Russell Rodriguez Mariachi Musician and Anthropologist

Workshop

Appreciating Traditional Mexican Music in the U.S.
Friday March 2, 12:30-1:30, Intercultural Center

Lecture

Transnational Dialogues: Intercambios Jarocha/os y Chicana/os
Friday March 2, 4:15-5:30, Science Center 199
Reception Follows

Russell Rodríguez is currently a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his Ph.D. from the department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, completing his dissertation Cultural Production, Legitimation, and the Politics of Aesthetics: Mariachi Transmission, Practice, and Performance in the United States. In 2004 Rodríguez worked as a co-curator for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's annual American Festival, Latino Music Program, and co-produced a Smithsonian Folkways Recordings CD compilation "Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement.

Rodríguez has worked as a professional mariachi musician for over 20 years throughout the southwest U.S., Washington, DC, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Guadalajara, Jalisco. He began his musical career under the guidance of maestro Artemio Posadas in the group Los Trovadores de La Costa and has also studied folk dance from Mexico and has performed with, taught, and directed groups such as Los Lupeños de San José, Grupo Folklórico Xochipilli and Los Mestizos.

Today Rodríguez continues to play music professionally with Mariachi Azteca and Los Soneros del Este grounding himself in vibrant transnational music scenes.

Sponsored by Latin American Studies and Sociology and Anthropology