Luis Carlos Lopez

El Paso Times

Mariachi music has been played at birthday parties, quiceañeras and other Mexican celebrations through the years. When it's played, it's time to sing, cry, dance — and for some, to start housecleaning.

Now, it will have a stage in statewide scholastic competition.

Five El Paso high schools have been selected to play at the UIL State Mariachi Festival, a pilot competition that will take place March 11-12 in San Antonio.

Bowie High School in the El Paso Independent School District and four high schools from the Socorro Independent School District — Socorro, El Dorado, Eastlake and Montwood — will participate.

Organized by the University Interscholastic League, the mariachi competition will peg 58 Texas schools to compete against one another. Each school will be judged on things such as instrumentation, attire and stage presence. The groups will be judged on a rubric scale listing performances from excellent to poor. Top performances will take home some medals and bragging rights.

“This is the first year that we are having this competition. It’s a pilot program,” said UIL assistant director for music George Strickland. “It’s about talent and the artistry of the performance.”

Each school participating in the competition next week will be given up to 10 minutes to perform in front of a panel of judges. The performance must include a "son" in the style of sonjalisciense — a musical style that originated in Jalisco, Mexico, and stands as one of the most representative of the mariachi genre.

The festival allows school groups to be arranged as a traditional or experimental mariachi ensemble.

"A lot of music doesn’t tap into the emotions. Mariachi remains classic; it taps into emotions," Bowie junior Enrique Castillo said in Spanish.

"I get mariachi because my family is Mexican. It’s in our blood. I feel it when I play. When I play, I can immediately identify with the joy the music brings the audience. For me, the music brings back feelings of nostalgia. It’s the remembrance of a family member I haven’t seen in a long time."

The traditional mariachi ensemble has an instrumentation of at least seven performers and a maximum of 24. This includes at least three violins, a trumpet, a guitarron, a vihuela and one guitar. The experimental, nontraditional ensemble can be a minimum of five members and a maximum of 24. The group can have traditional and nontraditional mariachi instruments.

Vocalists for both categories are optional.

Music teacher Darrell Downey said his students and the other schools in El Paso performed in a local competition in February before they were invited to the state festival.

For some students in Downey’s class, being asked to perform in a state competition means getting on a plane and leaving home for the first time.

“Since this is the first-ever state competition, we don’t know how it’s going to go.” Downey said. “It’s historical and what’s really surprising is that the district is flying the kids. Half of the kids haven’t been on a plane before.”

Downey will travel to San Antonio with 16 students. He said his students might have an edge over other city schools because of their background. He said half of his students cross over from Juárez and have a special connection to the music.

Castillo said that he and his fellow students feel the music and connect to it at an emotional level.

Downey said, "I think one of the judges told us at the local UIL completion, 'Your kids — more than any of the other kids in the competition — they connect to the music more. I mean the other kids, they play it they go through the motion, but those Bowie kids, they just connect to more of their culture.'

"They weren’t playing, they were feeling the music. It’s part of being here in the South Side. They get along with each other. They are always together. There’s more of a social connection."

Castillo plays the guitar. He said the group can relate to the songs because of South El Paso’s proximity to the border.

“It’s different to a lot of the culture in the United States,” Castillo said. “We hope to win, but even if we don’t win, we can say we competed at the state level, which is something not many people can say.”

As they talked about the upcoming event, some of the 16 Bowie students going to the competition played songs that have withstood the test of time, as well some that are outside the typical mariachi genre — Weezer’s “Island in the Sun,” the theme song for Mario Brothers and Passenger’s “Let Her Go.”

But the South El Paso cohort will look to impress judges at San Antonio with three traditional songs — “Caballito,” “Besame Mucho” and “Como Quien Pierde Una Estrella.”

“It feels very amazing to have this opportunity for us to go and compete to represent our school,” said Estefania Pantoja, 17, who plays guitar.

The Socorro district's director of fine arts, Donald Rominsky, said having four schools represent the district at next week’s UIL competition means the students are meeting the standards to stand out as exceptional musicians.

“I think it’s really great. I’m glad to see cultural groups being recognized,” Rominsky said.

El Dorado mariachi teacher Juan Contreras will take 19 students to the competition. His arrangement will be nontraditional. Contreras, who has been teaching since 1997, said it was historic that UIL was recognizing mariachi and allowing it to compete at the state level in much the same way that choir, orchestra and band have been able to compete.

“I think it’s great and I know that we are part of history right now,” Contreras said.

Luis Carlos Lopez may be reached at 546-6381; llopez@elpasotimes.com; @lclopez4 on Twitter.