Sin pena ni gloria: Honoring Forgotten Mariachi Heroes Who've Recently Passed On
by Jonathan Clark
Jonathan Clark is a well-known and respected mariachi historian. He lived for 12 years in Mexico, where he played the guitarrón professionally and collected historical photographs, documents, and testimonies of seminal mariachi musicians — activities he has continued ever since. Clark is the author of numerous articles on mariachi history and is a frequent lecturer at mariachi festivals in the U.S. and Mexico.
Without doubt, mariachi music is a deeply rooted tradition in Mexican and Mexican American culture, as well as that of other Spanish-speaking countries. Its fan base is large and loyal. Notwithstanding, the major protagonists of this art form tend to be forgotten in their final years, which they more often than not spend in poverty. It’s a sad commentary that when these icons die, their passing generally goes unnoticed.
Bonifacio Collazo
When the legendary Bonifacio “Boni” Collazo died at age 95, not one obituary notice appeared for him anywhere, according to his family. Collazo had been the original arranger and musical director of Mariachi México de Pepe Villa, and was the main individual responsible for creating that group’s unique and highly influential style. His compositions include the mariachi standards “Las Coronelas” and “Bailando Garabato,” and such classics as “La Texanita,” “Mi Pecosita,” “El Mocho Lencho,” “La Villista,” “La Periodista,” and “El Violín Corriente.” Although Collazo composed and arranged in a wide variety of genres — some of them controversial, like “rocanrol ranchero” — he is best known for his polkas.
Pepe Villa Jr., Boni Collazo, and the author in 2001
Bonifacio Collazo Rodríguez was born on May 31, 1911 in Nuevo Valle, Guanajuato. At age 14 he began formal violin and solfege studies in Pachuca, Hidalgo. Originally, his favorite music was American jazz. He had never paid serious attention to mariachi music until 1939, when Marcelino Ortega, Sr. invited him to play with his group in Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi. Collazo accepted and became a member of Ortega’s Mariachi Los Diablos Rojos (later Perla de Occidente). Boni soon taught them the first boleros any group in that plaza had ever interpreted, causing a local sensation. A few years later, Collazo joined another Garibaldi group, Mariachi Los Vampiros, and taught them semi-classical pieces, which became that group’s specialty. After a period with José Marmolejo’s Mariachi Tapatío, Collazo joined Mariachi Pulido. He was that ensemble’s musical director in 1953 when it was transformed into the group that popularized the two-trumpet instrumentation in mariachi music: Mariachi México de Pepe Villa.
Collazo’s musical career ended prematurely due to progressive hearing loss. In the late 1950s he left Mariachi México for that reason, and by the 1960s he had faded out from the artistic scene. Don Boni spent the final years of his career playing with low profile mariachi groups in Mexico City restaurants. In the 1980s, retired from performing, he would still frequent Plaza Garibaldi to visit friends there. By the 1990s, however, he seldom went out, and most mariachi musicians assumed he was no longer living. When the magnificent Boni Collazo finally succumbed to a heart attack on June 7, 2006, very few attended his funeral.
Lino Briseño
A single sentence in a gossip column was the only newspaper mention of the unfortunate demise of guitarist-vocalist Lino Briseño. Born on September 23, 1922, in San Diego de Alejandría, Jalisco, he died in Guadalajara on May 26, 2007, at the age of 84.
Briseño is best known for his vocal contributions to the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán discography. His is the high voice heard on immortal recordings of sones like “Los Arrieros,” “Camino Real de Colima,” “El Gavilancillo,” “El Maracumbé,” and “Las Olas.” He was also famous for his distinctive high-pitched grito (yell), which can be heard on countless records of the era featuring Mariachi Vargas. He estimated he had appeared in over 40 films with that group.
Lino liked to tell the story of how one day he was playing guitarrón and singing “Son de la Negra” with a mariachi in Plaza Garibaldi when Silvestre Vargas suddenly appeared. “Who is that singer?” Vargas inquired. When Silvestre later invited him to join his group, Lino replied, “No, Vargas, you’ve made a terrible mistake!”, explaining how limited his ability on the guitarrón was. “I don’t want you on guitarrón,” Vargas explained, “I want you on vocals. You can be our second guitarist.”
