Mastering mariachi music

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, February 12, 2006

EVERETT – These weren’t your typical Mexican restaurant mariachi bands.

Members of three famous mariachi groups belted out vocals at the Everett Events Center on Sunday that could have given some opera singers a run for their money.

“The greatness of the voices is exceptional,” said Nancy Miller of Marysville, who acquired her taste for mariachi music while visiting Mexico. “They sound like Pavarotti or Caruso.”

Kevin Nortz / The Herald The Silvertips’ shower, normally filled with steam, is filled with music Sunday as a member of Mariachi Mujer 2000 uses it for a makeshift rehearsal space before the band’s performance at the Everett Events Center.

About 1,200 people cheered heartily at the first-ever mariachi concert at the events center. Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Imperial de Mexico and Mariachi Mujer 2000 made Everett their last stop on a quick three-city West Coast tour that also included Bakersfield, Calif., and Salem, Ore.

Because mariachi music is sung in Spanish and got its start in Mexico, mariachi fans tend to be of Mexican heritage, the musicians said. But quite a few non-Hispanic faces could be found among Sunday’s crowd.

Each band consisted of 10 to 12 musicians, many of whom took turns setting down their instruments and stepping to the microphone to showcase their vocal talents. They sang solo or in groups of two or three, with others singing backup.

Several held extended notes for 15 to 20 seconds at a time, drawing explosive cheers from the crowd.

Most of the songs are love songs, said Maria Orduno, director of Mariachi Mujer 2000, an all-female group based in Los Angeles. Mariachis also sing about heartache and cheating hearts, much like American country music, Orduno said.

“There’s nothing like mariachi music, the passion,” said Maria Eubank of Marysville, who grew up in southwest Texas and attended the show with Miller.

The pace ranged from slow and romantic to hand-clapping and toe-tapping. The typical mariachi band consists of six violins, two trumpets, one guitar, one Mexican folk harp, a bass guitar and a Mexican guitar known as a vihuela, said Santiago Maldonado of Mariachi Imperial.

Mariachi music has roots in Spanish music, with its guitars and horns, according to Maldonado, harpist for the Fontana, Calif.-based band. Over time, the sound was modified and supplemented with instruments of Mexican origin.

These are the deep-voiced bass guitar, known as a guitarron; the vihuela, a high-pitched, round-backed guitar that helps give mariachi music its unique vitality, and the harp, Maldonado said.

Another distinctive feature of the bands are their colorful suits. The members of Mariachi Imperial wore bright blue suits with bright yellow embroidered trim, and they came onto the stage wearing wide-brimmed sombreros. Mariachi Vargas – called “the world’s greatest mariachi” and based in Jalisco, Mexico, the birthplace of mariachi music – wore powder blue with silver trim. The women of Mujer 2000 wore black jackets and skirts with silver trim.

“My mother used to say, ‘You haven’t heard music ‘til you’ve heard the mariachis,’ ” Eubank said.

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.