Michigan to mariachi
 Katie Good (BA '08) and a fellow musician |
With just a few da ys before her debut at the Concierto Navideño in Mexico City, Katie Good (BA ’08) was feeling a little on edge.
“Rumor has it there will also be a procession and, oh yes, a piñata,” Good writes, just
shortly before the annual festival hosted by the School of Mexican Music. “After six weeks of grueling mariachi rehearsals, I’m kind of hoping it’s shaped like a guitar.”
Good is a Fulbright-mtvU scholar studying “the power of music,” and blogging at http://fulbright.mtvu.com. It’s the perfect fit for the anthropology and radio production major, a native Michigander who is now fully committed—even at the risk of public humiliation—to better understanding a recent renaissance of traditional Mexican music. As generations of adults moved to big cities, they tended to leave their rural musical heritage behind. But now, their children are reconnecting with what was once seemingly lost.
“I hope my project will challenge the popular notion that traditional music is being stamped out by influences from the U.S. and Europe,” Good says. “As Mexico globalizes, a growing number of young people are interested in reinterpreting, not rejecting, the music of their country’s past.” Both the news and the music are good to hear.