Mariachi master attuned to pupils

'(Mariachi music is) that wonderful combination, that perfect blend of just the right sounds.' - Refugio 'Cuco' DelCid

CORKY SIMPSON
Tucson Citizen
April 19, 2002

Mariachi music most definitely is not off the wall, but that's how it began for Refugio "Cuco" DelCid, a legend in performance and teaching.
Tucson's International Mariachi Conference next week - Wednesday through Saturday - puts the spotlight on this colorful, exciting and essential form of music.
But it is mentors such as DelCid who throw the switch inside young hearts, turning them on to the genre.
DelCid cupped his hands behind his head and stretched back in a chair at his Sunnyside High School office, cooled by an electric fan and grinned from here to Agua Prieta when asked how he became interested in the rousing "street music" of Mexico.
He was born in Unamichi, Son., and grew up in Agua Prieta.
It was in the family's modest home, with DelCid's father working in the fields and his mother taking in washing and ironing for money, that his love affair with the rousing music of the strolling minstrels began.
"My father played the violin to entertain us," DelCid said. "He kept the instrument hanging on a wall, up high so that the kids couldn't reach it.
"One day I was sick and stayed home from school. Alone in the room, I decided to get the violin. I placed a chair on top of a table to reach it. Holding this beautiful instrument in my hands, I knew I had to play it."
So he found dad's bow and taught himself to play.
"Nobody knew but me," DelCid said. "Then one day my father started playing this beautiful Mexican waltz, 'Des Engaño,' and I said to him, 'I can play that.'
"He said, 'What?' Then he laughed and said, 'So you're the guy who broke that strand in my bowstring!'
"I had taught myself by ear. I was 7 years old."
At 15, DelCid was so good at the violin, he left home for Mexico City to learn more about the music of the mariachis. "I was able to get involved with a lot of excellent artists and singers," he said, "and that experience fueled my love for mariachi."
He played in well-respected groups - Epoca De Oro de la Cancion and, beginning in 1972, Las Camperos.
Although known foremost as a violist, DelCid plays all the instruments of the mariachi. The usual combination includes two trumpets, five violins, one guitarron (the large bass guitar), one vihuela (stringed instrument) and two regular guitars.
"I have approximately 100 students at Sunnyside in four classes - string beginners, rhythm beginners, pre-performers and performers," he said. "I love my job."
He helped start a group at Salpointe Catholic High School in January.
Another group, Mariachi Juvenil Herencia de Mexico, includes college students, with whom DelCid performs. "We play Sunday Mass at St. Monica," he said. They are also available for - and quite popular at - other events.
But DelCid says his aim is not to produce professional musicians. "I want to create in these fine young people an appreciation and love for mariachi music," he said. "Education is first with me, and I tell the students, 'I want you to be doctors and lawyers and business people who happen to love mariachis.' "
DelCid, 59, is "a mariachi legend, a living resource," according to Dan Buckley, the Citizen's resident mariachi expert.
DelCid, who teaches voice as well as the instruments, calls mariachi "that wonderful combination, that perfect blend of just the right sounds."
"To me," he said, "mariachi is ... fiesta."
And its performance is by no means limited to Hispanics. "Oh, no. Lots of Anglo kids love mariachi music," he said. "I have some in my classes here at Sunnyside."
One of DelCid's prize Sunnyside pupils is Roberto Cazares. "He never held an instrument until he walked into my class as a freshmen," DelCid said. "I said to Roberto, 'You should play the guitarron.' He said, 'But I have never even touched one.'
"Well, he touched one that day, and right now Roberto is one of the very best. He's so good, I put him in the performance group his first semester. If he decided to play professionally as a mariachi, he could do it.
"I am very proud of him, but I am very proud of all my students."