LBC’s Mariachi Rosas is Northern California’s First All-Female Youth Mariachi Ensemble
All across the country, all-female mariachi bands are blazing a new trail in the historically male-dominated genre. Last month, LBC’s Mariachi Rosas joined the growing ranks in this distinctive new take on traditional Latin American music.
In fact, Mariachi Rosas not only is LBC’s first all-female youth mariachi ensemble, it is Northern California’s first as well. The group of 23 girls made its debut last month before more than 400 family and friends at the closing celebration of our Santa Rosa summer arts camp.
“In a musical landscape where songs are often written by men, from male perspectives, all-female mariachi bands aim to show girls interested in traditional music that they have a rightful place in it,” said Matthew Isais Bowker, director of LBC’s Mariachi Program. “Mariachi Rosas is expected to promote an inclusive perspective in response to the evolving nature of classrooms.”
“It’s an amazing feeling to make history by breaking barriers, not because any gender is better, but by bringing both into it,” said Elisa Macías Orozco, the co-director of the new ensemble and a graduate of LBC’s Mariachi Ensemble. Macías Orozco helped assemble the group of young musicians from the top two levels of LBC’s after-school mariachi program. During last month’s reception, she led them on stage to perform “Te Quedó Grande La Yegua,” a popular Mexican song with a strong feminine narrative.
Mariachi Rosas follows in the footsteps of other all-female mariachi bands breaking this new ground since Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles formed in Southern California in 1994. Performing at the LBC last April, New York’s Flor De Toloache demonstrated how its four female game changers in the music industry have brought in new audiences with their edgy, versatile, and fresh perspective to traditional mariachi.
The closing reception also featured performances by students in all three levels of the mariachi camp, as well as the Ballet Folklórico and Creative Drama programs. It also included an art gallery displaying pieces by students in the Visual Arts camp. LBC runs its free Summer Camps program from June to August in Santa Rosa, Cloverdale, and Sonoma Valley and offers a variety of arts, which may include creative drama, visual art, and ballet folklórico.
A video of the new ensemble’s first public performance can be viewed here.
Thanks to generous supporters for helping make LBC’s Summer Camps possible:
Kurt & Debra Shaver
The Pecoraro Family Fund
California Arts Council
CARE Foundation
Calpine
Sonoma County Vintners Foundation
Carlo Proto & Sheila Abdallah in memory of Nathan Abdallah
Kiwanis Club of Oakmont
Sonoma County Folk Society
