Rocio

Tristin Baeza, Emanuel Osorio and James Torres serenaded students with Mexican Mariachi songs. Mariachi Los Cerritos club came out for the Spring 2020 Welcome Event to encourage students to join. Photo credit: Rocio Valdez

Mariachi Los Cerritos is a fairly new club at Cerritos College which was formed in Spring 2019 with the goal to inspire through their music and to bring Spanish culture to the students.

The club wants to give students on campus the experience to play Mariachi and to bring Mariachi to the campus, therefor they exclusively play only on campus events.

James Torres, music major and President of the Mariachi Los Cerritos Club, mentioned how the club has been growing as they started with about five people and currently they have 10 members.

“We want to offer students that are interested in the music and want to study the mariachi music the experience and opportunity on campus to practice with other people that have experience, for them to get into the scene of mariachi,” said Torres.

Torres is a talented musician that knows how to play the guitar, Vihuela, Guitarrón, trumpet, and violin and feels proud to be part of the club. For him Mariachi is his job that gives him enjoyment and he wants to share that with other musicians and campus students.

“I see people that come to the club and they are dedicated and have the drive to learn more about music, it brings me a lot of joy to see the impact that I make in campus,” Torres said.

Emanuel Osorio, music major and Vice President of Mariachi Los Cerritos Club, is the principle singer and plays the violin. Being a member of the club has allowed him to get to learn about his Mexican roots, “I realized how little I know about my Mexican side, I know the history and cultural practices so this was a good way for me to get in touch with the culture,” he said.

“Our role as musicians and people with music education is to inspire people through music and Mariachi is and excellent way to not only inspire people but to bring culture to the community,” said Osorio.

Tristin Baeza, music major, has been a musician for 12 years and plays the guitar and trumpet for Mariachi Los Cerritos.

“I like how when a Mariachi performs in an open setting, we don’t have to use microphones or a speaker, it’s all acoustic,” said Baeza.

Even if students are not interested in joining the club he wants to encourage students to believe in whatever their passion is.

Mariachi Los Cerritos practices are held in room BC 51 every Friday from 10 a.m-12 p.m.