It was announced yesterday in a press release sent out by the Spanish news agency EFE that Mexico is opening the first International Mariachi School next February in Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi. Musicians from all over the world will have the opportunity to enroll in this mariachi school, the first of its kind. Juan Carlos Arnau, director of strategic programs for Mexico City’s Secretariat of Tourism, announced that the school will be named “Centro Cultural del Mariachi” and will be located in el “Callejón de la Amargura” an alley in the famous and historic Plaza Garibaldi, which was founded in 1850 and became associated with mariachi music in the 1920s. Today the plaza is a regular meeting place for some 2,500 musicians who comprise some 750 mariachi groups.

The four story building is 95% complete and will have 15 classrooms where students will be able to study subjects such as music theory, mariachi techniques, and solfege, and traditional music, as well as technique classes for mariachi instruments: violin, trumpet, vihuela, guitarrón, guitar, and harp. The school will also have a stage where students can receive lessons in performance and a warehouse where scores and original recordings  be safeguarded. Students will be able to choose between 5-day or 3-month programs. Arnau guarantees that trumpet players from Japan will be just as welcome as those from Garibaldi and as well as amateur musicians. Arnau says, “México es la cuna del mariachi y debe tomar el liderazgo con su ronco pecho.” (Mexico is the cradle of the mariachi and should assume the leadership with its hoarse voice.) There is no official word yet on who the school director or instructors will be.

For the original Spanish press release visit. http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&id_nota=697049