Gadsden students present mariachi concert Wednesday
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – Mexican folkloric music will liven a school stage here Wednesday when elementary students present the annual Noche de Mariachi concert.
Mariachi Gadsden, the Gadsden Elementary School District’s student mariachi group, presents the concert annually to raise funds to cover travel costs to take part in the International Mariachi Conference in Tucson and to perform at Disneyland.
Wednesday’s performance will take place in the gym at Southwest Junior High School, 963 8th Ave. in San Luis, with admission being $10 per person. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the hourlong performance is slated to start at 7 p.m.
Natalia Lopez, a music teacher in the Gadsden district and coordinator of its mariachi band, says Mariachi Gadsden’s appearance at the Tucson event and at Disneyland serve as valuable learning experiences for the young musicians.
“At the mariachi conference in Tucson they have the opportunity to work with mariachis with more experience and to learn from them, to learn from other groups who have the same language and culture, who play the same instruments and sing the same songs.”
The 24 members of the Gadsden group are slated to be in Tucson April 19-21 for the conference, which will be led by Mariachi Vargas, an internationally know group from Mexico’s Jalisco state, the birthplace of the mariachi genre that makes use of a variety of stringed instruments and trumpets.
The Gadsden band also is scheduled to be in Disneyland, in Anaheim, Calif., for an appearance May 14-15.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at Southwest Junior High and Ed Pastor Elementary School, 985 6th Ave., or at the door.
For more information about the concert, call 928-627-6580.