Lino recalled the very first recording he made as a member of Mariachi Vargas. “It was the polka ‘Nola.’ I’ll never forget how magnificently Miguel [Martínez] played the trumpet on that piece!” RCA Victor archives list the date of that recording as April 4, 1951.
Briseño remained with Vargas until about 1958. After that, he played with Mariachi Nacional de Arcadio Elías for a short period. Finding limited success in Mexico City as a vocal soloist, Lino moved to Guadalajara, where he spent the rest of his life performing and giving music lessons. There he played with many local groups, including Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, and was a member of Guadalajara’s official Orquesta Típica.
Early in 2007, Briseño suffered a fall in which he fractured a leg. He never recovered fully from this injury, remaining bedridden until the time of his death five months later. His passing would have gone unnoticed by the media if it hadn’t been for Guadalajara folklorist Cornelio García, who dedicated an episode of his television show De Kiosko en Kiosko to the late musician.
Antonio Aguilar
A notable exception to being forgotten is the case of Antonio Aguilar. Few figures in ranchera music have been more eulogized during and after their lifetime, or have had greater success in radio, records, films, and tours. The celebrated singing charro died on May 17, 2007, after an extended bout with pneumonia. He was 88 years old.
Pascual Antonio Aguilar Barraza was born in a small village in Zacatecas in 1919, as the Mexican Revolution wound to a close. Originally a wealthy hacienda owner, Antonio’s father, don Jesús Aguilar, lost half of his estate as a result of the Cristero rebellion. The other half he lost a few years later when his brother, for whom he had cosigned on a large loan, died unexpectedly, leaving that debt unpaid. The Aguilar family suddenly found itself landless and penniless, and its members were forced to perform menial tasks at minimal wages to survive.
Young Antonio pursued a series of odd jobs until he was awarded a scholarship to study aviation in New York. When he changed his vocation shortly afterward and began studying voice, his uncle, who had been aiding him financially, withdrew his support with the admonition that he “didn’t want any clowns in the family.” Antonio eventually traveled to Hollywood where he studied with opera singer Andrés de Segurola until the outbreak of World War II forced him to return to Mexico.
“Tony” Aguilar, as he now billed himself, soon became a successful singer at border town cabarets and eventually owned his own nightclub in Tijuana. By 1946, he’d become the owner of a highly successful Mexico City nightclub called El Minuit. But his heart was in performing, not administration. One day, he unexpectedly summoned his employees together and literally gave the business away to them. Taking with him some fifty thousand dollars in savings, he headed for post-war Hollywood.
Back in Hollywood, this time with money, Aguilar rented a luxury suite on the Sunset Strip where, in a misguided attempt to break into the artistic world, he hosted lavish parties that were attended by famous movie stars. Within a month he had squandered almost all his savings, and returned to his native Zacatecas to come up with a new plan. Three months later, he was back in Mexico City continuing his vocal studies. Four years of sacrifice and struggle to establish himself as a singer ensued before he finally got the break he’d been waiting for.
Antonio Aguilar made his formal artistic debut on July 22, 1950, on XEW, singing romantic boleros to orchestral accompaniment. This would become the first of countless live transmissions by him on that station, considered the apogee of Mexican radio in that day. Before the end of the year, the recently formed Discos Musart had signed him to an exclusive contract. Aguilar would remain with that record company for the rest of his career, which would extend for over half a century, and during which he would record over 100 albums and sell more than 25 million records.
In 1951, a year after his radio and recording debut, Aguilar made his cinema debut with a minor role in Yo Fui Una Callejera. The following year he appeared in six films, including two with Pedro Infante: Ahora Soy Rico and its sequel Un Rincón Cerca del Cielo. It wasn’t until 1954, however, that he sang his first canción ranchera on film, in Pueblo Quieto. In 1954, 1955, and 1956, he made films with singer Guillermina Jiménez Chagoya, better known as Flor Silvestre, whom he married in 1959. Aguilar would eventually participate in over 150 films, many of which he would script or produce himself.
One of Aguilar’s early records. Note the anglicized first name and the absence of folkloric attire.
