Tucson's soundtrack certainly would include mariachi

Here at the Citizen, we have an archive available to writers and staff of everything that has been printed in the Tucson Citizen back to 1994.
I figured that would be a good resource to tap to get a grip on the current reach of mariachis into the fabric and soul of Tucson. So I did a search on the word "mariachi" and began diligently copying and pasting the found articles into a word-processing document. I figured it would take a couple of hours to get the job done. And it did - the first day, when I got from January 1994 to about June '95.
I continued gathering the articles a few hours at a time over the next few weeks until I'd finally retrieved every printed mention of mariachis since 1994. The articles were formatted with text printed single-spaced, and double spacing between paragraphs. Pasted end to end, the resulting document was several thousand pages long. I'm now partway through individually breaking out the articles and cutting and pasting them into the database program I routinely use to research my articles. I expect to be done by the time I'm 197, and by that point another 80 to 150,000 pages of additional text will have accrued.
A fair number of articles I had written myself. Some I remembered, some I'd long forgotten. But it was the listings of events that told the real story. And it is an incredible one in light of that fact that before 1964, when Tucson's Los Changuitos Feos (the Ugly Little Monkeys) came into being, there were perhaps a handful of mariachis in town, at most. But in particular since the creation of the Bank One Tucson International Mariachi Conference in 1983, there has been an explosion of mariachi activity in Tucson.
Now they are everywhere. When the new millennium was rung in, it was greeted with the sounds of mariachi trumpets and the smoldering allure of folklórico dancers. At nearly every important local festival, from the Chile Fiesta and the Fiesta de San Augustin to Tucson Meet Yourself and many more, mariachis are an integral part of the celebrations.
Many of Tucson's school systems now have mariachi and folklórico education programs. Some schools, notably Sunnyside High School, even have a well-established tradition of daylong mariachi-folklórico performances by groups from around the city and state - a sort of mini Mariachi Conference.
Mariachis and folklórico groups play for graduations, conventions, political rallies, family events and so much more, regardless of whether the crowd is predominantly Mexican American. Mariachi Masses are celebrated weekly at St. Augustin Cathedral and sporadically at other locales around town. At important Mexican-American events, from the celebration of Tucson's birth to Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16), Day of the Dead, assorted Catholic feast days, and even such incongruous places as the Norteño Festival, the brilliant sounds and zesty rhythms of the mariachi unite the generations in their proud heritage.
This is to say nothing of the traditional work they perform that doesn't make it to the papers, in family backyard parties celebrating birthdays, quinceañeras, family reunions, weddings and the like.
Like no other cultural force, the mariachi has united and tangibly improved our community. It has encouraged young people to do better things with their lives and given them the opportunity to expand their horizons, resulting in lower dropout rates, less crime and greater leadership potential for young Mexican-Americans. These things are yet more reasons to celebrate the mariachi conference's 20 years - with even more mariachis and folklórico dancers. Viva mariachi! Viva Tucson!