Mariachi Herencia De Mexico

The historic tradition of mariachi music has its roots of origin in cities such as Guadalajara and Mexico City. As the ever-evolving genre's influence spread, it reached Chicago and birthed the Mariachi Herencia de México. The energetic, virtuosic Latin Grammy-nominated group has issued chart topping albums and performed across the North American continent. Nuestra Herencia, their 2017 debut album, topped the Latin streaming charts. 2018's Herencia de la Tierra Mía was produced by veteran Javier Limón, and charted atop all streaming services. 2019's Esencia topped industry charts, while a second volume, issued in 2020 performed similarly. In 2022, Herederos appeared as the group were performing a wildly successful North American tour. Mariachi Herencia de México was founded in 2016 as an outreach from Chicago resident and investment banker César Maldonado's cultural organization, the Mariachi Heritage Foundation. Though Maldonado was born in the Windy City, his parents hailed from Durango, Mexico, worked in factories after immigrating, and spoke little English. Growing up, most of the music he heard on the radio was mariachi, and he fell in love with it. As an adult and a successful businessman, he wanted to give something back. He recalled having gone through elementary school with no music or arts classes, and decided to focus his charitable giving in that area. With his love of mariachi guiding his choice, he founded the nonprofit Mariachi Heritage Foundation in 2013. Since its beginnings, mariachi music education has been implemented in the curricula of eight Chicago public schools, hosting more than 2,100 students in grades three through eight. One of its programs auditioned advanced students between the ages of 11 and 19 and selected 16 to work together for a year and take part in recording the album that became group's debut, Nuestra Herencia. It was produced by José Hernández, one of the top mariachi musicians residing in the U.S. (Maldonado brought him to Chicago four times to get it done.) Its tracks included vocalists from groups such as Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Los Camperos, Sol de Mexico, and Reyna de Los Angeles. The album included tributes to Mexican composers José Alfredo Jiménez and Juan Gabriel. Upon release, it took regional Mexican radio by storm and reached the number two spot on the Top Latin Albums chart as well as topping streaming lists. It became one of the most successful U.S.-released mariachi albums in history. It was also the first major mariachi recording to be released by a U.S. student ensemble. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album category. The group went on a tour during the summer of 2017 and played numerous prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center. In May 2018, Mariachi Herencia de Mexico issued their follow-up, Herencia de la Tierra Mia, featuring guest spots by Lila Downs and Aida Cuevas. The globally renowned Spanish producer Javier Limón (Alejandro Sanz, Bebo Valdés, Diego El Cigala, Paco de Lucía, Buika), who had never worked on a mariachi recording before, said "I had some doubts about whether I should do this project or not, but when I saw the faces of those kids -- 12, 13, 14 years old -- they just stole my heart." The producer, who is artistic director of the Mediterranean Music Institute at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, added "These are kids from very humble backgrounds who just as well could be thinking about their video games, or listening to hip-hop or reggaeton. The fact that they work so hard to learn this music, and then use music to get ahead in life, for me, that was the vital element that convinced me to work with them." Although he thought it was a long shot to get Limón's participation, Maldonado let his feeling about mariachi propel him past that fear: "Mariachi music is an art form. It belongs in world music with flamenco and Latin jazz. I wanted to work with a producer who agreed that mariachi music needed to reach new audiences." Upon release, Herencia de la Tierra Mia topped the Latin albums sales chart, hit number five on the Mexican regional albums chart, and topped the streaming charts on all major services. In June 2019, the Mariachi Herencia de Mexico ensemble issued their third album, Esencia, which featured arrangements by Mexican composer Rigoberto Alfaro and won accolades across the globe even as it ran up the Mexican Regional Charts to land at number one. Though the COVID-19 pandemic raged worldwide in 2020 keeping populations in quarantine, the group managed to issued Esencia 2 in 2020; it was recorded late the previous year. Mariachi Herencia de Mexico took to the road in late 2020 and for most of 2021. In August 2022 in the middle of a continental tour of North America, they issued the video single "El Gavilán" as an aural preview of their fifth album, Herederos.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo