Salt Lake City Weekly - Band By Me -
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Published on: 1/14/2004
Last Visited: 1/14/2004
But at Ogden High School, Arturo Zavala is working to add a little more café to the musical leche of northern Utah's acoustic panorama.
Though Zavala is only a first-year teacher at OHS, and only 23, mariachi is nothing new to him.Zavala, his father and two brothers formed Mariachi Zavala, one of only three professional or semiprofessional mariachi groups in the state.While finishing his BA at Weber State and working as a permanent substitute at OHS, Zavala says he "saw that there were a lot of Hispanic kids, but not a lot of stuff that was specifically geared for them.I wanted to offer something that kids could relate to."
Though many Utahans may think mariachi is part of a Taco Bell combo meal, it's a big enough deal that Ford Motors sponsors an annual competition for high school and university mariachis.But Zavala, like Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi character minus the carnage, started out solo.
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Then, last spring, OHS principal Ed Jensen told Zavala that $2,200 of the school's Utah Trust Lands money had been set aside for the program.
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For Zavala the attraction is clear: "This gives kids an opportunity to be something different, not just a typical Hispanic in the school."The chalk and locker-laden battlefield of high school is a trial for everyone, but even more so for students far from their "México lindo y querido," faced with a language barrier and culture shock that would paralyze a burro.Zavala believes that the program, "regardless of national identity, helps [the students] find a personal identity."
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Zavala currently gets no monetary compensation for his time or efforts with the nascent mariachis.But when asked what exactly he does get, the answer is clear before he speaks.He pauses, and his dark eyes get larger and a little far away."...These kids may not play music ever again after this class ... but maybe instead of practicing the violin every day, they read a book every day..."
Zavala feels strongly that the deeper goal for the program be that students "slowly develop an understanding of what they want to do, where they want to go, and how they are going to get there."
Principal Jensen hopes that one day OHS might be "known for its mariachi band just as Ben Lomond High is known for its bagpipe band."Zavala, who is working to have the extracurricular program approved as a for-credit class next year, offers, "I want to see the program as a place not only for Hispanics, but for anyone interested in learning mariachi music."
Though he's grateful for the attention and the few public donations the program has received, this mariachi has a long, dusty road ahead.
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