Two teen brothers in Texas mariachi band are released from ICE custody amid bipartisan criticism<\/a><\/p>\nGideon Perkins has qualified as one of just nine college finalists in the Mariachi Extravaganza National Vocal Competition in Las Vegas, a major showcase for mariachi performers from across the country scheduled for March 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perkins, who now performs locally and studies at TAMU-CC, said the opportunity could mark an important step in his musical journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t see myself ever stopping mariachi,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThis is definitely something that I want to pursue for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Music is often called a universal language \u2014 a phrase that rings especially true for Perkins.<\/p>\n
Although he performs traditional Spanish-language songs, Perkins said he is not fully fluent in Spanish and grew up in an English-speaking household, something that has pushed him to work harder on mastering the music.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it often works in my favor, because I’m able to surprise people and show them the work that I’ve put in and the amount of care and detail that I give to this music,\u201d Perkins said.<\/p>\n
Perkins first discovered mariachi after his family moved to Harlingen. His high school orchestra director encouraged him to audition for the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s All-Region Mariachi ensemble \u2014 an experience that helped shape his musical path.<\/p>\n
The first year he auditioned, Perkins narrowly missed making the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first year I tried out, I actually didn\u2019t make it,\u201d he said. \u201cI made first alternate, which means if someone gets sick they\u2019ll bump you up. Sure enough, that actually happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was called up to perform in a concert in Weslaco, Perkins said the experience cemented his love for mariachi.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since then, I\u2019ve just kept at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His talent also stood out to fellow musicians.<\/p>\n
Edmundo Leal, Perkins\u2019 bandmate in Mariachi Mexicanismo, said he was immediately impressed when they met at Del Mar College.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just saw this young and hungry musician, full of life and full of talent and knowledge,\u201d Leal said. \u201cI wish I had half the talent he had and knowledge he has at his age. It took me years to get that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Perkins hopes to represent Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend at the national competition in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
He said the performance would be an opportunity to highlight the region\u2019s mariachi heritage on a larger stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas obviously is a huge place for mariachi, but sometimes Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend get overlooked a little bit,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThis is a chance to show that this is an important area with mariachi and history too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gideon Perkins is 1 of 9 college students nationally to qualify for the Mariachi Extravaganza National Vocal Competition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-197427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}