Free night of mariachi music coming to Luther Burbank Center

When a celebration calls for music, there is nothing quite like the joyous sound of violins, guitars and trumpets, and the heartfelt lyrics of mariachi music.

Anyone who has ever thrilled to the sheer exuberance of this traditional Mexican musical style won’t want to miss a special free evening devoted to mariachi on Friday, Aug. 24, at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

The headline act for the evening will be Mariachi Voces De Jalisco, a young ensemble based in Corona, Riverside County, and dedicated to keeping the culture’s musical heritage alive.

Led by professional composer and musician Juan Michael Cortez, the troupe features musicians from ages 14 to 25, originally a loose group of enthusiasts that now has been officially traveling and performing together for the past two years.

Mariachi Voces De Jalisco, recently placed second at the National Mariachi Festival in Los Angeles, and will go on to the International Mariachi Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico, in late August.

The group not only performs, but also seeks to spread the movement to keep mariachi alive. The morning following the Luther Burbank Center concert, at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, will be a workshop and master class for local students, held at Montgomery High School in collaboration with Santa Rosa City Schools.

The Luther Burbank Center Mariachi Ensemble, a group of 32 local students ranging in age from 11 to 15, founded last fall, will open the Friday night concert led by local musician Jose Soto, 26, who recently received his bachelor’s degree in music from Sonoma State University. For the past four years, Sotto has conducted summer mariachi music camps for local students, and some of those students are now in the ensemble.

“I feel really happy. The skills of the kids have been improving a lot,” Soto said.

To Sotto, the importance of the project goes beyond just teaching kids how to play instruments.

“I feel like mariachi is really important for the culture,” he said. “People all around the world know Mexico for mariachi. It’s more than the music. It’s a like a symbol for the Latino culture.”

There is more to the music than audiences may realize. While more modern mariachi is associated with violins and trumpets, the instruments that traditionally define the genre are the guitarron, a deep-bodied six-string acoustic bass, and the guitar-like vihuela, which dates back to the 19th century, Soto explained.

Both Mariachi Voces De Jalisco and the Luther Burbank Center Mariachi Ensemble also will perform at the Luther Burbank Center at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 24, , following a $35 luncheon in the center’s lobby, presented by Sonoma County’s largest Latino leadership organization, Los Cien, said board president Herman J. Hernandez. The gathering begins at 10:30 a.m.

Gemi Gonzalez, the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco, will attend the luncheon, to be prepared by Octavio Diaz of Agave in Healdsburg and his brother, Pedro Diaz of El Farolito in Windsor, Hernandez said.

Overall, the weekend’s events offer a chance to get acquainted with and support the local Latino community, and learn more about the culture, he explained.

“It is a real opportunity for our community to come together,” Hernandez said.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.