Socorro High School Wins 3rd Annual Mariachi Battle of the Bands for the Second Year!
EL PASO & LAS CRUCES – May 1, 2008 – Cricket Communications, Inc, a leading provider of unlimited wireless services, announced today the winners of the third annual Mariachi Battle of the Bands competition and fiesta.
The grand prize winners are Mariachi Los Gavilanes from Socorro High School. They won $1,000 for their school. This is the second year they win first place. Second place went to Mariachi Azteca from El Dorado High School, winning $500. Mariachi Tolteca also from El Dorado High School won third place and received $250.
“All the Mariachi bands and the ballet folklórico were amazing. We had a great turn out and would like to thank the El Paso community for coming out and supporting our youth,” said Regan Anderson, district director for Cricket in El Paso and Las Cruces. “We wish all of these gifted teenagers the very best in the future.”
Judges looked at the tone quality, pitch, rhythm, intonation, memorization, musicianship and costumes. Winners were determined on a point scale.
Five Mariachi groups from area high schools competed, each performing three songs. The free competition took place at the Fox Plaza Shopping Center parking lot at 5579 Alameda. Eastwood High School’s Ballet Folklórico Nuevo Amanecer also performed.
Manuel Ramirez, Juan Jose Uribe, and Ramiro Gonzalez from the Las Cruces Internacional Mariachi Conference were this year’s judges. Manuel Ramirez is a vocalist, guitar, vihuela and guitarron player with Mariachi Real de Jalisco. He was the founder and director of Mariachi Alegre from 1994 to 1999 and Mariachi Aztlan from 1999 to 2005. Juan Jose Uribe is a vocalist and guitar and guitarron player with Mariachi Tapatio. He has been in the mariachi business for 10 years. Ramiro Gonzalez has been singing mariachi music for the past 20 years. He was chosen by the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference to sing at its third annual showcase.
Cricket also gave El Pasoans the opportunity to register to vote and to learn more about the voting process through a partnership with Declare Yourself, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter initiative aimed at empowering and encouraging America’s 18-year-olds to register and vote in the 2008 general elections.
About Cricket®
Cricket is a simple, affordable wireless service offering consumers and local businesses a flat-rate unlimited service over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Designed for customers whose basic and advanced wireless needs have not been met by traditional communications companies, Cricket is the pioneer of unlimited services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required. Cricket offers customers access to a variety of the latest devices and feature-rich mobile applications such as unlimited text, instant and picture messaging, Mobile Web, popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket services are offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.
