Mendez roots

[mateo]

an interesting story from one of my teachers Jose Luis Salinas who is a great mariachi trumpet player; He told me that when he was about 19 or so he was playing in Guadalajara and Mendez came to see the Mariachi groups playing in the plaza de mariachis. He said that he got a chance to sit and chat with Mendez and that Mendez seemed to enjoy his sound. The vibratto that is very characteristic to the Mendez sound is also for mariachi. When I studied with Mr. Salinas and another guy in albuquerque named Miguel Ojeda, their lessons sounded almost identical to the stuff Mendez says on "the legacy" cd. They told me when you do vibratto you go slow quarter, eigth, and sixteenth but never faster because it just sounds shaky. they also told me to make it whiny like a little baby-wah, wah, wah etc. If anyone is interested I recommend looking up recordings by mariachi vargas de tecalitlan from the 40s through the 60's. two that I have found remarkable are, "Danzones con el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan" and "Pasodobles con el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan" The guys on these recordings are Miguel Martinez, Cipriano Silva and Crescencio Hernandez and in spite of the quality they sound fantastic. maybe the moderators (Prof. Hickman) has some input as to what made this sound so unique and why did it not really come out of anyplace but mexico? Thanks
mateo