For about three years, Tony M. Garcia, Henry Vega and Benjamin S. Gonzales were the three baddest kids in their West Side barrio.
The girls loved them, other boys were jealous and the adults heaped praise on the stylish, confident trio during their three years at Roskruge Junior High School.
The three friends didn't have a name for themselves, but most of the families living west of the Santa Cruz River, along St. Mary's Road, knew them by their voices.
Garcia, Vega and Gonzales played guitars and sang boleros, Mexican love songs that had become the rage in Tucson after World War II.
"People love to hear us sing," said Garcia, 74.
This week Tucson devotes itself to mariachi, the music and the musicians. The Tucson International Mariachi Conference celebrates its 25th year in our town, attracting thousands of students and fans. But years before mariachi music made its presence in Tucson, boleros sung by trios were heard and played in Tucson's barrios.
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Boleros were heard on nascent Spanish-language radio programs and performed at family gatherings. Tucson's Mexican boys and young men, captivated by the romantic movies at the old El Cine Plaza on West Congress Street or mesmerized by the magic at ballrooms like the Blue Moon, created their own trios.
Tuesday, Garcia and Vega sat at Garcia's dining room table, recalling their late partner, Gonzales, and the days when they were the neighborhood sensation.
"My mother played guitar and sang," said Vega, 74. "She was my first inspiration."
His older stepbrothers also played guitars and sang.
Garcia's sisters, Aurelia and Olivia, loved to sing, Garcia said. And he enjoyed hearing local singers and musicians perform on Tucson's first Spanish-language radio program, hosted by Don Jacinto Orozco.
Garcia and Vega learned to sing and play guitar. They taught themselves by watching others play guitars and by memorizing the songs they heard.
Through the barrio grapevine, the boys found out about each other and their singing talents. They formed their trio while in the sixth grade.
They were inspired by the Mexican trios, now legends, Los Panchos, Los Hermanos Martínez Gil and Los Calaveras. The boys also looked to Trío Silvestre, made up of three older Tucson boys.
Vega, Garcia and Gonzales sang during fiestas at St. Margaret Mary's Catholic Church on North Grande Avenue, at Roskruge or at their homes.
Water would be sprinkled on the dirt yard, chairs would be pulled up, food would come from the kitchen and the families would celebrate birthdays, baptisms, weddings, anniversaries and more.
The boys harmonized, just like their idols.
Vega was first voice and played guitar. Gonzales sang second voice and played guitar. And Garcia held the third voice position and played the requinto, a smaller, higher-tuned, six-string guitar.
The end came when the three entered Tucson High School. But the music didn't stop for them.
Garcia went on to help form Mariachi Tucsonense in the early 1950s, and later he brought mariachi music to Sunday Mass at Downtown's St. Augustine Cathedral.
Vega went into the Navy and taught industrial arts at Salpointe Catholic and Santa Rita high schools. And today he inspires his high-school-age grandchildren, Ramón and Sophia Muñoz, to play mariachi music.
Gonzales served in the 101st Airborne and died in 1997.
The music and memories are still there. The boys reigned in the kingdom of boleros and trios.
Said Garcia: "We were the kings."
Opinion by
Ernesto
Portillo jr.
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