WEEKEND REVIEWS : Pop Music : Tradition’s Still Mainstay of Sixth Mariachi USA

Will people ever get tired of Mariachi USA?

Year after year, the festival at the Hollywood Bowl offers basically the same fare in a slightly different package, but people’s passion for the event seems to grow with each edition.

The sixth annual festival, opening Saturday and scheduled to conclude Sunday before sold-out crowds, promised some special attractions, notably the two latest female future stars--one a local 4-year-old, the other Japanese.

At the end on Saturday, it was the old guard responsible for keeping things together, but the festival again left the impression of maintaining a quality standard.

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Baldwin Park’s Nidia Gracia, 4, who sings with an orchestra every weekend in a City of Industry nightclub, showed grace, a powerful voice and plenty of room for improvement.

Junko Seki, a Japanese woman in her 20s who fell in love with mariachi two years ago, earned a standing ovation as soon as she began singing with near-perfect Spanish pronunciation. Her credible performance earned her the right to be considered a bona fide potential force among mariachi vocalists.

As it does every year, El Monte-based Mariachi Sol de Mexico--often referred to as the country’s premier mariachi orchestra--offered a crowd-pleasing repertoire that included such classics as “Guadalajara” and a mariachi-ized medley of American popular standards. Led by the festival’s musical director Jose Hernandez, Sol de Mexico proved, as usual, to be the most musically daring ensemble, taking mariachi to new heights.

Orlando, Fla.-based Mariachi Cobre was the five-hour concert’s most improved and tightest ensemble. For the last few years the orchestra, most of whose members were born in Tucson, has consistently excelled at keeping alive the more traditional--and edgy--type of rancheras.

This year was no exception as the group offered an intense set that included two early Jalisco-style sones and a stirring medley of huapangos by Ruben Fuentes, one of the oldest living legends of mariachi.

Cobre, solidly led by director Randy Carrillo, also provided fine backup for Mexico’s Angeles Ochoa, arguably the most gifted young solo female mariachi singer around these days.

Mariachi USA’s only shortcoming remains the absence of some major orchestras, including Nati Cano’s Los Camperos and Mexico’s Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, which would only enhance an event that is easily the best organized Latin music showcase in the United States.