Edinburg North High’s Mariachi Oro goes mainstream in new Netflix documentary

EDINBURG — “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” a documentary about Edinburg North High’s Mariachi Oro, is set to debut on Netflix next week with the group’s director, Abel Acuña, saying its nerve wracking but exciting for people to see the competitive world of high school mariachi in the Valley behind the scenes.

“It’s the everyday life of teenagers trying to balance being a teenager and doing something that they love all after the year of the pandemic … going through the high school mariachi program and the ins and outs of it,” Acuña said Thursday.

Following Mariachi Oro from the very first practice of 2021, their competitions to the seniors of the group graduating, it also follows various students and their trials and tribulations of going to prom, dealing with high school drama and all the facets of high school life growing up in the Valley.

Acuña said before the initial idea for the film was pitched and produced, the program already had other interest in showcasing the value and importance of mariachi music in South Texas and in the University Interscholastic League.

Film directors Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez reached out prior to the pandemic for a short film and with the film spurring interest, reached out to Acuña for a full blown project that would follow the group for the whole school year.

“I was on a Zoom call with them during the Texas freeze, I didn’t even have power and I was actually stealing Wifi from my neighbor,” Acuña said laughingly.

His initial reaction was that he did not think it was going to be a big deal but that quickly changed when he said a whole camera crew like from E! True Hollywood Story came through the door.

“It was very shocking and the kids were also very shocked at first and were like ‘How do we act?’” Acuña said.

Erick Brown, a senior trumpet player in Mariachi Oro, was just a freshman during the filming of the documentary and said the group tried to act their best at first when the camera crew came around but quickly got comfortable with being themselves.

“I feel like I’ve really grown a lot even in mariachi, like, back then I wasn’t really into mariachi … Caleb, one of the seniors back then, inspired me to keep on growing and mariachi music grew on me and it’s beautiful. The culture and the music,” Brown said Thursday.

Osborn and Vasquez moved down to McAllen for the documentary. The film crew would visit the group about twice a week and almost every day when leading up to important events such as concerts and competitions.

Acuña said, without wanting to give too much of the film away, that the crew filmed the highlights of the mariachi’s group successes that year and also the drama within the group.

“Leading up to (competitions) we were having some problems. The directors wanted some drama within the group and they got drama. There’s some problems, like, we didn’t know if some people were gonna play and if we’re gonna be successful or not,” Acuña said. “So there were a lot of things that happened that year that made a good story for the movie. I didn’t even do it on purpose, it just happened on its own.”

As an Edinburg North alumni who has directed Mariachi Oro since 2010, Acuña said his passion for mariachi music education stemmed from his time at the University of Texas Pan American where he met Dahlia Guerra, the founder and former longtime director of the highly renowned UTRGV Mariachi Aztlán.

He said Guerra’s passion and leadership in shaping college kids into the world class mariachi musicians inspired him to follow in those footsteps and continue that love for mariachi music to younger generations.

“What drives me is getting those kids that really want to be here, and making them into what Dr. Guerra did for me,” Acuña said. “I got into college … I was a classically trained violinist … but Aztlán changed my life. Being a part of the amazing group and experiencing the passion that Dr. Guerra and Francisco Loera had to teach us to make us really good, I wanted to pass that on to my kids.”

Catarina Luna, the sister of Isabella Luna, one of the film’s featured students is following in her footsteps and is currently one of the lead violinists in her junior year.

“It was a pretty crazy opportunity, because I’ve never seen a documentary from Texas, especially about mariachi, that’s crazy,” Luna said. “I just never thought it would be a possibility for a documentary to be filmed here, especially with my big sister being a main feature of the poster.”

Describing the film as inspiring and heartbreaking since it shows her big sister leaving for college, she said it is crazy to think about how she’s in the same spot her sister was a few years ago.

The Luna family having generations of musicians made it evident that Catarina and her sister would follow but Catarina admitted she got into mariachi music after seeing her sister on stage.

Acuña said the film also shines light on what mariachi educators go through and all the backstage work that goes into getting ready for any type of performance.

“When people come to our concerts, they see that snippet, they don’t see everything that leads up to it,” he said. “I tell them the same thing when we go to competitions, judges don’t know if kids failed, they don’t know if you have a cold. They don’t know, all they know is what they see in those 10 minutes when they perform.”

Being brought to tears the first time he watched the finished product of the documentary, Acuña encouraged everyone to watch the movie and dive into the culture of Valley high school mariachi.

“I’m excited for people outside of the mariachi world, to see that it’s a real thing,” he said. “Kids take it that serious. We take it that serious, and we can make a whole living out of something that people thought was just an after school club.”

The film debuts on Netflix on Aug. 29.