Juan Manuel Cortez, Mariachi : Mariachi Violinist Hears Mexico in Music

Passing the tradition of mariachi music from generation to generation is not enough for Juan Manuel Cortez, a third-generation mariachi violinist.

Cortez, who is well established among his fellow mariachieros, also wants young people of all cultures to appreciate mariachi.

“The mariachi sound is different, very distinct from other types of music,” Cortez, 39, explained. “You don’t need to speak Spanish to appreciate it. You just listen and pay attention to the music.”

Indeed, the music has become almost a language in itself in Cortez’s class at UCLA, where he teaches musical arrangement in a mariachi course. Cortez said many of his students do not speak Spanish but easily pick up the lilting Spanish lyrics that accompany the lively brass-and-strings acoustic sound.

“They learn so quickly,” he said. “They learn the technique and feel the music. It becomes a part of them because they love it.”

Cortez’s wide-range of talents in mariachi--from his mastery of the violin to his skill in arranging and composing--actually arise from a strong classical background. As a youth, Cortez spent eight years studying the classical masters at the Conservatoria Nationale de Musica in Mexico City. At age 14, he took that musical knowledge to a mariachi band.

“I applied my classical training to the musica folklorico, “ said Cortez, who was born in Mexicali. “I had mariachi music in my blood.”

Before moving from Mexico City to Santa Ana in 1983, Cortez toured and recorded with Mariachis Vargas and Mariachi Oro y Plata, two of Mexico’s top bands. With the latter group, he toured Spain, Latin America and the United States.

After almost a decade with Oro y Plata, he moved to the states and joined Mariachi Uclatan, founded in 1961 by UCLA musicians. Since he joined the band, which performs five nights a week at El Mariachi Restaurant in Orange, Cortez has encouraged other accomplished Mexican mariachieros to come to California.

“It is very hard to have a big band of 11 musicians, and for them to support their families. The primary problem is you need a regular place (to perform) as an economic base,” he said. “Other groups, usually smaller, from six to nine people, are hired part-time. They aren’t established groups, and sometimes they are less organized. But right now we (Mariachi Uclatan) have excellent musicians.”

Cortez, whose wife is expecting their first child in January, bolsters his personal economic base by teaching classical violin technique to young students and composing and arranging music for performers such as Vikki Carr.

In addition to the course at UCLA, Cortez also teaches students enrolled in mariachi programs in East Los Angeles high schools and Los Angeles County community centers.

He said that he and his band are also interested in teaching in Orange County.

“We want to preserve a tradition,” he said. “We want all people to learn that mariachi music is part of the (Mexican) culture. No matter where you find a mariachi band, no matter the size, we want you to know they are representing our culture; they are representing Mexico.”