TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The sounds of violins, trumpets and guitarróns echoed through downtown Tucson on Saturday as hundreds gathered at Jácome Plaza for Fiesta Garibaldi, part of the 44th annual Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
The event, which celebrates mariachi music and folklórico traditions, drew performers, students and families from across the Southwest and Mexico for a weekend of concerts, workshops and cultural celebrations.
For longtime conference organizers, the event is about far more than entertainment.
“This is the birthplace of youth mariachi in the country,” said Jose Jimenez, an executive board member for the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
Founded in 1982, the conference is considered the longest continuously running mariachi conference in the United States and has become a cornerstone of Tucson’s Mexican American cultural identity.
Jimenez, who has been involved with the conference for more than eight years, said Tucson helped pioneer formal mariachi education for young musicians.
“We were the first institution in the world, actually, to take mariachi education for children seriously and develop a program around it,” Jimenez said.
Today, the conference hosts workshops and performances for more than 1,300 students annually, according to organizers.
Monalisa Amado-Martinez, director of Mariachi León at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy, said the conference offers students rare opportunities to perform and connect with accomplished musicians and audiences from across the mariachi world.
“I actually have people here from Sinaloa just to watch these students,” Amado-Martinez said.
Amado-Martinez once attended the conference as a student performer herself. Now, she said, mariachi music has become a multigenerational tradition within her own family.
“It’s songs that my grandmother grew up with that her mom grew up with,” she said. “And now it’s songs that my husband and I are raising our son and daughter with.”
Jimenez said mariachi remains deeply woven into everyday life in Southern Arizona.
“It is a part of the fabric of our lives,” he said. “You see it at weddings, you see it at backyard parties. It is always there.”
——
Eddie Celaya is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born in Tucson and raised in the Phoenix area, Eddie is a life-long Arizonan and graduate of the University of Arizona who loves the desert and mountains and hates the cold. Previously, Eddie worked in print media at the Arizona Daily Star. Share your story ideas with Eddie at edward.celaya@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook or Instagram.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
