By Rafe Calder
Nobody agrees on when the word first appeared, and nobody agrees on what it means. That is a good place to start with mariachi, because it is also one of the best-known sounds in Mexico. This piece goes through what four sources say about the instruments, the dress and the dates, and reports the places where they part.
What UNESCO listed
UNESCO inscribed “Mariachi, string music, song and trumpet” in November 2011. We could not load UNESCO’s own page, so we read the entry as quoted by two music-industry sites, World Music Central and World Music Network, both of which copy the inscription text. According to that text, mariachi is “traditional Mexican music and a fundamental element of Mexican culture.” Traditional groups have two or more members, wear costumes adapted from the charro outfit and play a broad repertoire of songs and dances on stringed instruments. The text says “learning by ear is the main means of transmission,” usually from fathers to sons and through performances at festive, religious and civil events. World Music Central adds that “modern mariachi” ensembles use trumpets, violins, the vihuela and the guitarr贸n, often with four or more musicians.
The instruments
Britannica, an encyclopedia, names the core of the sound: the vihuela, a five-string guitar related to an instrument popular in the Spanish Renaissance; the guitarr贸n, a large, fretless six-string bass guitar; a standard six-string acoustic guitar; and violins and trumpets, which it says usually play the melody. Wikipedia describes the vihuela as a high-pitched, round-backed guitar that provides rhythm, and the guitarr贸n as an acoustic bass guitar that also provides rhythm. It describes a typical group as up to eight violins, two trumpets and at least one guitar, and says a Mexican folk harp sometimes supplies bass and ornaments the melody.
The two sources do not clash on the instruments, but the word “typical” is doing a lot of work. Wikipedia counts up to eight violins; Britannica lists the instruments by name without a count. Our reading: group sizes have always varied, which is consistent with UNESCO’s “two or more members.”
When the trumpet arrived
Britannica says trumpets were added in the early twentieth century. Wikipedia gives two accounts inside the same article. One links the trumpet to the radio era of the 1920s and jazz influence. Another says trumpets became popular when mariachi was commercialized in the 1930s. The three do not agree on a decade, and we leave the dates side by side.
Where it began
Britannica says mariachi emerged in the late 1700s or early 1800s in west-central Mexico. Wikipedia says the modern form is most often traced to Cocula, in Jalisco, during the nineteenth century, where it grew out of an older music called son jalisciense, and notes that Colima, Nayarit and Michoac谩n also claim it. The same article says its oldest documented references are over 100 church records from 1832 to 1850 mentioning a ranch called “Mariachi” near the Santiago River in Nayarit. Wikipedia’s own opening says the genre goes back at least to the eighteenth century, while later sections date its separation from son jalisciense to the nineteenth. It is an internal conflict, and we pass it on as found.
The name
Britannica says the word may come from a language now extinct, and that its etymology and early history are unknown. Wikipedia lists three theories: the wood used for a dance platform, a native name for a tree, and an image locally called Mar铆a H. It says the older idea that the name comes from the French word for wedding is considered disproven. We choose none of these.
The suit
Britannica says early mariachis wore white peasant clothing, and that from the early twentieth century male bands typically wore the traje de charro, the dress of Jalisco’s cowboys: matching uniforms, ornamented trousers, boots, wide bow ties, sombreros and short jackets. Wikipedia says rural groups wore it already and urban mariachi adopted it in the 1920s. It also lists tight pants, ruffled shirts and heavily embroidered jackets. Both sources tie the suit to Jalisco’s rural dress. They differ on when and by whom it was taken up. Our reading: the suit was adopted by bands, not invented for them, but neither source puts it that way.
Plaza Garibaldi
Wikipedia calls Plaza Garibaldi the center of mariachi in Mexico City, where Jalisco migrants settled, and says the square was renovated in 2010. It gives about 2,500 musicians as holding union cards to work there, with as many as 4,000 circulating on a busy weekend. We did not find a second source for these numbers, and Britannica does not mention the square.
Women in the ensemble
Britannica says women have played an increasing role since the 1940s, and that by the early twenty-first century there were several all-female groups. We name no group.
Dates in order
- 1832 to 1850: church records mention a ranch called Mariachi in Nayarit, according to Wikipedia.
- Late 1700s or early 1800s: mariachi emerges in west-central Mexico, according to Britannica.
- 1920s: urban mariachi adopt the charro suit, according to Wikipedia.
- Early twentieth century: trumpets added, according to Britannica.
- 2010: Plaza Garibaldi renovated, according to Wikipedia.
- November 2011: UNESCO inscription, according to the two quoting sites and Wikipedia.
Side by side
Britannica puts the start in the late 1700s or early 1800s; Wikipedia’s lead says the eighteenth century and its body says the nineteenth. Britannica and Wikipedia disagree on the date of the trumpet and the suit. They agree on the core instruments and on the link to Jalisco.
What kind of sources these are
Britannica, an encyclopedia; Wikipedia, which anyone can edit; and two music-industry news sites, World Music Central and World Music Network, which reproduce UNESCO’s inscription text. We read no musician, instrument maker or conservatory page. We give no prices and name no player, group or maker.
Questions a buyer would ask
Which instrument is which? The vihuela is the small high-pitched guitar, the guitarr贸n the big bass, according to Britannica and Wikipedia. Is a suit the same as a costume? UNESCO’s text says the costumes are adapted from the charro outfit. Who made it? The sources do not say, and we make no claim about any particular instrument or suit.
What we left out
Prices, music lessons, venues and booking arrangements. Any named groups or singers, since many are living people. A Wikipedia bishop’s letter that is dated 1848 in one section and 1852 in another. The religious events that UNESCO’s text names in passing, which we did not explore.
Quick answers
What instruments are in a mariachi band? According to Britannica, the vihuela, the guitarr贸n, a six-string guitar, violins and trumpets. Wikipedia adds that a harp is sometimes used.
When did UNESCO recognize mariachi? In November 2011, as “Mariachi, string music, song and trumpet,” according to music-industry sites quoting the inscription.
Where did mariachi start? Britannica says west-central Mexico in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Wikipedia most often traces it to Cocula, Jalisco, though other states also claim it.
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