Cultural tradition offers sweet sounds at LCC
Laredo Community College’s promotion of a cultural Latino tradition brought sweet sounds to aficionados of mariachi music and top honors for talented local and area school musicians during last month’s “Viva el Mariachi” Festival and Competition.
The two-day event, held at the Martinez Fine Arts Center on the LCC main campus, included master classes for high school and college musicians, a high-spirited competition to single out the top mariachi musicians of the region, and a special concert fundraiser featuring Grammy-nominated Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez.
Winners of the high school mariachi ensemble competition were: McAllen Memorial, first place; Valley View, second place; and Martin, third place.
Valley View Junior High School captured the top honors in the middle school ensemble competition.
The judges were Oscar Garza, Jr., of Austin’s Mariachi Relampago and Robert Lopez, Vidal M. Trevino Magnet School trumpet instructor and TAMIU mariachi director.
A competition to select the top mariachi singers of the region was also hosted by the college. In the high school category, they included first place winner Alexia Quintero of Alexander, and second place winner Jose Angel Cortez of Valley View. In the middle school division, the winners were all from Valley View Junior High, including Jesus Barrera, first place; Noely Mena, second; and Leticia Sarahi Cortez, third.
The judges for the vocal competition were LCC Music and Dance Department Chair and Voice Instructor Dr. Joseph Crabtree and Robert Lopez.
Prior to the competition, master classes were conducted by Mariachi Sol de Mexico for high school and college musicians. Among the schools that participated were Cigarroa, Valley View, VMT Mariachi, Martin, McAllen Memorial and LCC Mariachi Palomino.
The local mariachi group, Los Arrieros de Laredo, offered master classes for middle schools from Cigarroa and Valley View.
Sponsors of the master classes were the LCC Education Foundation and the City of Laredo.
The evening concert fundraiser began with an opening performance by Los Arrieros de Laredo, followed by a spectacular show by Mariachi Sol de Mexico. The concert, held in support of music education and scholarships, was sponsored by Paul Young Auto Mall.
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