During his first two years with Musart, Aguilar recorded mainly cover versions of popular songs of the day, but he had limited success competing with the leading pop singers on their own turf. His luck took a different turn in 1952, however, when he recorded his first rancheras and began to develop the style that would later become his trademark. In fact, the decision to remake his image into that of a ranchera singer would mark the most important turning point in Antonio Aguilar’s career.
While on tour in Puerto Rico in 1953, Aguilar met songwriter Rafael Hernández, who convinced the reluctant singer to perform ranchera music at all his engagements on that island. The Puerto Rican public responded so overwhelmingly that he sang the same repertory in all the remaining Latin American countries on that tour, where he received a similarly enthusiastic response. Aguilar returned to Mexico convinced that his future was in interpreting vernacular song rather than the genres of music he’d been singing. He wasn’t mistaken, and by late 1954 Antonio Aguilar had become one of the most popular ranchera artists in Mexico.
In the manner of Pedro Infante, Aguilar cultivated the image of a champion of the working class. Although in real life he was highly cultured and a shrewd entrepreneur, his public image remained that of a country boy or ranchero. Accordingly, he liked to keep his music simple. Shunning the polish and sophistication that characterized the productions of many of the leading ranchera singers of the day, Aguilar preferred a certain roughness to his records. He was one of the biggest advocates of the “direct” recording, where singer and musicians record live in the studio with no overdubs. Preferring the resulting synergy over any musical perfection, he was one of the last artists who insisted on recording in this manner long after it was considered obsolete.
Aguilar in 1969, on one of the rare occasions when Mariachi Vargas recorded with him during that period.
Gustavo A. Santiago, Aguilar’s arranger for over 30 years, recalls the very first time he wrote for the artist, in 1966: “I was really excited that I’d been asked to arrange for the famous film star, Antonio Aguilar. I remember the first song I did for him. It was ‘La Panchita,’ a traditional ranchera. I got so carried away in the introduction that I almost emptied the inkbottle filling the score with elaborate flourishes of notes. When we got into the studio and Antonio heard it, he said to me, ‘Very nice, muchacho, but all I want for an intro is the chorus melody.’ This was a rude awakening for me, and a devastating blow to my ego! But in retrospect, he was right, and what I had written was totally inappropriate. From that point on, I began to grasp what his style was all about, and did my best to write in accordance with it.”
Gustavo A. Santiago
Although he sometimes recorded with other types of groups, the mariachi is the ensemble with which Antonio Aguilar is most often associated. His all-time favorite group was Mariachi México de Pepe Villa, and they accompanied him in most of his films and on most of his recordings made during the “golden era” of the fifties and sixties. During the seventies and eighties, he recorded extensively with Mariachi Oro y Plata. Two of his last mariachi hits, released in the late nineties, were “Una Página Más” and “Una Aventura.”
While there were other ranchera singers who only posed upon a horse for imagery, Aguilar was a true charro and a master horseman. In the late sixties he conceived a unique rodeo-concert spectacle featuring his wife, Flor Silvestre, and their two sons Pepe and Antonio, Jr. This show became extremely popular and toured Latin America and the U.S. extensively throughout the seventies, eighties, nineties, and even into the early part of the current century, earning the Aguilar family a reputation as premiere ambassadors of Mexican culture abroad.
Although his health began to fail him, don Antonio continued singing until shortly before his death. Toward the end of his career, backstage he had to be lifted out of a wheelchair and up onto his horse. But when he made his grand entrance riding nimbly and singing his heart out, few suspected the octagenerian was scarcely able to walk any more. Time eventually caught up with him, though, and on his family’s final U.S. tour in 2006, he sang only one song — seated in a chair.
Thousands mourned Antonio Aguilar’s passing at the Basílica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. Even more turned out to pay their last respects to the renowned charro cantor in his home state of Zacatecas, where his body was buried at his family ranch El Soyate, located near Tayahua, the village invoked in so many of the gritos he loved to shout out during his songs.
