Arts Division
Assistant Professor
Faculty
Music Center
Music Center 285
1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Music Center
Rodríguez began his education at home and in his community learning Mexican folk dance and music. In 1974 he began his first music apprenticeship with Artemio Posadas learning son huasteco and son jarocho. By the age of 18 he was working full-time as a mariachi music in the South Bay Area. During the 1980s and 90s Rodríguez was also sought after to perform and do workshops at folk festivals in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In 1992, he returned to his studies, transferring into Santa Clara University and receiving a BS in anthropology. After playing a stint in Puerto Rico, Rodríguez was accepted into the Latin American Studies program at Stanford University where he worked with Renato Rosaldo and received a Master of Arts. In 1998 he began his doctoral studies at UC Santa Cruz, completing his dissertation under the guidance of Dr. Olga Nájera-Ramírez. In 2007 Rodríguez became a UC Presidents Postdoctoral Fellow, which provided an opportunity for him to work with George Lipsitz at UC Santa Barbara. Prior to joining the Music Department at UCSC, Rodríguez worked in the public sector with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts as a program manager, working closely to communities of color, immigrants, refugees engaged in cultural and traditional practices.
My research interests include Mexican folk music, Chicano music, mariachi, son jarocho, cultural production, communal music practice, convivencia (convivial interaction), accompaniment, participatory performance, performance
2023 The American Folklore Society Américo Paredes Prize.
2020 The University of California, Santa Cruz: Academic Senate Excellence in Teaching Award.
2007 The University of California President Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mentor George Lipsitz at University of California, Santa Barbara.
2005 American Anthropology Association Minority Dissertation Fellowship.
2005 University of California, Santa Cruz President Dissertation Fellowship.
2002 The University of California Consortium on Mexico and the United States, UC-MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant.
1999 University of California, Santa Cruz Anthropology Travel Award.
1999 University of California, Santa Cruz Chicano Latino Research Center Summer Award.
1998 University of California, Santa Cruz Cota-Robles Fellowship.
1979 National Endowment for the Arts - Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant to study son jarocho with master musician Artemio Posadas.
2025 “Ay, ay, ay, ay, Canta Y No Compones: Mariachi Performance and Composition.” A public lecture for The Southwest Center and Fronteridades at Arizona University March 27, 2025.
2024 “Ay, ay, ay, ay, Canta Y No Compones: Mariachi Performance and Composition.” Phillips Barry Lecture for the American Folklore Society, Sponsored by the Music and Song Section, November 8, 2024.
2023 “From Colonialsim to Conviviality: Mariachi Transmission and Performance,” delivered at the American Folklore Society (AFS) annual meeting, Portland, Oregon, (November).
2022 “Fandango y Convivencia: A Participatory Engagement in Music Making,” delivered at the World Languages and Cultures’ Festival of Languages, Culture, and Ideas at Cal State Monterey Bay (March 17).
2021 “Taloneando: Mariachi Apprenticeship in the Rise of Institutional Pedagogy,” delivered (virtual) for the American Folklore Society (AFS) annual meeting (October).
2019 “The Mexican Mariachi: Integrating the Popular into Ritual?,” delivered at the Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM) annual meeting, Bloomington, Indiana (November).
2013 “Mariachi UCLAtlán and the legacy of Jesus ‘Don Chuy’ Sanchez: A Hidden Transcript,” delivered for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Mariachi UCLAtlán at the Institute of Ethnomusicology, UCLA
2023 “Mariachi Accompaniment: Cultural Bearers for Communal Conviviality.” Twentieth-Century Music. Published online 2023:1-29. doi:10.1017/S1478572223000038. Journal publication Twentieth-Century Music. Vol. 21, Issue 2, June 2024, pp. 180-208.
2015 “Mariachi,” in Iconic Mexico: An Encyclopedia from Acapulco to Zócalo. Ed. Eric Zolov. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO Greenwood.
2012 with George Lipsitz “Turning Hegemony On its Head: The Insurgent Knowledge of Américo Paredes.” Journal of American Folklore. Special edition dedicated to the work of Américo Paredes. Ed. John McDowell. Vol. 125, No. 495 (Winter), pp. 111-125. Published By: University of Illinois Press.
2010 “Politics of Aesthetics: Mariachi Music in the United States.” Inside the Latin@ Experience: A LatinoStudies Anthology. Ed. NormaCantú and Maria Fránquiz. New York: Palgrave.
2009 “Folklórico in the United States: Cultural Preservation and Disillusion.” Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos. Ed. Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Norma Cantu, and Brenda Romero, Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
2025 Rasquache Liberation Front, Chris Gonzalez Clarke and the Rasquache Liberation Front. Produced by Steve Berlin, Digital Release Border Sessions.
2020 Macario. Produced recording of the original music composed for the theatrical version of B. Traven’s novella Macario that I developed in 2013. Co-Produced by Teatro Vision.
2016 El Camino. Andres Flores y Los Hijos de José. Worked on this recording as a composer, arranger, musician, and engineer. Produced by Greg Landau. Round Whirled Records.
2010 The Storm that Swept Mexico. Contributed original compositions and recorded various traditional selections aspart of the score. Producer Ray Telles, Musical Director Pete Sears, Produced by Paradigm Productions and Independent Television Service.
2010 Danza Folklórica Escénica: El Sello Artístico de Rafael Zamarripa. Associate producer, musical director, andcomposer of original selections. Produced by Olga Nájera-Ramírez.
1999 Radio Chón. Premier release for Chicano ensemble Los Otros. Composer, arranger, and musician. San Francisco: Son del Barrio Music.
