Episode 6 – Mariachi Bling
Adornment is what makes the ordinary extraordinary. Mariachi adornment–embroidered lapels, sombreros with metallic trim, wide silk bow ties, engraved belts, and botonadura, or buttonry–might be as essential to the artform as the grito. John Contreras, mariachi musician and director of Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School gives a tour of the program’s storage closet and explains the history of the “traje de charro” and other adornment on mariachi performance attire.
John Conteras is a mariachi musician and has served as the director of the award-winning Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School for the past 25 years. Mariachi music comes from a mestizaje (mixture) of Indigenous roots, Spanish instruments, and West African rhythms. The artform has been an integral part of John’s life since age three, when his father taught him to play the guitar. He sought out after-school mariachi programs and attended the Tucson International Mariachi Conference, where he was mentored by the groups Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and Mariachi Cobre. Later, he studied with Maestro Heriberto Molina, and also began to record his own work. He is as 2022 recipient of a Master-Apprentice Artist Award from the Southwest Folklife Alliance.