José Gómez, aka “Pepe Tequila”
Gómez and Juan Gabriel
Juan Gabriel’s regular vihuela player for over 30 years, José Gómez, better known as “Pepe Tequila,” died on July 17, 2007, at age 54. Born José Gómez Covarrubias in Tequila, Jalisco, on August 30, 1952, Pepe came from a large family of mariachi musicians. A founding member of Mariachi Jalisciense de Rigoberto Alfaro, which became Mariachi Arriba Juárez in 1982, Pepe remained with Juan Gabriel’s backup group through its 1995 transition into Mariachi de mi Tierra. “I always liked the way he played,” recalls arranger Rigoberto Alfaro, with whom Pepe made his first recordings. “‘El Tequila’ really liked to practice and study. He was an excellent compañero.”
In 2004, a serious knee problem resulting from an old soccer injury brought a premature close to Pepe’s stage career. “He got really depressed when that happened. Performing and touring was his life,” says his brother Rigoberto Gómez, current musical director for Juan Gabriel.
Although his concert career came to an untimely end, Pepe remained an employee of Juan Gabriel until the time of his death. With his characteristic generosity, the singer-songwriter invited Gómez to live on a ranch he owns in his home town of Parácuaro, Michoacán. There he paid the musician a regular salary for giving music classes free of charge to local youth. Those classes became extremely popular and engendered an entire mariachi youth movement in that region.
With José Alfredo Jiménez
In 2007, Gómez was in Cancún arranging to have knee surgery when he suffered a fatal respiratory attack. Most of the local mariachis attended his wake, where they played throughout the night. A week later, Juan Gabriel organized a memorial mass in Parácuaro with Mariachi de mi Tierra, where large numbers of townspeople turned out to pay their final respects to “Pepe Tequila.” Although no obituary appeared for him, he has countless friends and admirers throughout the mariachi world who remember him fondly.
Juan Sánchez
Violinist-vocalist Juan Sánchez, a longtime member of both Mariachi de América de Jesús Rodríguez de Híjar and Mariachi México de Pepe Villa, succumbed to liver problems on December 18, 2007. The Mexico City native was 59 years old.
Sánchez played with Rodríguez de Híjar’s group for about 10 years before joining Mariachi México, where he remained for nearly 15 years. He and his brother left Villa's group in 2001 when most of the older members broke off to form a Mariachi México alumni group they dubbed "Los del México." This mariachi continues to perform regularly at a night club called El Lugar del Mariachi, on the outskirts of Mexico City, although only three original Mariachi México members remain with the group.
A number of mariachi musicians attended Juan Sánchez’s funeral, at which the family had hoped there would be music. To the surprise and dismay of many, no one played.
Antonio Sánchez
Juan's older brother, Antonio Sánchez, had been a violinist with Mariachi México for four decades. Antonio died of a heart attack in 2002, while playing a mañanitas in Milpa Alta, Estado de México.
Jorge Valente
Legendary vocalist Jorge Valente, a native of Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco, departed this world on August 7, 2007. Although Mexico’s National University's Radio UNAM (XEUN) and other stations carried the sad news, most of this artist’s fans seem to yet be unaware of his passing.
Valente was born Esiquio Evelechi Becerra, in a barrio of Zacoalco known as Las Cebollas, most of whose residents are descendants of the indigenous Coca tribe. While details of his early life are difficult to obtain, he allegedly played with mariachi groups in Guadalajara. Many remember him as a vihuelist who played with numerous groups in Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi. Esiquio made his earliest recordings on the Tizoc label, as a vocal soloist with Román Palomar’s Charros de Ameca. In 1961, he signed with Discos CBS under the artistic name Jorge Valente. His first single, “Poquita Fe,” launched a series of hits that would span almost a decade.
Boleros with mariachi accompaniment were Jorge Valente’s specialty. When idol Javier Solís died in 1966, many predicted Valente would become his successor. His extraordinary voice was indeed comparable in certain ways to that of Solís, and some of Jorge’s hits (like his 1963 “Virgen de mi Soledad”) sold even better in their day than many of those of his formidable rival, Javier. Some knowledgeable people, however, debate the validity of this comparison. At any rate, it appears that Jorge lacked certain qualities necessary for superstardom.
After CBS dropped him from their roster in the early 1970s, Valente faded into relative obscurity. Although he later recorded for Discos Rex and Discos Orfeón, never again did the crooner have a significant hit record. Nonetheless, he continued performing regularly — always backed by a mariachi — at fairs, palenques (cockfight arenas) and nightclubs in Mexico and the U.S. until shortly before his death.
