In the male-dominated world of mariachi musicians, more women have been hitting the stage - so many it's no longer that unusual to find all-female mariachis at major festivals in this country and México.
It is rare, however, to find a mother and daughter performing together.
But Marla and Monique Grijalva don't consider themselves a rarity. They're just having fun playing mariachi music.
"I don't even think we see it as a mother-daughter thing," said Marla Grijalva, Monique's mother.
"It's more like a friendship thing," said Marla.
The duo are part of Mariachi Viva La Mujer, probably Tucson's first all-female mariachi. The group was created in 2009 through the efforts of Julie Gallego, director of Viva Performing Arts Center, a cultural and dance studio on South Park Avenue.
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This week Tucson becomes the mariachi mecca as hundreds of mariachis arrived for the 29th annual Tucson International Mariachi Conference at the Tucson Convention Center. Tucson helped midwife the mariachi movement in this country in the early 1960s as youth groups formed and expanded.
The Grijalvas came from Tucson's mariachi tradition. But Marla and Monique did not join Viva La Mujer at the same time.
When the group formed, Monique, 18, was recruited to play trumpet. She had previously performed with Los Changuitos Feos, Tucson's oldest youth mariachi, and Rayos del Sol from Tucson High Magnet School.
She had grown up surrounded by mariachi music. In addition to her mother, several family members are musicians who perform mariachi and other forms.
When Monique and her two siblings were younger, they often accompanied their mother to her performances. But Marla, about 10 years ago, dropped mariachi to focus on other activities - softball being one of them. She is the pitching coach for the girls softball team at Pueblo High Magnet School.
When Viva La Mujer lost a violinist, Monique suggested her mother join the group. The move has bonded them like nothing else.
The two are not the only mother-daughter mariachi duo, in fact.
Maria Dolores Noperi and Anisette Noperi have been performing for about 10 years together with Mariachi Cielo de México.
Like Marla, Maria is an exceptionally proud mom.
"I am so proud that she has continued with the tradition and maintains the Mexican culture," said Maria, whose husband Juan de Dios Noperi started the mariachi, which also includes their son, Johnny.
Women mariachis have long been part of the musical tradition.
One of the first documented all-female mariachi was Mariachi Las Coronelas in Mexico City in the mid-1940s, said Laura Sobrino, a pioneering female mariachi from California. In this country the mariachis Las Generalas from Los Angeles and Estrella from Topeka, Kansas, were formed in the late 1970s.
Tucson mariachi Monica Treviño was a member of Nati Cano's Los Camperos of Los Angeles.
ucson-born Mariachi Cobre, which celebrates 40 years at tonight’s mariachi concert at the TCC, has had two women in its ranks: Julie Davison and Rebecca Gonzales. Noperi was the first woman to join Tucson's Los Changuitos Feos in 1982 and later joined Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles. Also Tucsonans Teresa Chavez, Griselda Burrel, Cathy Baeza and Lourdes Olivarez performed with Mariachi Reyna.
Marla and Monique are part of a long line of women in mariachi. But for now they are mom and daughter having a good time.
Ernesto Portillo Jr. is editor of La Estrella de Tucsón. He can be reached at netopjr@azstarnet.com or at 520-573-4187.
