MARIACHI: A Tale of Three Lives

Mariachi: A Tale of Three Lives celebrates Southern California’s ubiquitous mariachi music with profiles of three men whose lives intersect at the first Boyle Heights Mariachi Festival.
Eriberto Vargas is nineteen, and already an accomplished mariachi. He has studied violin with a maestro in Guadalajara and played in the shadow of the great artists who perform in Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi. Eriberto came to Los Angeles seeking fame and fortune but lives-for the moment- with his wife and small son in a little room in “La Boyle,” a group of houses and apartments that over 200 mariachis call home.
Jose Hernandez already has fame and fortune. He is a sixth-generation mariachi and his band, Sol de Mexico, has toured the world, played on the Carson show and recorded with Linda Ronstadt. Jose is always trying to find new ways to bring the music of the mariachis to a wider audience. His own band is featured at this year’s annual mariachi festival, but he wants to put together a special group for the festival, including young itinerant talents such as Eriberto Vargas."The Needle" is a former mariachi great whom Jose discovers in the street. Now an alcoholic and frequent "hype," his career echoes faintly in his clouded head and his life is an endless sour note. "Needle" sold his trumpet for drugs long ago, but Jose gives his old friend a new trumpet, and a second chance to live life as a mariachi.
This episode was conceived, produced and directed by Pedro Pablo Celedón and was the pilot program for KCET's Emmy award-winning series Life and Times.