One might assume that Valente’s vocal prowess declined with age, but this was reportedly not the case. “Jorge just kept getting better and better. Toward the end of his career, his singing was far more expressive than back when he was at his peak in popularity,” insists music journalist Melitón López, who knew Valente well and followed his career over the decades. Guitarronist Berna Santiago recalls the last time he accompanied Jorge, as a member of Mariachi Águilas de América, near the turn of the century: “His incredible singing gave me goose bumps. But when we talked backstage, he was despondent. He felt his fans and friends had abandoned him.”
While there may have been some truth to Valente’s lamentations, he was still able to mesmerize crowds until his final days. Pepe Villa Jr. recalls the last time Mariachi México accompanied him, on Virgen of Guadalupe Day in 2005, in Capuluac, Estado de México: “Jorge was the main attraction and the whole town turned out to see him. He sang all his hits and was an absolute sensation. The applause was tremendous — they wouldn’t let him leave the stage!”
Some of Jorge Valente’s best known songs are “Virgen de mi Soledad,” “Tango Negro,” “El Vicio,” “El Triste,” “Amorosa,” and “Fea.” These and others can be found on his currently available Grandes Éxitos CD, which is highly recommended listening for anyone who enjoys mariachi boleros.
Rafael Carrión
Arranger-director Rafael Carrión passed away on February 9, 2008. He is best known as the arranger of a large number of Javier Solis’s recordings. Carrión made literally thousands of arrangements for countless artists during his lifetime, including Vicente Fernández (“Yo Quiero Ser”), Gerardo Reyes (“Sin Fortuna”), Hermanos Záizar, Irma Serrano, and Magda Franco. Two of his best-known compositions are “Amigo Organillero,” recorded by Javier Solís, and “Escalón por Escalón,” recorded by Vicente Fernández. Besides doing extensive radio and TV work, Carrión was also prolific in the area of cinema, where he composed music for some 200 films and made numerous acting appearances.
Mariachi fans are particularly fond of Carrión’s collaboration with singer and multi-instrumentalist Antonio Maciel on Sones Mexicanos, backed by Mariachi Jalisco de Pepe Villa, as well as Danzones con el Mariachi México (both on the Musart label). Another mariachi favorite is Polkas a la Mexicana (currently available as Polkas en Mariachi), an album Carrión arranged and directed in 1959 to showcase the virtuosity of trumpeter Miguel Martínez and French accordionist André Beauvois. Of all Carrión's work, his two favorite albums were Fantasía Española (1959) and Valses (1964), both of which he arranged for singer Javier Solís.
Rafael Carrión Zamarripa was born on November 2, 1916, in Cananea, Sonora, of Yaqui Indian descent. He was primarily a self-taught musician, teaching himself guitar, piano, and other instruments. In his youth, he toured Mexico with a circus band in which he played clarinet, saxophone, and flute. When he finally decided to study music formally, the National Conservatory told him he was too old to enroll as a student.
According to his widow, Mariana Curiel, the first person to offer Carrión work when he arrived in Mexico City in the early 1940s was singer Lucha Reyes. Reyes invited Carrión to travel with her to the U.S. as the guitarist and director of an informal mariachi she hastily assembled for what turned out to be her final tour. This may well have been his only experience playing with a mariachi. Returning to Mexico City, Carrión was invited by Felipe Bermejo to form part of his popular Cuarteto Metropolitano, of which Luis Pérez Meza was lead vocalist, and he later formed part of the renowned Trío Culiacán.
While working as copyist for the famous Manuel Esperón, Carrión familiarized himself with the fundamentals of musical arranging, and this soon become his main activity. He was highly active in the 1950s and '60s but, as with most arrangers in Mexico, work tapered off for him in the '70s and '80s. Arranging commissions became extremely scarce during the final decades of his life, as relatively few major record productions were being made. To make things more difficult for him, the few producers who were active tended to give preference to other arrangers. Notwithstanding, Carrión worked steadily at his craft until the very end of his life, albeit for singers who were not well known.
Maestro Carrión in 2007 on his 91st birthday
Although he remained active up until the time of his death, Rafael Carrión’s health began to decline steadily after he suffered a serious fall a year prior to his demise. The beloved maestro died peacefully at home, in his sleep, at age 91. A number of musicians, actors, songwriters, and friends attended his Mexico City funeral.
