Press Release
Contact:
Ginny Morgan (510) 499-2222
Email: operachipublicity@yahoo.com
ANNOUNCING THE RELEASE OF THE MARIACHI VOICE, AN OXFORD PUBLICATION BY OPERACHI SONGSTRESS DR. JUANITA ULLOA
Written by SINGER/PROFESSOR OF VOICE and creator of the “Operachi” style, a crossover style between classical and Mariachi training.
STOCKTON, CA. November 22, 2024. Operachi songstress and scholar Dr. Juanita Ulloa announces the release of her book, The Mariachi Voice, published by Oxford University Press.
What are They Saying About The Mariachi Voice?
The Mariachi Voice is a compendium and the first book of its kind. Dr. Juanita Ulloa originally wrote the book to provide more women access to some of the vocal training specific to mariachi that she could never find. It turned into a much bigger project that took eight years. Along the way, she discovered the world’s first three-act ranchera opera MARIACHE (ca. 1928) by Antonio Gomezanda, which to date, has never been performed, along with other Mexican song gems. In The Mariachi Voice the songstress offers over 400 pages of vocal insights, also including artist interviews with award winning mariachi voice artists including one of her idols, Linda Ronstadt and two grandchildren of Jorge Negrete who are professional singers themselves.
What is mariachi or ranchera song? It is a folk tradition dating back to the 1830s along the West Coast of Mexico up to San Francisco, California (then part of Mexico). Mariachi is immediately recognizable through powerful, expressive singers dressed in black holding big sombreros. Mariachi repertoire is recognized worldwide by UNESCO as a symbol of Mexico, and its singing style and song canon is a vibrant and essential part of the identity of many in the USA’s Hispanic population of over 41 million native Spanish speakers, not to mention its popularity in 26 Spanish speaking countries around the globe.
The Mariachi Voice offers an informative and practical resource for aspiring and professional singers, mariachi directors, voice professors, historians, and all fans of Mexico and Mariachi who want to immerse themselves in this fascinating and powerful world that produces a rich vocal sound rivaling any opera stage.
Singers learn about performing with costumes authentic to each region in Mexico, stage make-up, how to read music bilingually and in both solfege and letter-based notation, 20 songs with a chapter on Mexican Spanish Diction, and proper use of the microphone and the stage for interpretation. For those more advanced, Dr. Ulloa analyzes similarities and differences between classical and Mariachi voice training and singing styles. Classroom-tested lesson plans are provided for mariachi voice technique and history. Ulloa especially champions how to train female mariachi singers for long careers and recognizes the unsung contributions of many female singers and songwriters alongside the men. This is a departure from traditional mariachi, originally a male-based tradition that, even today, prefers to maintain all male versus mixed mariachi ensembles, although many all-female groups have emerged. Luckily, both female and male soloists have abound, and Dr. Ulloa brings the conditions for female singers and songwriters to light.
THE MARIACHI VOICE (ISBN-10-0190846240, ISBN-13-978-0190846244) hardback is $99.00 and paperback is $34.95 (347pages). An electronic version of the book will be soon announced.
Amazon at https://amazon.com/Mariachi-Voice-Juanita-Ulloa/dp/0190846232 or from
Oxford University Press at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-mariachi-voice-9780190846237?q=ULLOA&lang=en&cc=us.
What are They Saying About The Mariachi Voice?
About Dr. Juanita Ulloa:
The Operachi songstress has been reviewed alongside Santana as “an artist in a niche of her own” by Hispanic Magazine.
Dr. Juanita Ulloa is an Operachi songstress, Professor of Voice, ADDY Award-Winning voice-over actress, scholar, author, pianist, and songwriter. She has offered solo concerts in Spain, Latin America, and the United States for over three decades. Juanita Ulloa highlights the beauty, diversity, and power of Mexican and Latin American vocal traditions, of which she has unparalleled knowledge. She champions songs and lyrics by women and features this message through national and international concerts. She earned the title of Musical Ambassador representing Mexico at Mexican Consulate events. She has appeared as a soloist at international Olympic and major stadiums, arts centers, festivals, adjudication for competitions, concerts, master classes, and Latin Pops symphonies.
Dr. Ulloa is a six-time vocal and songwriting winner of Festival de la canciόn latinamericana, has 7 CDs of award-winning mariachi and Latin American songs, and has won classical National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions in Colorado and Wyoming. In 2020, she introduced mariachi singing as a commercial vocal category at two chapters for the NATS in Northern California and Cal-Western Regional NATS. She has inspired many students to compete and win at local and regional levels in NATS, as National Champions of Mariachi Extravaganza, American Idol, and the White House. As a scholar, she has presented on mariachi singers at national NATS conferences since 2010. Dr. Ulloa has served on the Grammy board and is currently on the Advisory Board and Diversity Committee for the San Francisco Chapter of NATS. Ms. Ulloa continues her own longtime vocal training with Jane Randolph, with past work on zarzuela in Madrid with Ana Maria de Iriarte, and Spanish art song work in France with Dalton Baldwin.
Raised in Mexico City, Panama, and Spain, she calls Mexico home, with an alternate base in California. Dr. Ulloa has two award-winning mariachi/bolero recordings with Mujeres & Mariachi and Canta mi son! mariachi for families. Canta conmigo is a separate five-CD series dedicated to bilingual topics for children (some with matching songbooks) available at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5cMzzdABemSUXCOAKDKUoR and CDBaby.com. Her discs have won regional Parent’s Council, Disney, NAPPA, and Parent’s Choice awards. She edited and published 3 volumes of Mexican art songs and rancheras by nationalist Antonio Gomezanda as sheet music, all available at Classical Vocal Reprints at www.classicalvocalrep.com. Dr. Ulloa is the first to publish on The Mariachi Voice in the popular book series So You Want to Sing World Music: A Guide for Performers in 2019, sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), available at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538112281/So-You-Want-to-Sing-World-Music-A-Guide-for-Performers.
Dr. Ulloa holds music degrees from Yale University and UC Berkeley and a Doctorate in Vocal Performance and Hispanic Studies from the University of Northern Colorado. She is certified in the three levels of Somatic Voicework for commercial singing, specializing in Mexican and Latin American songs, and is a court-certified Spanish linguist. The songstress has adjudicated voice and mariachi at national festivals and has served on music faculties at the University of Texas at El Paso, Texas State University, Northwest Vista College, and Austin Community College, and piano accompaniment at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Dr. Ulloa is a Professor of Voice at Laney Community College and San Joaquin Delta Community College in Northern California and maintains a vibrant national private voice studio (in person/online) while touring, offering master classes, concerts, and workshops.
Sign up at www.juanitamusic.com; Operachipublicity@gmail.com.
Her book, The Mariachi Voice, published by Oxford University Press, is now available through Oxford University Press, Amazon, and other locations where quality books are sold.
Ginny Morgan, Publicist for Dr. Juanita Ulloa
Email: operachipublicity@yahoo.com
Telephone: (510) 499-2222
FB: Ulloa.juanita.37