Sometimes the finest talent is hidden right in your own back yard, but it takes a Grammy nomination to call attention to it.Consider this: Mariachi Herencia de Mexico, an ensemble of students from Chicago’s immigrant barrios, has just scored a 2017 Latin Grammy nomination in the category of “Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album” with their CD, “Nuestra Herencia (Our Heritage).”The Chicago-based ensemble, whose members range in age from 11 to 18 (and were recently headliners at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for a celebration of Mexican Independence Day), were joined on the album by such guest artists as Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlána (a revered institution in the genre), Sol de Mexico, Los Camperos, and the all-female group, Reyna de Los Angeles, and includes tributes to Mexican music legends Juan Gabriel and José Alfredo Jiménez.
Released on May 17, the album ranked No. 2 in its first week on iTunes’ Latin chart when it was released by the Chicago-based Mariachi Heritage Foundation.
The success of the album (believed to be the first major mariachi recording released in the U.S. by a student ensemble) is seen as just the latest indication of a revival in recorded mariachi music. Produced and arranged by Los Angeles-based mariachi master Jose Hernández, who has described the project “as one of those labor of love things,” it received backing from César Maldonado, an investment banker whose most important start-up was a non-profit foundation that promoted mariachi music instruction in Chicago public schools and created a classroom incubator for the talent on the album.
In a prepared statement, Maldonado said: “I’m overjoyed with this nomination, and extremely proud of our students. Their passion for the culture and love for mariachi music is an inspiration. This is a tremendous moment for mariachi music education in the U.S.”
The Latin Grammys will be awarded on Nov. 16.
