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Traditional Arts Indiana Music Day at the State Fair Aug. 16
Aug. 10, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- What do a southern Indiana bluegrass band and a Mexican-American mariachi band have in common? Both will appear on stage at the Indiana State Fair for the Traditional Arts Indiana Music Day on Aug. 16.
The Bunkum Valley Boys, an accomplished 21-year-old bluegrass band from Daviess County, will perform original songs and bluegrass standards. The band members are Jim, Mark and Josh Malone of Odon and Chip Jackson of Bloomington.
Also appearing on the Traditional Arts Indiana stage will be Nuevo Jalisco, a 10-piece traditional mariachi band from Mexico. When not in Indianapolis, they live in Tequila, Jalisco, which is near Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city.
Indiana's passion for bluegrass music goes back to the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, who was a regular feature at the famed Bean Blossom festival in Brown County. Bluegrass is especially popular in the Upland South, and the music migrated north to Indiana as people moved here from Kentucky and Tennessee in search of work. From campgrounds and conservation clubs to state parks and churches, bluegrass continues to be a vital Indiana tradition.
Brothers Jim and Mark Malone got their musical start as children performing in church, accompanied on piano by their mother. Jim, who plays guitar, is a third-generation Daviess County farmer, and Mark, the banjo player, is an electronics worker at Crane Naval Weapons Support Center. Jim's son Josh began playing the upright bass when he was 5, plucking the strings while his mother Kathy propped up the big instrument and played the chords. Later Josh graduated to guitar, and at 14 he taught himself to play the mandolin, which he now plays in the band. Josh works at the Kimball International factory. Chip Jackson, the group's upright bass player, drives a delivery truck in Bloomington.
Mariachi music originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco in the 19th century. The music is extremely energetic, filled with syncopation and sharply contrasting sounds. Mariachi is integral to events such as weddings and quinceaneras in the Mexican American community. Instruments include trumpet, violins, guitars, guitarrón (bass guitar), vihuela (high-pitched guitar) and vocals. Indiana's growing Latino community has heralded a wave of talented mariachi musicians.
Nuevo Jalisco spends several months a year in Indiana, where the band performs at restaurants, parties and other events. Their performances are regular features at the restaurant Sol de Tala on East Washington Street in Indianapolis.
The director of the group is Luis Correa. Participating in the group are friends and family of Luis, including his brother. All the members began receiving private music lessons and playing their instruments at an early age. The members continue to receive lessons when in Tequila and still consider themselves students of the mariachi tradition.
Traditional Arts Indiana (TAI) is working to increase awareness and appreciation of Indiana's traditional artists. For the past two years, TAI has been combing back roads and urban streets to locate Indiana's unrecognized artists, from Filipino cooks to gospel quartets. TAI is a program of Indiana University's world-renowned Folklore Institute and the Indiana Arts Commission. TAI has been partnering with the Indiana State Fair for the past two years to develop programming that draws upon Indiana's rich resources in traditional arts.
TAI is working in partnerships across Indiana documenting local work traditions in Perry County, recording immigration stories in Fort Wayne, training K-12 teachers and students in cultural documentation, and enriching local programming in Jackson County and the Calumet Region.
Funding for this project is provided by the Indiana State Fair, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Indiana Arts Commission.
For more information, contact Erin Roth, project manager, Traditional Arts Indiana, 812-855-0418, tradarts@indiana.edu