NEWS: Mariachi Internacional places first in international competition

By Vicente Mendoza
Sports Editor
Published Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024

TAMIU’s Mariachi Internacional recently reached new heights in its competitions on the international level with a first-place finish. On July 13, Mariachi Internacional competed in the prestigious Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque Festival and Competition in the university division.

This festival and competition is one of the largest mariachi events in the U.S., and attracts more than 12,000 people during the three-day festival. Competitors come from not just the U.S. but also other countries.

“This competition starts with a video submission,” senior lead vocalist and guitarist Jared Garcia said. “Once we got accepted to the live round, we were all put into different categories. There [were] elementary school, middle school, high school, college and open divisions, and we competed within the college division, which had three other groups from across the country competing for that first-place prize.”

Mariachi Internacional started the preparation for this competition all the way back in January. They practiced multiple days of the week during the previous semester and met during the summer vacation to make sure their competition program is in tip-top shape.

“As an ensemble, we rehearsed two and a half hours, twice a week,” Director of TAMIU’s Mariachi Internacional and Lecturer of music Carlos Castañeda said. “On top of the five hours of full ensemble practice, sections also met up during the week to hold small sectionals with student section leaders, all leading the rehearsal. The members also all individually practice on their own time to be prepared for our rehearsals.”

Having experience competing in this competition as a director, Castañeda knew how to help lead Mariachi Internacional to success.

“I have attended this festival for about 10 years already,” Castañeda said. “Most of the groups I have taken to this competition have gotten first place in their respective categories … Every time I have taken any group to this competition, you have to compete against many very talented groups from across the nation who all play just as good as us.”

Performing a difficult program, Mariachi Internacional wowed judges and audiences during their winning performance at the competition.

“It was a mix of emotions after our performance,” Garcia said. “While we were not perfect, we were very happy with the performance we put out there, and leaving everything we had prepared for months out on that stage. When we finally got our results, it was such an excitement for me and the group … we really have not been there for 10 years, and now that we finally [went] and competed, and getting first place was just so surreal.”

This mix of emotions ran throughout the ensemble after their performance, and for many of the first-year members of Mariachi Internacional, this was a moment they will never forget.

“This was my first semester being a part of Mariachi Internacional,” sophomore violinist Danica Solis said. “This was my first-ever competition I competed [in] for mariachi. Knowing that I was new to this ensemble, I was putting many hours weekly in individual practice. All those hours all led up to our performance in the competition… After our performance, we were all jumping and screaming with the end result we were able to showcase, all the while, having so much fun performing for a great audience.”

While the students were joyful with their performance and the results of the competition, Castañeda had a different feeling.

“Many of the previous times I have been to this competition, I never expected my groups to win first place,” Castañeda said. “For me, the most important part was the process. I saw how much dedication, how much time they put into this, how ambitious my students were to put a very difficult program out on a competitive level, and to deliver a phenomenal performance for the audience and judges. Even though it was not perfect, I was very satisfied with the ensemble just from the process of first learning this music to actually performing at a very high level.”