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My name is Steve Esteban Carrillo.
Mariachi Cobre we are originally from Tucson Arizona.
Arizona is the copper state. Cobre means Copper, so we are called Mariachi Cobre.
Mariachi Cobre’s first contact was largely due to a youth Mariachi in Tucson Arizona that we all belonged to before Mariachi Cobre started.
It was a youth group called Los Changuitos Feos.
And, it ranged in age from 9 years old to 15 or 16 years old.
The youth group used to play at Disneyland in California every Cinco De Mayo.
Starting in about 1968 all the way through about 75 or 76.
And we had the great fortune of flying on Walt Disney’s plane.
They would come to pick us up, we were kids, fly us to California and fly us back.
Once Mariachi Cobre was formed, Walt Disney World contacted us to come to play at the Magic Kingdom.
Peco Bill’s Café, Frontierland.
Grand Canyon concourse in 73 and 74 as Mariachi Cobre.
And then after that we were asked to come and open Epcot.
By the way this is Cobre’s 38th anniversary of being here at Epcot.
Presently a Mariachi consists of violin.
Trumpet
You have a regular Spanish guitar.
A vihuela which is a five-string tenor guitar and it’s indigenous to Mexico.
Along with the guitarron which is the big bass.
The vihuela and the guitarron are the instruments that define a mariachi.
World culture is a big part of the Epcot experience.
We see the emotion, crying singing dancing or just listening.
They’ll come up to us and say, wow I remember when my grandfather or great grandparents used to sing this song.
Put to sleep with this song, sang this song on our birthday, sang this song on our anniversary.
So I feel that it’s Mariachi Cobre’s responsibility to share our music, our culture, our Hispanic heritage.
Especially with people who are seeing Mariachi for the first time.