Audience sings along at performance

Mariachi Del Mar embraced la Cultura Mexicana as they played songs from famous Mexican artists at Wolfe Recital Hall on Nov. 10.

“We played many various tunes of traditional Mariachi music from Javier Solis all the way to Vicente Fernandez and Lucha Villa,” said Luz Valdez, an adjunct instructor for Mariachi Del Mar.

The students, along with Valdez, performed nine songs in which students traded off to sing each song, including Valdez herself.

The main vocalist of Mariachi Del Mar, Ana Colchado, took it upon herself to further her performance by dancing and stumbling across the stage during her performance of “La Tequilera” by Lucha Reyes.

“I knew I wanted to do more than sing,” Colchado said. “I wanted to perform the whole thing, which is why I came out all silly, stumbling. I was serious sometimes.”

The audience sang along during the concert while others laughed during Colchado’s performance.

“I felt the energy come back to me from the audience and it was really awesome,” Colchado said.

One audience member who came out to enjoy the concert was a former Mariachi Del Mar member.

Gideon Perkins, a former Del Mar College student, said it was refreshing for him to listen to the music that he wasn’t performing.

“It’s been a while since I’ve just listened to Mariachi music that I wasn’t performing myself,” Perkins said. “I think listening, being in the audience really gives me a different kind of appreciation for it.”

Perkins further complimented the concert when speaking about the music choice and the group members.

“I thought that it was a beautiful selection of the wide range of Mariachi music,” Perkins said. “I was in this Mariachi last year and seeing all the growth in the people and seeing new faces as well has been really awesome.”

According to Valdez, Mariachi Del Mar spent the whole semester preparing for the concert.

“We practice over the course of the semester all these tunes to prepare this concert for our audience,” Valdez said.

Even with the bad weather people still came out to attend Mariachi Del Mar’s concert.

“The amount of people that came out even due to the weather it was very heartfelt,” Valdez said. “To see the audience here and to see so many smiling faces enjoying this Mariachi music gives me a lot of joy.”

Students interested in joining Mariachi Del Mar can contact Valdez at lvaldez54@delmar.edu for more information.