| ||||||||||
|
 |
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Mariachi FUNdraiser focuses on moms with a mother-daughter duo appearingLos Lunas Music, moms and mariachi will come together next month to help a local agency battle illiteracy. Jill Olgesby, the executive director of the Valencia County Literacy Council (VCLC), said this year's FUNdraiser for Literacy will be a fabulous mariachi show, featuring three phenomenal local female vocalists. "We used to have a luncheon, but we persuaded the board to change it to a talent night, and it was more successful," Olgesby. "But this year, our student representative on the board, Cynthia Mabe, really advocated for a mariachi night. We went and saw them in December and decided we just had to have them." The show is being produced free of charge by local mariachi aficionado Pedro Rael. Although he has been producing mariachi shows formally for the last three years, Rael said he has been organizing mariachi entertainment for almost eight years now.
Organizing mariachi shows for fundraising was also a little bit of self-defense for Rael. "I had two kids in the high school band. Every year, we would sell bratwurst at the Balloon Fiesta," he said. "I thought there had to be a better way to raise money for the band than getting up at four in the morning." So when Olgesby asked Rael to produce a show for the literacy council, he accepted. "These shows are very effective," he said. "They always raised a substantial amount of money for the school." Olgesby said the board is very grateful to Rael for producing the show. "It's going to be a great show," she said. "We are immensely grateful to him for producing this show for us, which he is doing entirely as a volunteer. "We know that education for parents and children helps to break the cycle of poverty in families, and VCLC is a local affiliate of a worldwide literacy movement. Improving the literacy levels of area families improves the quality of life for all of us." In addition to ticket sales, a silent auction before the show and a live auction during the intermission will help raise funds for VCLC. Olgesby said items in the auctions include a handmade quilt, a dollhouse valued at $95, original artwork and collectable dolls. The May performance, entitled Las Mujeres del Mariachi or The Women of Mariachi will feature Lydia Solano, Mayela Alejandra and Sandra Montoya. The show will honor women on Mexico's national Mother's Day. The first half of the show will feature the women doing solo performances, and the second half will be duets with Tomé native Romano Enrique, back from Spain for a special guest appearance, and Alejandra's father, Arnoldo Arrieta. Also, the Baila Baila Dance Academy will perform six dance numbers from regions throughout Mexico. Solano, the headliner, currently lives in Pueblo, Colo. But she had lived in the county in the past. She has performed with mariachi greats such as Antonio Aguilar, Lola Beltran and Eddie Valdez of La Bamba. She has been on Telemundo and local Denver television and has her own CDs. It is said that Solano cracked a crystal glass at a local function with nothing more than her powerful voice. Alejandra is a senior Los Lunas High School. She has performed at the state fair, A Mariachi Holiday in Los Lunas and at the annual Hispano Chamber of Commerce Matanza. She performs Sundays at a local restaurant. Alejandra has several of her own CDs and hopes to make a career out of singing. Sandra Montoya, who has lived in Valencia County for the last 13 years and now lives in Peralta, says she always knew she wanted to be a singer. "I have always sang and always wanted to perform," she said. "I grew up with Yolanda del Rio and Lola Beltran, these women with tremendous voices." Another childhood influence was her late aunt, Gloria. "She was a great influence," Montoya said. "I learned to play on her harpsichord. It was something I wanted to learn, and I was able to pick it up." While she has always liked to sing, it has only been in the last four years that Montoya has had the opportunity to sing with a professional mariachi group or grupo. At a surprise birthday party for a friend, the group performing asked Montoya if she would like to sing with them during the party. She accepted, and although not a full mariachi group at the time, a little tweaking and a new name and Grupo Tradicion was born. Now not only is Montoya a professional mariachi, but her 11-year-old daughter Cheylinn is getting in on the act. Montoya will be joined onstage by her daughter during the May concert. Montoya said she is encouraging Spanish language music and her daughter is a fan of the group Sparx. "She likes music; she says she wants to be a singer," Montoya said. She pauses to laugh. "She also says she wants to be a obstetrician, and I told her she can't deliver babies if she's out on the road singing." Montoya says she practices once a week for two hour with her grupo, twice a week if a big gig is coming up. "I sing everywhere, all the time though," she said. "In the car, in the shower. On the weekends, if we are invited to a get-together, I'll usually sing there." To increase her skills, Montoya is working on learning how to play the vihuela for her grupo. The instrument, she said, is similar to a mandolin with a rounded back. And later this year, she is hoping to put out a disc of her own. While she has performed at the local Hispano Chamber of Commerce Matanza and goes back every year and regularly participated in Mariachi Spectacular, Montoya doesn't see herself performing out on the road. "My son Christopher is only 7 months old, so my priorities are a bit different right now," she said. "I'm a mother, a wife and I have a job. If I were 19, maybe. But not now." And the baby is following in Mom's footsteps. "He is fascinated with music," Montoya said. "He is already keeping time with his little hands."
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||||
