Leonel “La Chona” Mendoza, harp
Rafael “Caña” Farías, violín
Fernando “Perico” Amezcua, violín
Elías Francisco “Pancho” Cárdenas, vihuela

Today’s arpa grande musical tradition is both old and new. The sound of the large harp (arpa grande), regional guitars, two violins, and full-throated, high-pitched vocals goes back to the late 19th century in the hot, agricultural lowlands and foothills of the states of Michoacán and Jalisco, the riverplain known to locals as El Plan. An older, all-string musical cousin of the modern mariachi, it has a repertoire that embraces centuries-old social dance tunes called sones, old and new ranchera (country) songs, other pan-Mexican song genres, and more. Today, more than a dozen conjuntos de arpa grande are active from Central California to Washington State’s Yakima Valley. An acoustic music tradition rooted in Mexican colonial history, confined for at least 150 years to its rural home in farm and ranchlands of the western state of Michoacán, it not only survived into the first decades of the 21st century, but enjoys a vibrant resurgence within the Mexican community, especially in the western United States.

The music of Los Originarios del Plan (“Natives of El Plan”) is as deeply traditional as it is contemporary. Their instrumental and vocal styles hold true to the signature sound of their region: straightforward, minimal-vibrato violin playing, percussive vihuela accompaniment, and strikingly high, unadorned vocal delivery. The music is in great demand among Mexican communities throughout the West for birthdays, weddings, baptisms, quinceañeras, and other special occasions. These musicians play what their listeners request: fast-paced sones planecos (sones from El Plan), rancheras, huapangos, humor-laced valonas, corridos, and an occasional slower bolero.

The members of Los Originarios del Plan embody the story of the conjunto de arpa grande tradition today. All four were raised in the cultural cradle of the music, either in Michoacán or in Michoacán communities in the United States, and all have strong family roots around the municipalities of Tepalcatepec, Aguililla, and Coalcomán in the El Plan region. The youngest member is leader and phenomenal harpist Leonel “La Chona” Mendoza Acevedo. Leonel was born in 1993 in the municipality of Aquila into in a family of arpa grande musicians. He moved with his family to Coalcomán at the age of two, and five years later, to the San Joaquin Valley of California. In the U.S., he and his brother Víctor learned music from his disciplinarian father, Clemente Mendoza Castañeda, also a multi-instrumentalist. He showed extraordinary talent as a youth, playing harp and both types of guitar used in the music: five-stringed vihuela and five-stringed jarana. By 2010, his reputation had spread to the extent that when a master harpist was unable to join his group from Michoacán appearing at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., 16-year-old Leonel stood in as a guest artist, impressing audiences with his skilled musicianship.

Violinists Rafael “Caña” Farías Valencia and Fernando “Perico” Amezcua Sandoval boast an enormous repertoire of more than a thousand tunes played in two-part harmony. Rafael’s life began on the La Cañita ranch (the source of his nickname “Caña”) in the municipality of Coalcomán. When Rafael showed talent for music, his violinist father gave him a violin. He discovered that he liked music much more than ranch work and eventually relocated to Aguililla to play in mariachi and arpa grande groups there. Over time, he learned vihuela and trumpet as well. His urge to explore the world and to work in music took him first to the Yakima Valley of Washington state in 1997, where he joined many family members and friends from his home ranch, including his musician brothers. In 2001, he relocated to California, where he played with Leonel’s uncles Reynaldo and Benito before becoming part of Los Originarios del Plan. Fernando Amezcua’s violinist father was from across the Jalisco state border on Los Copales ranch, but he moved to tierra caliente (“hotlands,” another term for El Plan), met Fernando’s mother, and settled in Tepalcatepec. He played in the group Los Marineros de Tepalcatepec, and at some point, the children of the ensemble’s musicians started their own youth group. Eight-year-old Fernando was the youngest member, having picked up the violin at age six. He was so small in stature that he would have to get up on a chair or stool to play. Eventually, he relocated to the United States, where they worked playing mariachi music. After laboring in the fields of the Yakima area, he remembers his first day in the San Joaquin Valley of California: “I went to work playing for customers in the bars. And in one night, I earned $150, the amount I earned in a week of working in the fields. I said, ‘Wow, it’s great here!’”

Elías Francisco “Pancho” Cárdenas Licea drives the rhythm with his vihuela playing. He was born in Jilotlán, Jalisco, and raised in Coalcomán, Michoacán. He remembers starting on a guitar that was “bigger than I was” when he was seven years old and soon started playing “professionally” with a young cousin; they would go to the cantinas and charge for the songs they played for the customers. Then they would spend their earnings going to the matinée movies and buying popcorn and a soda. Violinist Fernando says of Pancho, “Pancho is a thousand- uses musician! He plays the electric bass very well. He plays his vihuela, his guitar, and the guitarrón very well. Yeah, he’s an all-around musician.”