Mariachi

by Julieta Garcia, Archivist, International Guitar Research Archive - February 11, 2025

Mariachi is a style of music and a musical group that plays regional Mexican music consisting of violins, trumpets, and guitar, commonly including a high-pitched guitar called a vihuela and a bass guitar called a guitarrón. In Special Collections & Archives, we have documentation of Mariachi performances and recordings of mariachi music. CSUN also has its own campus Mariachi band called Los Matadores de CSUN. Mariachi bands commonly perform at special occasions and events, such as  fundraisers, or to celebrate Mexican cultural heritage. The below collections in Special Collections & Archives showcase some of these occasions and Mariachi performances.

Mariachi performances often take place at events where organizations fundraise, celebrate, and promote programs. In Comisión Femenil San Fernando Valley Collection there is an invitation for a Fundraiser titled La Noche del Mariachi. Similarly, the Carl Dentzel Collection also contains an invitation to an Annual Mariachi Fiesta that the Los Angeles/Mexico, D.F. Sister City Affiliate hosted at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This invitation shows the relationship between Los Angeles and Mexico, and Los Angeles’ use of cultural practices as a way of celebration.

On the theme of cultural celebrations, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee, Part 5  contains notes of “L’Khayim Mariachi”, where a Festival was put together as a means of outreach to the Spanish speaking community in greater Los Angeles. The Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity put together a festival to combine both Mariachi and Klezmer music. Klezmer music is a celebration music of Eastern and Central European Jewry, which includes dance and melodic tunes usually heard at weddings or other social functions.

In the College of Humanities Records there is a program for the third Annual “La Voz del Mariachi”, which was hosted by San Fernando High School. The San Fernando Valley Mariachi Committee put on this program to highlight the many mariachi bands and individuals in and around the San Fernando Valley. In the program the committee acknowledged the performers and their contribution to the community and how the Mariachis in the community grew from their first event to their third.

Lastly, in the Zaruhy Sara Chitjian Collection there are recordings of Pedro Infante’s version of Las Mañanitas and La Calandria. Pedro Infante, an actor and singer during the golden age of Mexican cinema would sing songs accompanied by mariachi. The physical phonograph records are accessible for viewing in our reading room.

These are just a few collections that highlight Mariachi ensembles and their involvement in fundraising and promoting cultural awareness. Visit Special Collections & Archives to see these sources and more documenting the rich history of Mariachi.

Image Gallery

Post tagged as: urban archives, archives, ephemera, san fernando valley