MARIACHIS

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• Mariachi is a form of folk music from Mexico. Mariachi began as a regional folk style called “Son Jaliscience” in the center west of Mexico originally played only with string instruments and musicians dressed in the white pants and shirts of peasant farmers. From the 19th to 20th century, migrations from rural areas into cities such as Guadalajara and Mexico City, along with the Mexican government's cultural promotion gradually re-labeled it as Son style,

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• with its alternative name of “mariachi” becoming used for the “urban” form. Modifications of the music include influences from other music such as polkas and waltzes, the addition of trumpets and the use of charro outfits by mariachi musicians. The musical style began to take on national prominence in the first half of the 20th century, with its promotion at presidential inaugurations and on the radio in the 1920s.

NAME

• The word "mariachi" was thought to have derived from the French word mariage ("marriage"), dating from the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s, related to the music's appearance at weddings.
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GROUP

• The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two trumpets and at least one guitar. Traditional mariachi guitars include the vihuela, a high-pitched, round-backed guitar which provides rhythm, and a bass guitar called a guitarrón which also provides rhythm.

DANCE

• The most common dance technique found with mariachi is zapateado, a kind of footwork from Spain with pounding movements into a raised platform which often provides the percussion rhythm of mariachi and son music. The dance performed varies by region.

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• Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán is recognized as the oldest and most famous mariachi ensemble, founded by Gaspar Vargas in the late 1890s.
• They moved from Jalisco to Mexico City and performed for the inauguration of Lázaro Cárdenas.

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• Mariachi Vargas became famous accompanying singers such as Luis Miguel, Lola Beltrán, and Pedro Infante
• Mariachi Vargas’s first recording was in 1937, the same year they appear in “Asi es mi Tierra”. They appeared in over 200 films in the 20th century.

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• Silvestre Vargas took over Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán from his father in 1958 and soon after hired a trained musician, Rubín Fuentes, as musical director. Fuentes along with Vargas were instrumental in the standardization of much of mariachi music, arranging traditional songs and writing new ones that would be performed by many of the legendary performers of the mid-20th century, such as Pedro Infante, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Lola Beltrán and José Alfredo Jiménez.

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• Mariachi Vargas still remains, tracing its history in terms of generations, starting in the 1890s, with these generations maintaining the group’s authenticity as a Mariachi while the music has evolved. The last Vargas associated with the group died in 1985. That the group still considers itself the original group comes from the notion of passing on the music by generations of musicians, how the original song jaliscense was learned.[17]

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