Mariachi Music in America Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

Mariachi Music in America is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around theworld. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visitwww.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. This unique volume provides an accessible introduction to the social, cultural, and economic conditions surrounding mariachi music in the United States. Large immigrations of Mexicans to the U.S., the power of the international recording industry, and the fluid travel of mariachi musicians betweenthe two countries have resulted in a strong base of musical continuity across the political border. Drawing on thirty-five years of personal performance experience and on interviews with leading mariachi musicians, author Daniel Sheehy offers first-hand perspectives on the music's stylisticcornerstones, aesthetic standards, social standing, and economic life. He explains how mariachi music is simultaneously a folk music rooted in more than 150 years of tradition, a commodity governed by market considerations, and a dynamic course of activity that has been shaped and expanded bymusical innovation and social meaning. The book focuses on the rising popularity of mariachi music amongst Mexican Americans--over the last twenty-five years, numerous mariachi festivals have become annual events in the U.S., a multitude of workshops and school programs have been developed, and morewomen have become involved in public mariachi performances. Mariachi Music in America is a captivating study that will interest students, aspiring performers, teachers, and aficionados alike. Enhanced by vivid photos and illustrations and first-hand accounts of musicians, organizers, and audiences, Mariachi Music in America is packaged with a 50-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book. It also features guided listening and hands-on activities that encouragereaders to engage actively and critically with the music.

Daniel Sheehy served as Director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1992-2000 and as staff ethnomusicologist and Assistant Director from 1978-1992. A Fulbright-Hays scholar in Veracruz, Mexico, he earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA in 1979. He is coeditor of the second volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (1998). He has performed mariachi music since 1968.