ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
On the streets of downtown San Antonio this weekend, thousands of young musicians and the sounds of mariachi music.
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NADWORNY: It's called the Mariachi Extravaganza, and it's the biggest competitive mariachi event in the nation. Texas Public Radio's Jack Morgan takes us there.
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JACK MORGAN, BYLINE: Scores of young people - middle school through college age - stream through the doors of the Lila Cockrell Theatre on the banks of San Antonio's famed tree-lined River Walk. They've all turned up this cool morning to hear one of the genre's most popular bands, Mariachi Vargas.
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MARIACHI VARGAS: (Singing in Spanish).
MERARI URIBE: It's the biggest event for anybody who knows anything about mariachi.
MORGAN: Seventeen-year-old violinist and singer Merari Uribe is here for the extravaganza. The doubles is a three-day workshop. Uribe has been playing mariachi since she was 10.
URIBE: In middle school, as soon as they offered that program, I joined, and it prepared me for high school.
MORGAN: Mariachi began in Mexico, but it has taken deep roots in the American Southwest. In hundreds of Texas schools, mariachi is offered as a music program, just like band or orchestra. And it all starts with reading music.
URIBE: The first year is just kind of like, OK, this is how you play. This is how you read the notes. And then the second and the third year are when they're trying to teach you and incorporate that mariachi style.
MORGAN: And here at the extravaganza, live performance is key. But the multiple workshops are a major draw as well. Mariachi Vargas players this morning are workshopping with students, including Uribe.
URIBE: Mariachi Vargas, to the mariachi world, is like Taylor Swift for this new generation.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ah, one, two, ready, and...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: One, two, one, and...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes. So nice.
MORGAN: Aspiring mariachis from five different states are here, and it's not just the West.
DIAMANTE BALCAZAR: Hi, my name is Diamante Balcazar, and I'm a senior at Harvard University studying neuroscience and social anthropology, and I'm the president of Mariachi Veritas.
MORGAN: That's the Harvard University-based mariachi band.
BALCAZAR: We're one of the only mariachis in Boston, and we were essentially the first-ever student mariachi on the East Coast.
MORGAN: Like many of these students, Balcazar says mariachi is a way to connect with his roots and his ancestors.
BALCAZAR: Growing up, I just remember countless times mariachi being played while my grandma was cooking, hearing it at different family events.
MORGAN: The young musicians will all compete today for 19 separate awards and scholarship money. And whoever is crowned grand champion gets to perform tonight with the Mariachi Vargas.
For NPR News, I'm Jack Morgan, in San Antonio.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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