Central Valley Mariachi Releases Debut Album As She Sets Off For Harvard

Speaker 1: 00:00 And I. E. Edina Morales is an 18 year old Mariachi musician from the Central Valley town of Delano. She just released her first album, [inaudible] and Anna Clo. She's won a number of competitions for voice, Violin, and trumpet, including the Shining Star award at the highly competitive battle of the Mariachis and San Juan Capistrano. She's heading off to Harvard this fall, just as her album makes its debut. California host Sasha Koka, spoke with her about how growing up in Delano influenced her and how she found her voice in a genre typically dominated by older men Speaker 2: 00:34 and we're talking to her from the campus radio station at Hartford high. They're on a high, so you come from a musical family. Your parents are both Mariachi musicians. Your Dad played in some of the most famous Mariachi groups in the world. Mariachi lo scam, Peros Mariachi sold the Mexico and now your family teaches music to kids at a studio in Delaney. Tell me about what it was like to grow up in such a musical family. Speaker 3: 01:01 I'm very grateful that I grew up in that household and it kept me very close to my culture. And I'm very grateful for that, especially, you know, being so, so far from home now and I know that I can easily connect to my family and, and my, my Mexican culture just by singing a Mariachi song. Speaker 4: 01:29 [inaudible] my boss. [inaudible] Speaker 2: 01:44 the title track from your album [inaudible] it's one of several that you perform with other youth musicians on this album, including Mariachi Mestizo which is where you got your start. It's a group that your parents founded and you guys have actually played at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. What do you think that playing Mariachi music gives to young people from places like Delano or the Central Valley? Speaker 3: 02:08 Obviously Delaney is a community of Mexican immigrants and there's also a lot of Filipino culture there. And I think Mariachi in a community like that definitely gives kids a creative outlet and definitely keeps them out of the sort of gang violence that's present in that community. And it's very nurturing to their cultural backgrounds, I think. And a lot of kids at the studio enroll in the studio because their grandparents or their parents want them to play that music or their grandparents. And parents were Mariachi Speaker 4: 02:52 [inaudible] Speaker 2: 02:54 you know, songs like this are usually performed by much older musicians know singing about love and heartbreak and, and usually they're male Mariachi's like in this version by Bedro Vargas. Speaker 5: 03:08 [inaudible] Speaker 3: 03:19 [inaudible] I don't think there should ever be sort of like these stereotypes about who can sing what. Oh, I'm lucky to have grown up in a household where my dad was the only male. So my family is full of super strong women. And I also think that was important in me feeling confident to sing whatever I wanted. And also, you know, the stories that these songs tell about falling in love and getting your heart broken and dying and joining your lover in heaven. Like definitely they're very dramatic stories and I think I'm a dramatic person, so I think they fit well with my personality. But also, um, I feel like they're all narratives that people can relate to. Speaker 2: 04:06 You've even got one song on this album. [inaudible] where are you seeing in mixed, which is one of the indigenous languages of Wahaca. It's a place a lot of farm workers in the central valley come from. Did you have to learn me stick off for that song. Speaker 3: 04:20 I am definitely not fluent in. Makes that go. So you can hear like my little accent in there at times or maybe some rich pronunciations. Speaker 4: 04:33 Yeah. And [inaudible]. Speaker 3: 04:50 So you're starting your freshman year at Harvard right now. It's a big leap from Delano. And what are you hoping to study? Right now the goal is to become a doctor and go back to the valley and offer them the holistic and affordable medical services that they have been deprived of forever. I definitely want to continue pursuing music, but more as a hobby. I feel like that might be a more practical route to take in terms of a career. Speaker 2: 05:25 My parents are both musicians. Are they discouraging you from following that path? Speaker 3: 05:30 They've been nothing but supportive of my music aspirations, but I've also seen how difficult it can be when you know your sole source of income is how many gigs you can get on one weekend. And I want to, you know, help my family with any financial burdens they have once I graduate and get a job. Speaker 2: 05:50 That's Ana Edina Morales. She's a Mariachi musician from the central valley and she's just released her first album, sped ami in Sienna. She spoke with us from Harvard where she's starting her first year. Thanks [inaudible] for talking with us. Speaker 1: 06:04 Thank you. [inaudible]. She is phenomenal. And again, Miralis won her award in San Juan Capistrano. That was California report magazine host, Sasha Coca. I'm amen. Ellis Speaker 4: 06:26 [inaudible].