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Restaurant offers foreign language karaoke

A downtown Wauconda restaurant is trying to bring together people of all races and ethnicities through song and dance.

La Malinche, 461 W. Liberty St., is a Mexican restaurant that allows anyone to try karaoke in various languages Friday and Sunday nights.

Since the summer, La Malinche has offered up to 10,000 singalongs in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

“It’s my dream to bring all kinds of people,” said Delia Mercado, owner of La Malinche. “I don’t care if (they are) white, Spanish or black. For me, everybody is welcomed.”

About 13,600 people call Wauconda home, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures. Wauconda is 82 percent non-Hispanic vs. a 17.8 percent Hispanic population. Mercado said she wanted to offer karaoke with an international twist to allow people to come together through a lively, carefree atmosphere.

The people who have already experienced the karaoke nights have also been prone to bust some international dance moves, including the Brazilian-flavored samba.

“Hey, they enjoy it,” Mercado said of the event.

Friday karaoke runs from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. On Sunday, people can sing from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Mercado said the event special, which has boosted business, will continue indefinitely through the winter.

Mercado was approached with the idea to start the karaoke event, which includes a disc jockey with a 10,000-song karaoke playlist. On Saturday nights, La Malinche features live music for dancing.

Mercado said the event brings talented and not-so talented singers to the stage, but she added most people from across the Northern suburbs are often curious to try singing in different languages.

“They come from different little towns,” she said. “For me, I feel happy because different countries live here, and they do the same singing.”

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