We had the chance to sit down with the director of Mariachi Sol de Mexico, Maestro Jose Hernandez, to discuss a variety of Mariachi topics. From what he learned by working in other groups such as Mariachi Los Galleros and Mariachi Los Camperos, to what it takes to make it in the Big Leagues of the mariachi world. Here is some of what Jose Hernandez had to share with us.
WHAT QUALITIES DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN SELECTING NEW MUSICIANS FOR MARIACHI SOL DE MEXICO?
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE IT IN THE BIG LEAGUES OF THE MARIACHI WORLD?
I don’t think that there is an exact way of how can I say it, “You have to do this to make it.” A lot of it depends on the necessity of the group, that’s looking for a certain kind of guy. I’ve had guys that play super well. And we’ve been looking for someone to replace Chuy right. There’s guys that play super well and I’ll be like, “Wow this guy is perfect, pero esta muy chaparrito.” He’s going to be standing next to Pike, it won’t look good. Desgraciadamente, mucho de eso tiene que ver. I’ve given up on guys that have asked for work here that are just too tall. They’re violins that are so tall. I mean, how would they look next to Gustavo? I’m very delicate about that stuff. Even Pike. I knew that I could put him in a lot earlier but it was just that he was tall. Luckily we got Jorge, who’s tall and plays bass, he plays guitarron, and Chuy is tall so it balanced it out.
Every group is different. The only thing that I could tell them is look well, play well, and sing well. Take care of yourself. No leader is going to want to put in someone that is super overweight. He might have one gordito or two, maybe. But he’s going to take care of that because it’s show business.
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THAT YOU LEARNED FROM WORKING IN MARIACHI LOS GALLEROS AND MARIACHI LOS CAMPEROS BEFORE STARTING YOUR OWN GROUP?
With Nati, (Founder of Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano), they were more into image. How they stood, but the musicianship wasn’t the same as over here. They had voices that were wow you know. Nati’s focus was more on showmanship and voices, but the guys struggled at that time. They struggled with any kind of little syncopation, or tapones pa arriba en la armonia, they would struggle. So I made sure when I was directing the group, Nati asked me to do it, that things were simple for them and very traditional in a way. It wasn’t until after Linda Ronstadt that Nati started to put in guys that were more advanced.
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