A swinging legacy

Young Chang

LIDO ISLE -- The home is decorated, subtle, large and hidden.

The same could be said of Jose Hernandez, its 43-year-old inhabitant

and member of “the first family of Mariachi music.”

The soft-spoken Grammy nominee is the founder and leader of the

Mariachi Sol de Mexico group, a role you’d almost never expect from this

sleepy-eyed father of four who gave an interview this week wearing a

casual beige shirt and black pants.

A calm demeanor confirmed that Hernandez isn’t anxious about the

Grammy announcements that were supposed to be made on Sept. 11. The show

was rescheduled for December after the terrorist attacks that hit the

East Coast that same day.

He rose, saying he needed to change clothes and would be back in five

minutes.

When he reappeared, in head-to-toe Mariachi dress, he held a Vihuela,

trumpet and violin at his sides. The tan boots were spotless and matched

the tan embroidery of his suede green Mariachi tux. The gold designs on

his near-flourescent white collar gleamed, as did his trumpet.

Hernandez, though still quiet and demure, large in stature yet subtle,

gleamed too.

He basked not only in the faint green reflection of a fresh green

suede, but also in his 125-year family heritage of grandfathers, fathers,

sons and uncles who bore the same musical legacy. The family has been

called, in Mexico, the “first family of Mariachi music.”

It’s a legacy he seems to battle by throwing a swing into his music

when he records with alternative rock bands like Greenday and Fastball,

yet one he still embraces by maintaining an unwavering devotion to the

tradition of Mexican Mariachi.

“I feel very secure about what I write,” he said. “Before I sit down

and write one note, I have to believe in what I write.”

This confidence helps him focus when fellow Mexicans and musicians

criticize Hernandez for being a “rebel” for freely mixing the Mariachi

genre with music forms that include pop, swing and classical, not to

mention even patriotic American classics like “God Bless America.”

He has learned to write everything from Broadway scores to country and

salsa. He has worked in the past with such musicians as Henry Mancini,

Nelson Riddle and Linda Ronstadt.

He has brought this breadth to Mariachi Sol de Mexico, his 15-member

band that was nominated this year for a Latin Grammy in the category of

best ranchero album. With strings, woodwinds, percussion and brass, the

group performs according to the audience that’s listening.

In Los Angeles, in his South El Monte restaurant, in San Diego and in

other big cities all over the United States, Hernandez knows he can

afford to meld Mariachi with different styles the audience is more

familiar with.

“I love traditional Mariachi, I really do,” Hernandez said. “But I

think the direction we’re going gives us more variety. With a

non-Hispanic audience, you could lose them if you’re not careful.”

Dennis Meade, a 25-year-old violinist and vocalist for Sol de Mexico,

added that an earlier and well-known Mariachi group, Mariachi Vargas,

also hopped genres, mixing Mariachi with Beatles tracks.

“It’s nothing new,” Meade said.

The musical meshing does nothing to compromise the heart of Mariachi

music, Hernandez said. When they’re playing for a foreign audience

unfamiliar with the heart of Mariachi, like in North Korea or China,

they’ll stick with tradition.

“Because we are representing Mexico,” Hernandez explained. “But here,

you have an audience so diverse, you could get away with it.”

Meade said few arrangers before Hernandez created new material.

“Everybody played the same songs over and over and over, and then Jose

came around and he changed all that. He took a lot of lessons in

arranging and composing music and he brought all that into Mariachi,”

Meade said.

Hernandez moved to Los Angeles from Mexico with his family when he was

4 years old. Throughout his schooling, he played in public school bands,

in classical orchestras, in his brother’s Mariachi band and, eventually,

at Mariachi gigs at Disneyland.

Hernandez remembers a stint at the Marriott Hotel in Fashion Island 20

years ago. He’s not even sure if Fashion Island existed then. But he

remembers seeing the homes below from a hilltop spot. Wow, those are

nice, he remembers thinking.

Back then, he didn’t figure he’d end up here.

And until last summer, he didn’t think he’d reach Grammy status. But

the outcome is secondary to him, especially after Sept. 11. Grammy or no Grammy, there are more important things in life, Hernandez said.

It is nice, though.

“It really justifies the musical ability, the creativity, of the

group,” Hernandez said of the nomination. “For many years, a Mariachi

group was only seen as a group that would accompany singers of this

genre. But a lot of people in the industry are beginning to take notice.”

Hernandez hopes the attention will spread. His goal is to bring

Mariachi to Europe and to play with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in

London.

“It’s just the idea of the extreme -- that we’re here and they’re over

there in Europe,” he said. “It gives me a chance to expose them to the

music.”

He’ll continue to marry Mariachi with styles of music from around the

globe. And if the experiment is scorned?

“My musical vision for the group has always been pretty much the

same,” Hernandez said. “I haven’t been swayed or anything because of

what’s popular. I’ve always had my own direction. The challenge is to try

to make the Mariachi instruments sound with the characteristics it should

have.”