The Mariachi Sol de Mexico ensemble, led by Latin Grammy nominee Jose Hernandez, will be not just playing traditional music, but a few festive surprises.
"We do a tribute to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. People do not expect that in mariachi. Some of the pieces from The Nutcracker, it's pretty amazing, you know, to show the musicianship of the ensemble itself," said Hernandez.
For him, mariachi music runs through his veins. He's a seventh generation mariachi whose family has played music professionally since the 1700s.
"Mariachi music came from the instruments, came from Europe, from the Spaniards during the conquistadors, in 1525 - around there. And when they mix with the indigenous people in Mexico, they shared their cultures, their instruments, and the indigenous people had their their rhythms, their dance and everything. So it's a combination of two cultures," he explained.
"I've been writing a book for the last couple of years, and they wanted to investigate more of the history of my family. So, they found a whole bunch of records and it goes back to 1762. This was before Mexico was even called Mexico. It was called Nueva España, New Spain. Musicians in my family goes back through the 1700s. So it's a tradition that's in my family very, very strong," said Hernandez.
He's keeping it up to date now, and you may have spotted him directing the Mariachi ensemble that plays at L.A. Rams football games.
"It's called Mariachi Rams. And they're like rock stars there. So far, it's pretty neat because they'll play Santana. They'll play urban. They'll play very traditional mariachi," he said.
Hernandez's biggest passion is music education, and he received the Cesar Chavez Legacy of Service Award for his work inspiring future generations of mariachi students.
"To receive that award was pretty neat because I remember in 1988 we went to play for Cesar. When he came out of one of his most rigorous fasts that he that he had. So he went to the 40 Acres Ranch and he would ask for us to go play for him. And to receive the award on behalf of that foundation was like a full circle kind of thing for us, you know? It was pretty amazing," he said.
A Merry-Achi Christmas Show takes place at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 6th at 7 p.m.
