Mariachi music has deep, rich roots in Mexican culture \u2014 and a distinctly unique mark on the Fairbanks landscape after a West Valley High School student took a bold leap for a world music assignment a few years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
During an interview with Alaska Live\u2019s Lori Neufeld at the KUAC Alaska Live Archive Studio, five members of the band were prepping for their performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Erika Sabarzo-Bernal formed Mariachi Nomeolvides in her sophomore year as an option for a West Valley music class. The band is named after Forget-me-not (or Nomeolvides), Alaska\u2019s official state flower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI thought, why not start a mariachi band if I\u2019m allowed?\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. With the help of music teacher Gwendolyn Brazier, she put together a group to perform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Now a senior, the lead vocalist and guitarist has formed an emerging band of fellow students that cements itself as Fairbanks\u2019 first mariachi band.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sabarzo-Bernal said she grew up with \u201cso much music,\u201d including mariachi. She said she sang along to mariachi music with her father on drives to Anchorage or growing up in Arizona, learning guitar with her mother and for church performances.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe ability to perform and be able to share this with the Fairbanks community is just wonderful,\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. From her perspective, mariachi is a blend of folk and classical music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cYou can hear the notes sliding into notes and a wide bravado, which are two styles put together,\u201d she said. \u201cThe trumpet is the only brass, the rest are all strings, so having it there makes mariachi such a wonderfully combined ensemble.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
She described the singing as a whole as \u201crough around the edges\u201d and bold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cEven if you\u2019re singing in a group, everybody is meant to be heard,\u201d she said. \u201cYou want to show your emotion, so a lot of belting and bravado is very common.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mariachi Nombreolvides has garnered some recognition, including winning Fairbanks Got Talent, high school music competitions, and performing in large shows such as Dark Winter Nights. Since then, the band has grown its reputation and its schedule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re pretty swamped this year,\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. \u201cIt took us some time to get these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
During the band\u2019s Alaska Live performance, five of its members were decked out in matching blue floral-accented shirts with matching blue ties, with Sabarzo-Bernal and violinists Sophia Potter and Leia Hulbert wearing blue ties, while trumpeter Drake Neilling and vihuelista Nahoa Kalani Hoodecheck were wearing black sombreros.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Neufeld, a veteran broadcaster, directed the band on which microphones would be used and which ones the members would speak into.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI will name him mic Gary,\u201d an energetic Hoodecheck said of the nearby performance mic. \u201cGary will help me through this.\u201d The interview microphone: Vanessa. \u201cI feel like Vannesa will be the translator.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hoodecheck, a Fairbanksan whose family comes from Hawai\u2019i, said a lot of his music bears Pacific Islander influence. Mariachi was a genre foreign to him before he joined the band. However, he noted the ukulele and vihuela share similarities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI leveled up a string, but the transition was easy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hoodecheck knows Sabarzo-Bernal from when he was a dancer performing at her quincea\u00f1era. It was Sabarzo-Bernal who invited him into the band in March 2025 and first played in the Dark Winter Nights performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like she was scouting me for the past three years,\u201d Hoodecheck said. Aside from string instruments, he also plays percussion instruments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hoodecheck\u2019s interests lie in ecology, stemming from a childhood passion for consuming documentaries and National Geographic magazines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Before the live broadcast, Sabarzo-Bernal chatted with Neufeld about attending an Alaska Live concert of \u201cChoir! Choir! Choir!\u201d a few years ago as part of a class.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt was a folk music band,\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. \u201cThat was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sabarzo-Bernal said the band only knew three or four songs when starting out and it was a learning process, especially for songs performed in Spanish. She is responsible for selecting the repertoire of songs, a task she undertakes with the help of her parents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cUsually, I\u2019ll scour for music,\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. \u201cSome of them I know and some I\u2019ve never heard before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Violinists Sophia Potter and Leia Hulbert joined Mariachi Nomeolvides at the same time. Both grew up training together with an emphasis on Suzuki and classical technique.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Potter was performing a classical piece at the same musical competition as the band when she became curious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMariachi opened up my eyes to different kinds of music, because Leia and I only played classical music before we were invited to play in the mariachi band,\u201d Potter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Potter said mariachi music has a much wider bravado on the violin compared to classical music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cA big difference is we\u2019re allowed to improvise and make our own parts,\u201d Potter said. \u201cWith orchestral style, we\u2019re supposed to stay strictly to the composer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hulbert said Sabarzo-Bernal was the inspiration to join Mariachi Nomeolvides after its founding violinist graduated from West Valley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI was sitting with Sophia and remember everybody mentioning how loud and well-projected Erika\u2019s voice was,\u201d Hulbert said. \u201cKids from Anchorage were looking at each other and going \u2018holy cow.\u2019 She didn\u2019t have a mic or anything, just full-on projection into this giant auditorium in West Anchorage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
She said the music ignited an interest in her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cJoining with Sophia definitely made it easier with the transition of music style,\u201d Hulbert said. \u201cI was very used to just following the dynamics and suggestions of composers. Being in a mariachi band sometimes made me quite frustrated. How am I supposed to know what do?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Above being lead vocalist and band leader, Sabarzo-Bernal decides the songs and song order, introduces the band members and serves as wardrobe designer. Hulbert noted that Sabarzo-Bernal \u201cput a lot of effort into making us look professional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThese are not traditional mariachi outfits, because those are very expensive,\u201d Sabarzo-Bernal said. \u201cThey are often entire suits that are embroidered on the side with metal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sabarzo-Bernal said she\u2019s pleased that Mariachi Nomeolvides\u2019 wardrobe is something \u201cthat is not so traditional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThese are more like banda outfits with a mariachi twist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Listening to mariachi music offered a solution for improvisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Neilling, the only other original band member, has played trumpet for seven years. He joined both the Lathrop jazz band and Mariachi Nomeolvides as a freshman. He also participates in Lathrop\u2019s symphonic band \u201cand many other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen I started high school, I began opening up to a lot of new genres,\u201d Neilling said. \u201cI learned to play by listening to mariachi trumpet and recordings, as well as looking up online tutorials. A single in-depth explanation helped immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sabarzo-Bernal, now a senior, graduates in May. She noted that some of her band members intend to leave Alaska when they graduate in a few years. Sabarzo-Bernal said she may as well if presented with the opportunity \u201cif a good scholarship opens up or I get to join a famous mariachi band.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI also wouldn\u2019t mind staying here an extra year with these guys since some of them are still juniors,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that if I ever reach a professional level, I do want to keep the same spirit of the band. You never see a famous mariachi band from Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsminer.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mariachi music has deep, rich roots in Mexican culture \u2014 and a distinctly unique mark on the Fairbanks landscape after a West Valley High School student took a bold leap for a world music assignment a few years ago. During an interview with Alaska Live\u2019s Lori Neufeld at the KUAC Alaska Live Archive Studio, five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2070670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[387945],"class_list":["post-2070669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-community_features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mariachi-Nomeolvides-arrange-a-new-sound-in-the-Fairbanks-music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2070669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070671,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070669\/revisions\/2070671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2070670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2070669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2070669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2070669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}