Mariachi origin and migration to the United States
Mariachi music is a Mexican genre of music which originates from Mexico since at least the mid-1800s.
“Mariachi” is also an ensemble of musicians categorized by their traditional Mexican sound in subgenres such as ranchera, corrido, and sones, among others. The Mariachi tradition has crossed the frontiers and become a global phenomenon in the past several decades. There are now mariachi groups in many countries outside of Mexico and its neighboring United States, such as mariachi ensembles in Colombia, Germany, Japan, and many others.
Mariachi has a very interesting and mostly not-documented-very-well history. Multiple sources argue that when the Spanish arrived to what is now modern Mexico, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés had a personal music ensemble of his own circa 1519 that would later be transitioned into the Mexican mariachi ensembles. While that is one of many theories, the first known written evidence of mariachis comes from a Catholic priest named Cosme Santa Anna in 1852, complaining to his local bishop that his parishioners were staying up late with mariachi music at parties and coming to church the following Sunday hungover.
Mariachi music has a great variation of songs, genres and styles to choose from. These all have origins from different native regions of Mexico such as Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Sinaloa and Baja California.
The early mariachis were not even called mariachis. These musical groups were mostly utilized for rural fiestas, traditional dances and weddings. The very first two dances that characterized mariachi were jarabes and sones. During the era of the Mexican Revolution, people would start incorporating new styles such as the rancheras, corridos, and many more. The era of Mexican Revolution was a time when people were very illiterate but desired to fight for the rights of the Mexican people. Since most Mexican people were not able to read or write, people started making songs that would send a message to the rest of the Mexican people; these songs were corridos. Corridos are meant to be real life messages for the people, stories of their own.
After the revolution, mariachis were starting to develop their own uniforms, which represented their music and history. The first mariachis were peasants or servants, most earing anything they had available. Then, mariachis started using elegant suits, or “trajes de charro,” that included tight pants with ornaments called “botonadura,” a short coat, (usually) an ornate hand-crafted belt, half-boots, a wider bow tie-like “moño” and the classic big-rimmed sombrero.
The Golden Age for mariachi was in the 1920s to 1940s in Mexico, coinciding with its boom of silver screen stars. This mariachi Golden Age is when mariachi started becoming something more commercial for people. Mariachi and its songs that once started as an oral tradition of telling in a story for the illiterate people during the Revolution became iconic as performed by the greatest singers of the era, romanticized even further by appearing in movies of the time. Classic singers such as Pedro Infante, Javier Solis, Antonio Aguilar, Jorge Negrete, Miguel Aceves Mejia, among others, are seen as part of the Golden Age of “Charro” singers. These singers made mariachi music popular and became available in vinyl records for people from all economic classes.
Mariachi became a great tradition in the United States thanks to the large numbers of Mexican people in the U.S. During the 1950s, border town musicians moved to great Mexican communities such as Los Angeles. These musicians realized that the Mexican/ Chicano community could offer more opportunity for work and better pay. In the 1960s, there was a greater migration of Mexicans, and among them plenty of musicians. In these musicians, we had people like “Nati Cano” who founded and directed “Mariachi Los Camperos.” Mariachi Los Camperos became one of the first and best-known mariachi groups in the United States. The great influence from this mariachi would lead to the creation of mariachi famous groups such as formerly Tucson-based mariachi “Cobre” who has a residency at Walt Disney World, and frequent Latin Grammy performers and multiple Latin Grammy nominees mariachi “Sol de México.”
Mariachi Los Camperos is known for being the pioneers of popular mariachi music in the U.S. and bringing the Mexican and non-Mexican community together. In 1969, the mexican restaurant “La Fonda Restaurant” was opened in Los Angeles. This restaurant was bringing authentic Mexican cuisine into the U.S. and its music to Mexican and non-Mexican communities alike. This made mariachi very popular and recognized by the Anglo communities of the U.S.
Mariachi is a Mexican musical phenomenon that exists all over the globe, even in the smallest areas in the U.S., including our own Imperial Valley. As of Today, we currently have three active mariachi groups in the Valley: Mariachi Amanecer, Mariachi Acero del valley and Mariachi Aurora de Calexico, with most of the groups’ predecessor, Mariachi Mixteco, in the midst of a re-instating themselves. There are talks of professional groups like Mariachi Sol de Mexico re-sowing its long-standing Imperial Valley seeds with future concerts in the spring in fall in El Centro, as well as more local schools being interested and working on starting mariachi programs.
Nowadays, mariachi serves as way to keep the traditions of Mexico close, even in the U.S. These groups are an extraordinary demonstration of the Mexican legacy that has been passed from generations and how these have gone beyond the cultural barriers presented by each country.
A. Ricardo Heredia is an Imperial Valley resident and middle school teacher in Arizona who is also a master’s degree candidate at CETYS University in Mexicali. He is a history major, researcher in European and Greek mythology, and mariachi musician. He can be reached at aheredia96@hotmail.com.