|
|
|
||||||||
|
NORTH DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL ESTUDIANTINA
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||
|
A Q U I C K H I S T O R Y
|
|||||||||||||
|
In 1999, after 30 years of being called the North Dallas High School Mariachi, director Dennis Gonzalez changed the name of the award-winning ensemble to more accurately reflect the thinking of the time, which was that the Dallas ISD should become more inclusive of its rapidly-growing Hispanic population. It was originally christened at its court-ordered inception by Dallas ISD's Fine Arts Coordinator Marjorie Keller. Judge Barefoot Sanders, who instructed the District to desegregate, ordered in a very forward-looking way that the District set up Mariachi and Folklorico programs at its two main Latino-populated high schools, North Dallas High and Sunset High in order to build pride and consensus among Hispanic students who were rapidly losing their parents' cultural roots.
By that time, in 1999, the makeup of the Latino population in the District, and at North Dallas High School had changed to include not only Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, but Salvadoreans, Cubans, Guatemalans, Colombians, Peruvians, and citizens of the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the world, including Spain. So the name and stylistic considerations of the strictly-defined "Mariachi" no longer held. A new identity emerged, and with it a year-to-year changing scope of styles and sounds.
The Estudiantina's director for 25 years, was Dennis Gonzalez. He has lived in Dallas for 32 years and taught at North Dallas High School for 30 years. He was the voice of KERA-FM's jazz radio and television programming for 21 years, and as a musician / visual artist / writer, has traveled the world performing, exhibiting, and absorbing the knowledge and the wisdom of the world's cultures in order to return and teach his French students at Spence Middle School and his music students at North Dallas High. He took over the reins of the Mariachi - Estudiantina program when the original director Agustin Cerda Reyes retired in 1982, after being an apprentice to Maestro Cerda Reyes for 4 years. Gonzalez begins the 2007-2008 school year as French and Spanish Teacher at Spence Middle Learning Center and TAG Academy in Dallas.
The two most memorable events for the North Dallas High School Mariachi - Estudiantina took place in May of 1991 and May of 2001 -- a decade later. In May 1991, Queen Elizabeth II of England visited Dallas and asked the group to perform for her, before an audience of thousands standing in the main foyer of the newly-inaugurated Morton Meyerson Concert Hall in Downtown Dallas. Dignitaries from all over the U.S. watched as the queen listened to the group serenade her, as CNN beamed the performance worldwide for an audience of millions. In May of 2001, the Smirnoff Concert Center at Fair Park hosted a special concert and party with the Estudiantina performing for Jimmy Buffett, his entourage, and his specially-invited fans. It was a wonderful evening of fun, music, and food never to be forgotten.
It has been a wonderful almost four decades of the internationally lauded and legendary North Dallas Estudiantina. Its impact will continue to shine for many more decades in the lives of those who were fortunate enough to belong to this illustrious program.
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
"The Last Mariachi"
photo by Rui Horta Santos
Lisbon, Portugal
Dedicated to the spirit of the North Dallas
High School Estudiantina / Mariachi
1969 - 2007
|
|||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |