Cooper Elementary's Mariachi Band Featured in Short Video

Published: July 13, 2009

Mariachi teacher Victor Pichardo and his students at Cooper Elementary Dual Language Academy were featured in a recent video about LISC/Chicago's New Communities Program.

A short version of the video, focused only on the mariachi program, was put together for the Pilsen Portal by Sarahmaria Gomez and Alex Fledderjohn of TuMultimedia. Here's Sarahmaria's commentary from her post at Community Beat:

"On a Tuesday afternoon, the blair of trumpets and strumming of guitars flood the halls of Cooper Elementary School in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. It's time for mariachi class led by Victor and Jose Yahvi Pichardo, a father-son team with a wealth of Mexican music experience (Victor's Band, Los Sones de Mexico, was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2008). The class is held twice a week and any student is welcome to join. These young students have a deep commitment to the music they play—and whether or not they are of Mexican decent, they are preserving their neighborhood's culture by learning the mariachi tradition."

Enjoy!