LEILA FADEL, HOST:
High school is full of competition - sports, debate teams and mathletes. But did you know that throughout Texas, there are schools that offer competitive mariachi?
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FADEL: Cross-state rivals sound off with horns and string sections in brightly colored outfits and syncopated moves, all battling for a coveted state championship. That's the subject of the documentary "Going Varsity In Mariachi."
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP #1: (Singing in Spanish).
SAM OSBORN: They need to perfect so many things. First, the music needs to be played in perfect unison, and there's usually about 20 musicians in the group. But then there's the visual aspect where the outfits, the trajes, have to be kind of perfectly arranged. And this includes the way the women's hair is done up in a bun, the way the men's facial hair is shaven, and they're judging on just really complicated criteria.
FADEL: Filmmakers Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez spent a year following students at Edinburg North High School. That's at the southernmost tip of Texas, maybe 20 miles from the border with Mexico.
OSBORN: When we learned about this whole world of competitive high-school mariachi, we started reaching out to the best teams. And a lot of them are concentrated in this part of South Texas called the Rio Grande Valley. And as we spoke to coaches, Abel Acuna, the coach of Edinburg North High School, really stood out to us because he was more focused on kind of instilling these disciplines or these adult habits or behavior in kids and helping them get to adulthood, rather than focusing only on, you know, winning trophies.
FADEL: You mentioned Abel Acuna and what drew you to him. There's this clip. I want to play that for you.
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ABEL ACUNA: We have this music in our blood. It is being at a barbecue and listening to your tios playing this music that they grew up on. Mariachi music - it is home.
FADEL: Mariachi music - it is home. I mean, he's philosophical. He's kind. He can be pretty tough, too. What are the different reasons these kids are drawn to studying mariachi? I mean, they don't all come to it for the same reasons, right?
ALEJANDRA VASQUEZ: You know, for some of them, their parents made them do it (laughter). You know, it's like their parents really encouraged them to play mariachi. For others, they really wanted to connect with their roots, with their heritage. You know, these are first-, second-, third-generation Mexican American students. And some of them don't speak Spanish at home, and some of them don't listen to mariachi at home, and so playing this music is a way for them to connect with their heritage. You can get scholarships in mariachi. Mariachi is a direct way to go to college, to leave home. And for Abby, one of the students in the film - she knew that she really wanted to leave home. She knew that mariachi could be her ticket out, and it was.
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ABBY GARCIA: My parents - they said they can't help at all. Like, they - at all, at all, at all. They told us since we were small that, like, we don't have money to be paying for tuition or anything like that. And so that's why they've always, since we were in middle school, pushed on getting good grades and just being the best student we possibly can to get scholarships.
FADEL: What about for you two? I mean, what drew you to making this film? I understand, Sam, you were just obsessed with mariachi music, right?
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OSBORN: It's the opposite, actually. I did not grow up with mariachi music in the home. Although I come from a Mexican American household, it just wasn't played. The culture was kind of deprioritized in my house, and so I was a lot like the kids that Alejandra was just mentioning, kids who didn't grow up speaking Spanish, that didn't have a real cultural connection to the music and that had made that decision to be in the mariachi classroom and really kind of engage with their culture - for the first time, maybe.
FADEL: Yeah. And Alejandra?
VASQUEZ: I'm a little more like Mr. Acuna. For me, mariachi really feels like home.
FADEL: Yeah.
VASQUEZ: It's the music that reminds me of my family and my grandparents and us all getting together and celebrating.
FADEL: At one point in the film, Abel asks his students what mariachi means to them. One student, Luis, talked about how, before he joined mariachi, he thought he messed up at the tryout and he wasn't going to make it. And then - surprise - he's on the team. I just want to play a little bit of that clip.
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LUIS: And so I eventually started practicing more, and I gained confidence not even that long ago.
ACUNA: I know. I remember.
LUIS: I might get emotional right now, 'cause (laughter) mariachi makes me feel accepted for who I am. Like, I don't mean to cry. Sorry.
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LUIS: It's just, like, when I'm here, I feel the love. Like, I can actually feel love from y'all. Y'all...
ACUNA: Stop it, Luis. You're making me tear up, too.
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FADEL: Oh, my gosh. I teared up again. I cried when I watched it.
OSBORN: (Laughter).
FADEL: And now I'm tearing up again, listening.
VASQUEZ: It was such a powerful moment. And it was really beautiful to see these students articulate exactly what the movie's about - that mariachi is more than just music. It is home to these kids. It is their safe space. It is the way for them to express themselves.
FADEL: Now, you've been screening the film for audiences. What are some of the most interesting responses you've gotten?
OSBORN: I think what was surprising for me is when we screened the film in Mexico, audiences came up to us and said, we don't have this kind of program or institutionalization of mariachi here - that it's still kind of more traditionally passed down. And, of course, the United States is the one to kind of make it a competitive pursuit.
FADEL: Of course.
OSBORN: That's what we do...
VASQUEZ: (Laughter).
OSBORN: ...With everything.
FADEL: Yeah.
OSBORN: But there was a bit of, like - I don't know if it's envy, but just sort of wanting to create these programs in Mexico to kind of preserve it and move the art form forward in the way these kids are. What's interesting about these teams is that more females are getting involved. These teams are half comprised of females, which is very, very rare for traditional mariachi programs. So that kind of reaction from Mexican audiences was really surprising to me.
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FADEL: So Sam - have you fallen in love with mariachi music now?
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OSBORN: I have, yes. I was listening to a mariachi remix of a popular song the other day. It's kind of like it's gotten into every musical genre I listen to now.
FADEL: You converted him.
VASQUEZ: We did.
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VASQUEZ: We did.
FADEL: Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez are the co-directors of the documentary "Going Varsity In Mariachi." It's streaming now on Netflix. Thanks to you both. Congratulations on the film.
OSBORN: Thank you.
VASQUEZ: Thank you.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP #2: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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