The beauty in Mexican regional music

The UTRGV Mariachi Aztlán had the opportunity to share the stage with Grammy-award winner Aida Cuevas last Friday at the Performing Arts Complex (PAC) on the Edinburg campus.

Hours before the event, Mariachi Historian Jonathan Clark led a workshop in the PAC in which he asked Cuevas about her early years into her professional career and what she has achieved over the last 45 years in the music industry with her 39 albums.

Asked about what the public could expect from the concert, Cuevas replied in Spanish, “We prepared our very own Mexican pieces that we will be performing with the Mariachi Aztlán. We hope that it is to the liking of the audience because we really want to give them a little piece of Mexico through our singing.”

More than a thousand people attended the sold-out event.

“The FESTIBA Mariachi Festival 2020 was extremely successful,” said Dahlia Guerra, UTRGV assistant vice president for Public Art.

Guerra and Adolfo Estrada, a doctoral candidate of Texas Tech University and former Mariachi Aztlán member, emceed the event.

At the start of the event, Grulla Middle School student Valeria Garza sang “El Mariachi de mi Tierra.” Garza won a middle school mariachi competition organized by UTRGV prior to the concert.

Followed by Garza, Miguel Macias from McAllen High school sang “Ay Mi Jalisco” as the winner of the mariachi competition at the high-school level.

After listening to the two voices, the evening continued with a performance from the UTRGV Mariachi Juvenil Aztlán. The Ballet Folklórico was also part of the performance as members of the group danced along to the mariachi music.

Two women from the Ballet started dancing with a bottle of liquor on top of their heads.

Before the UTRGV Mariachi Aztlán performed, a slideshow of highlights curated by Guerra from the last 30 years of the mariachi ensembles was shown. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the mariachi at the university.

The Mariachi Aztlán took the stage alongside Jorge Ivan Velasco, a professor at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, who showed off his harp-playing skills.

After that performance, it was time for the main event.

The auditorium erupted as it welcomed “La Reina de la Música Ranchera,” Cuevas, onto the stage. Her Mexican musicians accompanied the Mariachi Aztlán.

Cuevas said she was influenced by the late-Mexican singer and songwriter Juan Gabriel. While mentoring her, Gabriel composed songs for her to sing in her 1983 album “Aida Cuevas Canta a Juan Gabriel.”

She entertained attendees as she sang some of his most-recognized pieces during the festival, such as “Buscando el Séptimo Amor,” “Te Sigo Amando,” “Tú A Mi No Me Hundes” and “Ya no me interesas.”

While singing “Besame Mucho,” a famous piece composed by Mexican songwriter and pianist Consuelo Velázquez, Cuevas joked about also knowing English and started singing “kiss me, kiss me, my darling” in the chorus.

She told the crowd about the Grammy award she won in 2018 for Best Regional Mexican Music Album with “Arrieros Somos – Sesiones Acústicas.” The audience cheered as the video of her speech at the Grammys ceremony was shown.

In a moment of reflection, Cuevas sang “Arrieros Somos” from the winning album, composed by Mexican singer and songwriter Cuco Sánchez. The piece focuses on the world not being eternal and how life is transitory.

The Ballet Folklórico danced as Cuevas sang “México en la Piel.” Members of the ballet wore typical costumes from the states of Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Sonora and Veracruz.

The Consulate General of Mexico in McAllen recognized Cuevas for her distinguished career. Acting Consulado Socorro Jorge acknowledged Cuevas for her “outstanding” trajectory as she is also known as “La Máxima Exponente de la Música Mexicana.”

Guerra joined them on stage and gifted Cuevas a bouquet of flowers.

Cuevas continued her performance with “Los Laureles.”

Sylvia Vinalay, a substitute at Austin ISD, attended the event and told The Rider “Los Laureles” was her favorite song from the concert.

“The [UTRGV] mariachi was great,” Vinalay said. “I had heard them on another occasion. They were really great Folkloric dancers. … [The concert] was really nice.”

The concert ended after Cuevas sang “Así Fue,” also composed by Gabriel. The audience turned on their cell phone lights and illuminated the auditorium.

She said goodbye to the crowd and shouted, “Viva México, sí señor!”

Asked what message she had for UTRGV students, Cuevas replied in Spanish, “Keep supporting and singing our regional music. Do not lose this custom. We need the new generations to keep liking this type of music, so it remains eternal.”