Mariachi Conference still learning experience

Members of the Mariachi Cobre perform the National Anthem at the Mariachi Espectacular at the Tucson Convention Center on Friday Night. BELOW: Instructor Myrna Salinas at left works with her students with their violins during the Mariachi Workshops in the lobby at the TCC as part of the Mariachi Conference.
FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson Citizen

DANIEL BUCKLEY
Tucson Citizen
May 2, 2002

Every year, the Bank One Tucson International Mariachi Conference, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last week, is a time of learning and reflection for me.
Since I started with the Tucson Citizen in 1987, I've been amazed by and grateful to the many people from the Mexican American community who graciously and patiently shared their history and culture with me. Little by little over the years, the context, the repertoire, and the heart and soul of the genre comes clearer through this sharing. I pick up a bit more Spanish, and a slice more of the lyrics, song titles and the players. I remain an outsider to that culture, yet am rarely treated as one.
Being an outsider makes me a useful observer. My 20-plus years covering all genres of music give me a fairly broad perspective of what is quality stuff in the world. And that experience tells me that mariachi music today is a folk art elevated to the position of fine art. Like newgrass pioneers of the '70s who supercharged bluegrass with rock electricity and jazz virtuosity, the modern mariachi is a force to be reckoned with - a pared down opera company that efficiently carves its way into any cultural arena.
University of Arizona sociology professor and mariachi conference board member Celestino Fernandez rightly noted in his illuminating talk on mariachis earlier this month (see our mariachi website for transcript and sound clips) that mariachi music is anything and everything mariachis play. What they now play ranges from the traditional "sones" - the roots dance music of the mariachis - and "cancion ranchera" song repertoire, to arrangements of classical music, covers of Elvis and Frank Sinatra classics, country music and more.
This year I learned some new stuff - deeper stuff on a social level. In researching a piece about the Tucson-born youth mariachi that started the whole mariachi movement in America - Los Changuitos Feos" (the ugly little monkeys) - it finally sunk in how mariachi music is transforming America.
I talked with early members of the Changos, which was founded in 1964, including the founding nucleus of Tucson's Mariachi Cobre, which in turn started the Tucson conference. I talked with parents, former and current leaders, as well as Changos who were with the group in the years since it started.
I heard stories of how some early members were ashamed of being Hispanic before they joined. Some of the early Changos didn't speak Spanish when first introduced to this music through Father Charles Rourke - the Irish Catholic, jazz pianist priest who started the group. The experience gave them back the language of their heritage, instilled pride in them and connected them with their families and people.
In the Changos, each generation toured and traveled to places few of them could have afforded or even dreamed of going. They played the inaugurations of presidents, met with political leaders and shared the knowledge of how to start similar heritage-based groups with communities around the country. They learned that they were the equal of anyone they encountered. It gave them the courage to face obstacles.
And at the end of high school, Changos offered them a scholarship to go to college and build on that potential. They became and are still becoming doctors, lawyers, statesmen, educators, musicians of all sorts, and so much more.
With later Changos one feature was a constant. All I talked to had in some way been touched by the Tucson mariachi conference. Maybe they'd attended the workshops and that got them into the group, or a family member had been discovered at the Mariachi Student Showcase concert or Garibaldi Fiesta by the unsung hero of the Changos - Joe Mendoza, who volunteered 26 years of his life to nurturing those kids as its director.
At the conference's Espectacular Concert Friday night, emcee Jose Ronstadt noted that some 22,000 students have gone through the conference' workshops in its first 20 years. At the same time, mariachi music has been taken up, both locally and nationally, by school systems as part of the musical curriculum. Hispanic dropout rates are falling, Hispanic test scores rising, and more and more kids are going to college. The things that were done right with the Changos and the conference are taking root throughout America. That's one hellacious influence sphere for a folk music group, or even a conference.
So where do the movement, and the conference, go from here?
Founding group Mariachi Cobre pulled out of the Tucson event over disputes with conference organizers over the direction of the educational workshops. Cobre headed and established those workshops in Tucson, and its members now serve as clinicians and educators in similar conferences and school systems throughout the U.S. Cobre's displeasure with conference organizers resonates throughout the mariachi community across the country and gives the Tucson conference baggage that does not help it compete in a crowded mariachi conference field.
Despite that controversy, the conference still does more than just the great musical and social things outlined above. It's also a fund raiser for social services organization La Frontera's children's services wing, which provides needed help to children from poor families. That too is noble work, as valuable as all the rest. Juggling mounting expenses against cultural benefit is not a balancing act most of us would want to be responsible for, and that is what La Frontera faces.
A couple more side points. First let me say how ashamed I am of Tucson's Anglo electronic media for its pitiful support of this cultural milestone event. On Friday night I flipped fruitlessly through the local dinner hour news coverage for any sign that the Espectacular Concert was about to begin. I saw plenty on the air show, and a lovely little piece on what a swell place the Botanical Gardens is to hang out in. But if anything was broadcast about the 20th anniversary Espectacular concert, it was hard to find, which is a slap in the face not only to the Hispanic community but all of Tucson. This is OUR hometown event, and all of us should know about it and take pride in it. By contrast, Telemundo's preview was stupendous, taking viewers backstage to meet the members of Mariachi Vargas and Los Camperos de Nati Cano.
One final observation. In recent years it's been harder to fill the 10,000 seat TCC Arena for the Espectacular concert, and it's this concert that most benefits La Frontera. In large part this is because the competition around the U.S. is stiff. The fact that tickets aren't cheap also keeps some away.
There is talk each year of wanting to attract more Anglo audience members. Last year a PR firm - Project Brainstorm - was hired to help, and retained this year. And this year, a joint Tucson Symphony Orchestra / mariachi conference concert was added as a step towards bridging that cultural divide.
One obvious thing comes to mind, though I have very mixed feelings about even bringing it up. Almost all of the interaction with the audience during the Espectacular concert occurs in Spanish only. Jose Ronstadt does a good job of presenting bilingual introductions, but the mariachis themselves rarely speak to the crowd in English. And for many Anglos who might be interested, coming and being unable to understand 80 percent of what's said will keep them from coming back.
It's a mixed point. After all, how often in conversation does an Anglo try to accommodate someone for whom Spanish is their first language? Mariachi music and culture is, after all, a Hispanic entity. And keeping it mainly in Spanish reinforces community ties. The larger question then becomes, 'Does the mariachi conference need to change that aspect?' That's an issue that needs to be decided not by Anglo guys who scribble in the dark at concerts but by conference organizers and Hispanic community members.