Boleros de ruben fuentes biography

Pedro Infante is widely considered the most influential Mexican singer and actor of all time. Today, 63 years after his death, his recordings and films remain surprisingly popular, and he remains a fundamental icon of Mexican popular culture.

This latest video of Recordando a Pedro Infante, featuring Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, was recorded at the Lila Cockrell Theatre in San Antonio, Texas on December 7, 2019, during the 25th Annual Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza.  The popurrí consists of four boleros and one huapango, all of which were major Pedro Infante hits, and all of which are Rubén Fuentes compositions.

Although not a famous singer or movie star, Rubén Fuentes is an icon comparable to Pedro Infante in that he is widely considered the most influential musical figure in the history of mariachi music. He began his career in 1944 as a violinist with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, where he was soon promoted to musical director. By the 1950s, through his unforgettable arrangements for Miguel Aceves Mejía, Pedro Infante, José Alfredo Jiménez, Lola Beltrán, Amalia Mendoza and many others, he transformed mariachi music in an unprecedented way, inaugurating the modern mariachi era. At age 94, Maestro Fuentes continues to compose and arrange, and remains the general director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. Of the over 300 songs he has composed during his lifetime, 44 were recorded by Pedro Infante.

Recordando a Pedro Infante has its roots in Remembranza de Pedro Infante, a medley arranged by Pepe Martínez that first appeared on Mariachi Vargas de Tecaliltán’s 1989 CD El Mariachi. That album’s opening track was the extraordinarily popular Viva Veracruz (later known as Veracruz I), so in a manner of speaking, Remembranza represented that disc’s “B-side.” Even though Vargas continued to perform that popurrí over the years, it never achieved more than minor popularity. 

Folk music from Mexico

This article is about the musical genre. For the film, see El Mariachi.

Mariachi (, , Spanish:[maˈɾjatʃi]) is an ensemble of musicians that typically play ranchera, the regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two trumpets and at least one guitar, including a high-pitched Mexican Vihuela and an acoustic bass guitar called a guitarrón, and all players taking turns singing lead and doing backup vocals.

During the 19th- and 20th-century migrations from rural areas into Guadalajara, along with the Mexican government's promotion of national culture, mariachi came to be recognized as a distinctly Mexican son. Modifications of the music include influences from other music, such as polkas and waltzes, the addition of trumpets and the use of charro outfits by mariachi musicians. The musical style began to take on national prominence in the first half of the 20th century, with its promotion at presidential inaugurations and on the radio in the 1920s. In 2011, UNESCO recognized mariachi as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in hopes of being a protected element of heritage; it joins six other entries on the Mexican list of that category.

Song styles performed with mariachi include rancheras, corridos, cumbias, boleros, ballads, sones, huapangos, jarabes, danzones, joropos, pasodobles, marches, polkas, waltzes and chotís. Most song lyrics are about machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolutionary heroes, and country life.

Name

The origin of the word is disputed, but prominent theories attribute it to deep roots. One states that it comes from the name of the wood used to make the dance platform. Another states that mariachi comes from the indigenous name of a tree called pilla or cirimo