.
To brighten up his day, "El Travieso" decided to go to work with a small speaker.
“I would take a speaker with me and I would be out there cleaning my windshield, picking up my cans, and I started to like the music thing, going around with music and a portable speaker, until it got bigger and bigger.”
It was from that moment that his joyful journey began.
"Now I can't travel by myself anymore. I travel all over the world with my speaker. I can't travel if I don't have my speaker with me," said Yair.
Now that speaker has captured international attention.
When asked about the sensation that he has become, he said:
"Well, I do see a crowd of people around and take pictures with me in the subway and tell me, 'we know you in Colombia, we know you in Spain, we know you in Argentina.' And that’s a good feeling."
Proud of his Mexican roots, "El Travieso" said he’s from Mexico City, but he gave a shout-out to his mother from Durango and also to his father, who is from Michoacán.
For now, this proud Latino of Mexican descent says he will continue the party in Doha with fans from all around the world until the end of the World Cup.
