Symphony, mariachi not such an odd pair

Mariachi Vargas

DANIEL BUCKLEY
Tucson Citizen
April 17, 2002

It may seem on the surface an unlikely pairing - to have mariachis and a symphony orchestra playing together.
But classical music and folk music have mingled and intermittently merged throughout history.
The dances that Bach and Mozart so exquisitely set were modeled after popular folk dances. In the 19th century - the romantic age - the folkloric elements of one's place became the backbone of such nationalist composers as Smetana, Dvorak, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, and Janácek. Brahms' Hungarian dances and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies were stylized treatments of Gypsy music.
In the 20th century, the trend continued with Sibelius, Shostakovich, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Vaughan Williams and Bartok - the latter two actually going to remote locales with field recording equipment to capture remnants of folk music in the nooks and crannies of the world before radio would level the musical world. Even Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" - the shot heard 'round the world that ushered in the modern era of music - had its foundations in the rhythmic impulse and modal peculiarities of Russian folk music. And from Copland to Gershwin and Bernstein, American folk music has been a major ingredient in the music of American composers.
Like the United States, Mexico is a collection of states, each with its regional folk music. The northern border states, where Germans and Eastern Europeans settled in the 19th century, are areas where polkas, waltzes and Schottisches are still in common use today. The sones (pronounced SO-nays, plural of son) - the roots music of the mariachi tradition - are regional dance tunes of particular character and complexity. Elsewhere around Mexico, one hears more African and "Indian" influences woven into the folk fabric by slaves and indigenous peoples.
Like the United States, Mexico is a country of superb classical composers. Through the late 18th century, while the Catholic Church had a lock on musical life, Mexican composers wrote in the style of European baroque composers, just as American composers of the same age followed European models. The 19th century saw a further flowering of musical culture in Mexico as opera houses, village bands and small ensembles carried again largely European currents into Mexican culture. It's interesting to note, for example, that the model for singing in the mariachi tradition is the 19th century Italian operatic bel canto style.
But by the 20th century, Mexico had a stable of its own composers writing truly Mexican classical works. Carlos Chavez (1899-1978) wrote in a style that incorporated indigenous Indian and European classical currents. His contemporary, Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940), melded Mexican folk music and Stravinskian dramatic strokes to create a dramatic and brilliant new sound. Both Blas Galindo (1910-93) and Jose Pablo Moncayo Garcia (1912-58) drew directly from the mariachi and son traditions in the same way that Gershwin drew from African-American jazz and blues.
At the same time, there was a convergence from the other side as mariachis drew upon classical techniques to create music of great sophistication. When classically trained composer/arranger Ruben Fuentes joined Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán in the late 1940s, mariachi music saw a high-art renaissance as folk, classical and popular music styles merged in something new and seductively appealing.
As Vargas was proclaimed "El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo" (the world's greatest mariachi), it became the ideal in the mariachi world, and both its charts and the instrumental virtuosity required to carry them off led to a spike in the ensemble prowess of mariachis. The trend toward top classical-level aspirations in the mariachi world continues to this day, notably in the symphonic charts of Tucson's own Mariachi Cobre, which in 2000 and 2001 performed, recorded and toured with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Cobre members Steve Carrillo and Frank Grijalva have created a new level of orchestral scores that translate the essence of mariachi music to a symphonic group while complementing the mariachi's central role.
This week, a special concert is on tap as an adjunct to the Bank One Tucson International Mariachi Conference, in which the Tucson Symphony Orchestra will team up with two of the headliners from this year's conference - Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. The event also commemorates the retirement of one of the conference's largest supporters, and one of the foremost advocates of arts and culture in Tucson - Bank One Executive Officer for Southern Arizona Michael Hard.
Conducted by Maestro Guillermo Salvador (director of the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra), the show will feature among other works a medley (potpourri) of songs of Mexican film star Jorge Negrete, plus the virtuosic "Violin Huapango," such Ruben Fuentes favorites as "La Bikina" and his arrangements of various huapangos (the vaulting, 6/8, galloping music of the son huasteca tradition), plus several arrangements by conference regular Nati Cano.
For audiences, this will be one of the most thrilling collaborations we are likely to see, featuring dazzling, tuneful and acrobatic music most symphonygoers will be unfamiliar with. For TSO, it's a first rate opportunity to get under the stylistic hood of the music of our close neighbor to the south, which has generated a classical tradition as vibrant and powerful as any country in the world. And for Tucson in general, it's a fitting tribute to Michael Hard, who has taken our region and all its cultural manifestations both seriously and personally.
If there is one dark note in this, it is that Cobre's schedule did not permit it to take part. But we hope TSO will seize the opportunity to bring Mariachi Cobre in for its own symphonic pops showcase - an event that would no doubt be popular with local fans.
IF YOU GO
What: The Tucson Symphony Orchestra with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, as part of the Bank One Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
When: April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
How much: $26-$56, available through the Mariachi Conference office (884-9920 Ext. 392); the Tucson Convention Center box office (791-4266), and Ticketmaster (321-1000, ticketmaster.com).