Ambassador Blog: Mariachi Los Troyanos de USC
By Ashley Melendres
In celebration of Latinx/e Heritage Month, Thornton Student Ambassador Ashley Melendres spotlights USC’s only student-led collegiate mariachi band, Mariachi Los Troyanos de USC.
Playing for my own graduation ceremony this past spring was a surreal moment, and a reflection on how far the Mariachi Los Troyanos de USC, affectionately called Los Troyanos, had come. The group was founded in fall of 2021 by three friends (two classical guitarists and a violinist) in an empty classroom. In just a few years, Los Troyanos has grown to over 40 members and performed everywhere from Disney Imagineering’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration to the USC Festival of Books, to earning back-to-back victories at USC’s Songfest.
With the background out of the way, let’s talk about what it’s like to start a club, and be in a performance group, as a music student at USC. I was one of the two classical guitarists in that empty classroom in fall 2021, served as treasurer for a few years, and I am still a proud member of the Mariachi! The Thornton School of Music was instrumental in this process, as my guitar teacher, William Kanengiser, agreed to be our club’s original advisor. While there are multiple Thornton majors in the Mariachi, the club is made up of members from all sorts of different majors. So, it is a great opportunity for Thornton students to perform with non-music majors and meet friends from across the school.
Once the club was up and running, performance requests came quickly. My friends and I played all over the school and city, and with each gig, we grew more confident and sounded better. We began adding new pieces to our repertoire, and our rehearsal time turned from once a week to twice a week. While it may seem hard to balance rehearsals and gigs with school, it really isn’t at all. Everyone knows school comes first, and if someone needs to miss rehearsal to study, it’s no big deal! The culmination of being a member of Los Troyanos was performing at my own graduation back in May (for context, I double majored in classical guitar and neuroscience, so even though I graduated in May, I still have one last semester to finish up some degree requirements). The performance was coordinated no differently than any other gig: a coordinator for the graduation day reached out and asked the Mariachi to play a 20-minute set. We agreed almost immediately. But emotionally, this performance was more than a normal gig for many of our senior members who had watched the club grow for the past four years.
The Mariachi is the embodiment of student success at USC. The school and broader LA community welcomed us with open arms, and the club has flourished over the past four years. I spoke with the President of the Mariachi, Evelyn Franco, about what being a part of Los Troyanos meant to her:
“I am proud to be the President of Mariachi Los Troyanos because I feel that it is more than just a title. I am representing a culture that I hold dear to my heart and have the privilege of sharing with the world. I feel that I have become a cultural steward who has had trust placed in my hands by my peers to guide our group, make thoughtful decisions, and ensure our ensemble thrives both artistically and organizationally.”
The Mariachi couldn’t have grown as much as it has without the support of USC, and especially the Latino Alumni Association. Our first rehearsal space was La Casa, an organization dedicated to “empowerment through cultural identity, leadership and social consciousness development, as well as community building for undergraduate and graduate students at USC”. As our group grew, so did our outreach. More and more event coordinators at USC reached out inquiring about performances, and as students learned about the Mariachi, enrollment skyrocketed. The trajes (traditional Mariachi attire) were designed by the members of Los Troyanos and paid for thanks to generous donations from various members of the Latino Alumni Association.
As we celebrate the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, Mariachi Los Troyanos is proud to continue cementing itself into the school’s legacy as a student run performance group and one of the many student organizations at USC.