Benjamín Huízar
Huízar performing at the 2001 ¡Viva el Mariachi! Festival in Fresno, California.
Violinist-arranger Benjamín Huízar passed away on August 10, 2008, at the age of 75. The Guadalajara native was best known for his long association with Mariachi México de Pepe Villa.
Huízar joined Pepe Villa's second-string group, Mariachi Jalisco, in the mid-1950s, becoming part of Villa's famous Mariachi México when the subordinate group was disbanded a few years later. The violinist became musical director of Mariachi Mexico in the early 1970s, when Pedro Ramírez left that group to pursue a career as arranger and producer. Benjamín made many arrangements for numerous vocalists, as well as for Mariachi México, including “La Caballada” and “Popurrí Francés.” One of his most famous is "Desde Que Dios Amanece," which he arranged for the Hermanas Huerta.
Huízar remained with Mariachi México until 2001, when he and a number of other members left to form Mariachi Los del México. His performance career was briefly interrupted when he suffered a stroke in January of 2008, but by March he had apparently recovered and had returned to the group. He continued to perform nightly until July, when he was hospitalized for a cerebral hemorrhage from which he died three weeks later.
Benjamín Huízar was well liked and widely respected in the mariachi world. Notwithstanding, even fewer mariachis turned out to pay their final respects than eight months earlier at the demise of his compañero Juan Sánchez. The few that came, like those at Sánchez’s vigil and funeral, neglected to bring their instruments or offer to perform.
Cipriano Silva
Trumpet virtuoso and former Mariachi Vargas member Cipriano Silva breathed his last on September 3, 2008. The native of Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, was 72 years old.
When the legendary Miguel Martínez left Mariachi Vargas in 1958, his was a very difficult chair to fill. Many of his bandmates, including the late harpist Arturo Mendoza, said they considered Miguel “half the group.” When Mariachi Vargas invited Cipriano to join their ensemble in 1958, he was one of the few trumpet players of that day who could live up to the challenge.
Before joining Vargas, Silva had been a member of Mariachi Perla de Occidente, Mariachi Nacional de Arcadio Elías, and other groups. Former Mariachi Vargas member Heriberto Molina says he discovered the Oaxaca native playing with Rafael Arredondo’s Mariachi Azteca at the Bar Azteca, the same downtown Mexico City nightclub where singer Javier Solís had gotten his start. It was highly unusual in those days for an oaxaqueño to play mariachi music, motivating the trumpeter’s fellow musicians to nickname him “El Oaxaca.”
Mariachi Sol de México director José Hernández, himself a great admirer of Cipriano, recalls how his older brothers Toño, Pedro, and Chencho (the latter two of whom would later play trumpet with Mariachi Vargas) used to eagerly await the release of each new Vargas recording, which they would analyze and study. “When Cipriano first recorded with Vargas, my brothers couldn’t tell the difference between his and Miguel’s playing. But he soon developed a highly individualistic style. Cipriano ushered in a whole new generation of mariachi trumpeters who played more aggressively than Miguel Martínez.”
This musical aggressivity wasn’t always appreciated, however, by those who had become accustomed to Miguel Martínez’s subtle dynamics. “Cipriano had a very pleasing sound, and transmitted lots of alegría. But he had one flaw, as far as we were concerned — he played too loud!” remembers Heriberto Molina. “We were always trying to get him to tone it down.” Miguel Martínez, on the other hand, has nothing but kind words to say about his successor in Mariachi Vargas. “I recognize Cipriano as one of the pillars of Mexican folklore and of the mariachi. He had incredible energy and a unique style. His execution was precise and solid.”
Silva originally joined Mariachi Vargas in 1958 at the age of 19, but left a few years later, after which Miguel Martínez returned for a time. After Martínez left Vargas once again, Silva returned to the group for several periods, the dates of which he himself was not certain. Cipriano estimated his cumulative tenure in Mariachi Vargas to total about nine years.
