SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
At San Antonio's traditional spring celebration called Fiesta, one of the highlights is the Ford Mariachi Festival. Since it's now spring, it's time for that festival and we wanted to hear some of it. So Texas Public Radio's Jack Morgan takes us to the River Walk.
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JACK MORGAN, BYLINE: San Antonio's downtown is built on two levels. One features the bustling city streets, and then 15 feet down is the river level, where barges tote tourists in the circular mile-and-a-half horseshoe bend, filled with hotels and restaurants.
Earlier this week, I descended to the river where several dozen high schoolers milled about, holding and sometimes playing guitars, violins, guitarrons and trumpets. A cloud with heavy rain threatened to let loose.
JASON THIBODEAUX: My name is Jason Thibodeaux. I'm the director of orchestras from Churchill High School, and I also conduct the Mariachi Orgullo from Churchill High School.
MORGAN: Thibodeaux says the mariachi club was his students' idea. He notes that taking on mariachi was family tradition for some but not all.
THIBODEAUX: For some of our kids, this is how they relate to their pasts or their own traditions. And then for some of our kids, like me, they're learning a new tradition.
MORGAN: Orchestra and choir programs there are music electives, and mariachi is a music club for after school hours. Carlos Sifuentes plays the five-string vihuela.
CARLOS SIFUENTES: We like to explain it to people as a bigger ukulele or as a guitar without the top E string.
MORGAN: This isn't family tradition for Carlos. It's one that immerses him in a past he's never had.
CARLOS: As a proud, first-generation Hispanic teenager, joining the Mariachi Orgullo was definitely one of the best decisions I could have done with my high school years.
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MORGAN: River barges appear and one Mariachi band after another loaded students on and began the performance route to crowds lining the horseshoe bend. Azul Ruiz has been playing since fifth grade, and she is carrying on family tradition.
AZUL RUIZ: I'm actually from Mexico City, and my grandfather was a composer, and my father sung in mariachis.
MORGAN: The impression that mariachi club has made on Azul has her making plans, and she credits Thibodeaux with part of it.
AZUL: I'm going to study art education. I want to be an art teacher, kind of based on what Mr. T. Is like. He puts all his dedication into this, like a fine art.
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MORGAN: Sara Moore plays violin.
SARA MOORE: I started orchestra when I was in sixth grade, and I've continued that all throughout high school, and then I joined the mariachi program at Churchill my sophomore year.
MORGAN: Sara hadn't played this music growing up, but she says her curious nature led her to join the mariachi club.
SARA: Honestly, it was just my interest in music itself and wanting to immerse myself in a new culture.
MORGAN: We loaded up and headed to the horseshoe bend, where the kids got to play and, at one stop, were joined by Ballet Folklorico dancers.
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MORGAN: Maria Tijerina was one of a large crowd of visitors who watched the kids play and dance.
MARIA TIJERINA: And I think that's a great way to help them succeed not just in their high school, but also in their community with their families and in their future, too.
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MORGAN: The rain cloud moved on, leaving the kids to the warm embrace of the thousands lining the river.
On the River Walk, I'm Jack Morgan for NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF ADANNA DURU SONG, "POP!") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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