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Edinburg North High School’s very own Mariachi Oro Director Able Acuña and member Catarina Luna made a special appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to speak on the documentary “Going Varsity in Mariachi” and even teaching the talk show host how to perform a grito.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Clarkson invited the Edinburg North duo alongside co-directors Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez to speak on the documentary.
The Monitor spoke with Acuña and Luna in August about the film and how it debuted on Netflix.
The film follows Mariachi Oro from the very first practice of 2021, to their competitions, to the seniors of the group graduating. It also follows various students, 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, and being involved in the highly competitive world of Mariachi.
Acuña and Luna said everything was just like a flash.
Initially reached out by one of the show’s producers, Acuña said they called him and in about a week they were in New York City.
“Everything just happened so fast and I felt like all the time caught up to us when we’re waiting for the plane (back home),” he said. “We had maybe about two or three hours sitting there in the airport and we’re talking about it … I kind of just looked at Cat, and I was like, ‘Can you believe that just, that just happened?’ and she was like, ‘No I can’t believe it either.’ It felt surreal.”
The duo, alongside Luna’s mom, had a chance to explore Times Square and Central Park.
Among the topics discussed with Clarkson besides the film were how high school music programs shape young students, the strong Mariachi culture installed in the Valley and Luna following the footsteps of her older sister to become a leader.
Luna is the younger sister of Isabella Luna, one of the film’s featured students. She is following in her older sister’s footsteps and is currently one of the lead violinists in her junior year and a leader of the group.
“My sister has always been a big role model for me and being able to show that we’re leaders and that I can continue the legacy gives me a lot of pride,” Luna said. “ Also it shows a lot about my family, about me, about the program and about how me and my sister have dedicated a lot of time to mariachi.”
Luna said she woke up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare her makeup and Traje de Charro for the show.
“It was crazy,” she said. “It was an amazing opportunity. It was beautiful and inspiring … It was all of a sudden. Thursday was the time I was told … and then suddenly, Monday morning, I was on a plane on the way to New York City and then I met Kelly Clarkson. I was in shock.”
Besides answering some questions, Luna showed Clarkson how to perform a grito and to her surprise, everyone joined in to give their best grito.
“To be on that national stage, representing not only the mariachi community but Edinburg North and ECISD, it’s an honor,” Acuña said. “And to be able to highlight the stuff that we do every day, like my students coming in, learning music, practicing our fundamentals and everything, it becomes a routine to us. To be able to show the rest of the world something we do that we really care about, it gives me great pride to be able to show that.”
The show ended with a $10,000 donation from H-E-B to help expand the program.
To view the full interview, visit “The Kelly Clarkson Show” YouTube page.
