NAHJ
June 22-28, 2003
New York, NY

Mariachi School
Ambar Espinoza

For many, music is entertaining. For others, it's relaxing and therapeutic. For Ramon Ponce, a young Mexican mariachi musician, music represents his life and culture. Radio Ondas' reporter Ambar Espinoza profiles this artist whose dreams are larger than performing on stage.

AMBAR: Ramon Ponce's home sits on a leafy street in Queens, New York. No doubt… he comes from a family of musicians. Each corner of his family's living room has different types of guitars and several other instruments… and a wall covered with awards and plaques…

RAMON: (3:42) "This one right here was for our tenth anniversary which was in 2002…(SOUND UNDER) this was given by Casa Puebla in New York City for my dad's outstanding performance in mariachi music."

CROSS FADE

AMBAR: Mariachi music runs through Ramon's blood.

TV CLIP: TRACK 11 (1:54) "Mariachi Real de Mexico...Guadalajara...Guadalajara... Guadalajara...Guadalajara..."
FADE MUSIC

AMBAR: Ponce has been playing the guitar and the guitarron, a 6-cord Mexican bass for Mariachi Real de Mexico since he was 16. The guitarron, which looks like an oversized, fat guitar, was exclusively created for mariachi music. It plays the role in mariachi that the bass guitar plays in rock n' roll by setting the harmonic foundation. Again, Ramon Ponce…

RAMON: (00:08) "Mariachi, to me… it's my whole life. It makes me feel happy! Great!"

AMBAR: Ponce's face gleams when he speaks about the music.

RAMON: (00:08) "It really represents the way I grew up and also the country I was born in… Mexico. It's a way to show pride and to show self-respect and it shows love and tradition and a lot of things within the Mexican community."

AMBAR: 28-year-old Ponce was born in the state of Puebla and moved to New York City with his family at the age of 12. He attended the prestigious La Guardia High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. La Guardia is a public school but extremely competitive and difficult to get in. Among its graduates are Al Pacino and Liza Minnelli.

RAMON: "I've been involved in mariachi music my whole life, since I was a little kid."

AMBAR: Both set of grandfathers and father handed down the mariachi tradition to him. Today Ponce is teaching his younger brother.

RAMON: (2:33) "My father has been playing for 42 years so I was born into mariachi music…I remember when I was a little kid I used to listen to all the records, the traditional music."

AMBAR: But playing was not enough for him. His passion drove him to start an academy to teach boys AND girls how to read and play mariachi music. In Mexico…traditionally, only males are taught the music. The process wasn't simple… but he secured seed money from the National Endowment of the Arts to start the school last year. At the beginning, all students who auditioned were accepted. Now, about 200 are on the waiting list. And the school has room for only 40 new students.

GETTING GUITAR READY clip
(00:01-00:47) CROSS FADE

AMBAR: Sitting in his high-ceiling living room, he shows us his favorite guitar and we ask him to play for us. At first reluctant…

RAMON (9:26-9:38) "Me hace falta el mariachi… me hace falta las trompetas y los violines. (laughter)"

AMBAR: "I need the mariachi… I need the trumpets and violins," says Ponce. But once he embraces his guitar, he begins strumming softly and passionately bursts out singing.

CLIP OF HIS SINGING(1:32)

AMBAR: Ramon Ponce yearns to see the academy expand. He dreams about the day when some of his students become full-fledged musicians. Already, the U-S based mariachi academies have had a positive unexpected result in the home of mariachi. Now Mexico has two all-female mariachi schools.

RAMON (1:49) "This is just the beginning... but it can grow up to be very big."

For Radio Ondas, I'm Ambar Espinoza.

(7:42) FADE Final …scene of Ramon playing… AMBI