Cipriano Silva and Jesús Oliva, circa 1958
During most of his time with Mariachi Vargas, Cipriano was that group’s only trumpet player. In the late 1950s, however, he did play for a number of months in tandem with trumpeter Jesús Oliva, and then again in the 1960s with Pedro Hernández (better known as Pedro Rey), and others. Cipriano’s last stint with Vargas was in the early 1970s, when he played in duet with Crescencio (Chencho) Hernández. This extraordinary trumpet duo can be heard on the classic José Alfredo Jiménez recording of “El Rey.”
In August of 2008 Silva was hospitalized with a kidney problem, and he succumbed to pneumonia ten days later. He had been playing and teaching up until shortly before his hospitalization. Three Mexico City mariachi groups played at his funeral vigil. There were no newspaper obituaries, but several tributes to him can be found on YouTube.
José Hernández says he mentions Cipriano’s contributions in all his lectures, classes, and workshops, and recommends albums featuring Silva’s work, such as Pa’ Todo el Año by Miguel Aceves Mejía and El Cantinero by José Alfredo Jiménez, as essential listening for any mariachi trumpet player. “All of us in Mariachi Sol de México will forever miss the great Cipriano Silva,” says Hernández.
Certainly the entire mariachi world will miss all of these legendary musicians who have recently gone on to a better place. May their passing serve as an urgent reminder for us to take every opportunity to honor — during their lifetimes — the many mariachi heroes who remain with us.
— Jonathan Clark
News
Vote to Support Lone Mariachi Band in Texas Battle of the Bands
Mariachi Tejano de Sam Houston qualified for the SchoolJam Texas Battle of the Bands semifinal. The group of 10 students from Arlington, Texas' Sam Houston High School is the only mariachi act in the competition. Dozens of groups from across the state entered the contest, which has now been narrowed down to 15 semifinalists. The public has now been asked to vote online at www.schooljamtexas.com to select six finalists. Voting will continue through Jan. 31. If selected, the group will win gift cards to purchase new gear and equipment, and Sam Houston High School will receive funding to buy additional equipment for the school's music programs. After the vote, the top six bands will be taken to Austin, Texas, to perform live. The winning band will have an opportunity to perform live at the SchoolJam Germany finals in Frankfurt next April.
New Mariachi Publication
Mel Bay Publications has just released the Vihuela Chord Dictionary by well-known mariachi session musician José Guadalupe Alfaro. Many are familiar with Alfaro’s work on his numerous recordings with artists like Pepe Aguilar, Alejandro Fernández, Pedro Fernández, Vicente Fernández, Rocío Dúrcal, Hermanas Huerta, Lucero, Ángeles Ochoa, Paquita la del Barrio, Juan Valentín, Alicia Villarreal, and many others. Featuring bilingual English-Spanish text, this book has a U.S. list price of $9.95. For more information, visit www.melbay.com.
Look for an interview with author José Guadalupe Alfaro in the upcoming issue of this newsletter.
3 Ways to Change Music Education ... For the Better!
Join MENC's campaign to change music education by participating in a petition drive, spare change drive, and/or the June 18 Rally for Music Education. For more information and to read a message from MENC President Barbara L. Geer about the campaign, visit 3 Ways to Change Music Education.
Spring 2009 Adjudication Seminars
Three-day seminars to develop and improve effective music adjudication skills will be held March 26–28 and April 23–25, 2009, at Walt Disney World in Florida. Under the guidance of a world class music adjudicator, seminar attendees will learn adjudication essentials, observe an adjudication panel in action, learn the effective use of adjudication forms, observe live onstage clinics, listen to judges as they tape group comments, and take part in group discussions with Festival judges. These seminars are being offered through the combined efforts of MENC and NFHS, and are in cooperation with Disney Performing Arts Programs. More information and registration can be found online on MENC's NMAC page.
MENC Mentors
Remember, if you have a music education question or would like professional advice, please contact our Mentors!
This month’s featured mentors are
- Mariachi – Noé Sánchez
- Band – Ron Meers
- General Music – Sue Metz
- Chorus – Ken Tucker
- Orchestra – Catherine Hudnall
- Jazz – Paul Cummings
- Guitar – Ed Prasse
Wednesday, December 17, 2008, Mariachi Champaña Concert, Centro Cultural in Tijuana (CECUT). Tickets are available at the box office or by calling (011-52) 664-688-1080, or (011-52) 664-687-9650.
