High school uses Mexican guitar to motivate students

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC
Los Lobos guitarist Louie Perez tunes up with students learning jarana at Frida Kahlo High School.
Jan. 29, 2010 | Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC

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As Los Angeles Unified School District administrators are set to transfer dozens of campuses this year to non-profit groups that propose new methods to improve learning, the district's Frida Kahlo High School boasts of progress through an innovative East Coast model that got the thumbs up from a Grammy-winning musician this week.

Seventeen-year-old Moises Martinez said he led a gang life in the streets surrounding Kahlo High, near the Harbor and Santa Monica Freeway interchange. "I started gang banging at the age of 12. In a local neighborhood called Primera Flats over here, you can see I’m all tatted out. I got into the gang really deep. I was locked up for four months."

CA/Local News

Inside the continuation high school he discovered that the jarana, a ukelele-sized guitar from Mexico, could help him leave that life. "This is a song called 'La Iguana,' we have barely learned it like two months ago and I really like it, I like playing it a lot, so I’m going to play the first part of it."

His tattoos blur as his forearm moves up and down, strumming the guitar's eight strings.

Kahlo High, named after the late Mexican surrealist painter, is run under a so-called interest-based learning model developed by a Rhode Island organization, Big Picture Learning. High school principal Enrique Gonzalez said it tries to find culturally relevant lessons that’ll hook students on learning. "We chose the jarana because it is of the people, it’s call and response from the pueblitos in Veracruz and it’s a genre of music that even in Mexico is not that popular, yet it’s so culturally sensitive to the needs of people that are struggling to survive just as they are in South L.A. or Los Angeles in general."

Gonzalez and the teachers struggle to offer role models the working class students can relate to. They found one in Los Lobos guitarist Louie Perez. In the school’s auditorium, the East L.A. native told nearly 200 students that he grew up in similar circumstances to theirs 40 years ago. "There was a liquor store around the corner, there was a tortilleria around the corner which was kind of cool, and there was a sweatshop, there was a lot of stuff going on and it was kind of a rough neighborhood."

Music helped him survive and thrive. It’s a passion his mother sparked when she took him to the Million Dollar Theater in downtown L.A. when he was eight years old. "There was this mariachi that looked like there were 40 dudes up there, you know what I’m talking about, and they did this big fanfare and the main signer who I think was Antonio Aguilar or Miguel Aceves Mejia, or something like that, came on stage on a big white horse."

Seeing that singer belt out ranchera songs on horseback left a deep impression of the power of music and performance.

During a question-and-answer period, students asked Perez what inspired his song lyrics and how much money he makes. One student wanted to know about a hit song Los Lobos recorded several years before he was born. Perez said they'd heard an older version while growing up. "We always heard 'La Bamba,' you know by Ritchie Valens, when I was a kid we’d listen to 45s, listen to Smokey Robinson, oldies but goodies."

Louie Perez and his bandmates found out the song had centuries-old roots in coastal Mexico – and that the little guitar from Veracruz, the jarana, provided its heartbeat.

He ended the talk by inviting six jarana students, the teacher – a native of Veracruz – to play with him a version of the older and arguably better version of “La Bamba.”

It was just another day of interest-based learning at L.A.’s Frida Kahlo High School.

Sergio
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Mr. Lopez this is crappy reporting. This is great all it does is makes one feel all warm and fuzzy. But I hardly think this will really help any student face the rigors of todays global economy. As a first generation hispanic born in Mexico, and raised in the California you and all those like you do not speak for me. Kids still need an education based on sound learning techniques. Lets not get into the whole gang culture, we know why it happens. Parents being irresponsible and having kids that they cannot afford. As a college graduate with a BA and MS. I love my roots and musical culture and all. but come on how about some real reporting like why dont parents take time to teach their children better principals and morals so that they dont even think about going into gangs and they stayed motivated for much more nobel reasons. Like pride in ones family so that kids dont end up in prison or jail. Why dont you do some better reporting on some real issues that the hispanic community faces today?
I agree music can motivate one to learn, I know I can play the flute and violin although science is my passion and enables me to make a decent living as a scientist. The world still is going to need engineers, scientist, doctors, and lawyers. There are thousands of hispanics in these professional fields making a difference in the global scene, why dont you take your liberal blinders off for once. Report on some real issues!! Articles like this foster the Huarachudo mentality.

Jennifer
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Yes, there was an error in the reporting, but not the parent-bashing, racist vitriol described in the message above.

Guzman-Lopez states that LAUSD administrators "are set to transfer dozens of campuses this year to non-profit groups." No, LAUSD is not "set" to transfer control of the campus. It is currently reviewing applications from non-profit groups, as well as schools, to run these new and low-performing schools. It is not automatic that the District will choose the nonprofits to run the schools. Many schools have submitted strong proposals that will probably be very competitive.

Sal
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Relax Sergio,
I am sure they teach more that the jarana at this school. We are always complaining that there are not enough funds for arts education, yet here is a school that is doing it, and if they can positively impact this child, who is learning a musical instrument as opposed to running the streets with gangs, committing crimes, and costing taxpayers to house him in prison, then I would consider this program a success. Maybe in the future this and other children will also gain a new found love for learning in general, maybe even a love of science. I don't see how teaching kids music is any worse than a Math or Science Club. Why shouldn't the children of Los Angeles be able to enjoy both???????

armando lawrence
1 month, 1 week ago

I am one of many that provides services to the Frida Kahlo High School Community & Family. There is much more going on at this school than what the reporter could squeeze in there. Moises is involved in a lot more programs than just the Jarocho music class. He Is, among other things, a gradutate of our Joven Noble ( Male Rights of Passage/and Responsibility) program, which teaches young men the importance of "Palabra" , Keeping ones Word, Not Harming thier Circle,Takeing Responsibility for ones actions, & Being a Positive Example. The music classes enhances and contributes to one seeing the Manny Possibilities that Exist. Call the school and make an appoitment, check it out for your selves. Gracias, Thank You!

Armando Lawrence
1 month, 1 week ago

I just wanted to add, i am providing services at FKHS on behalf of my community agency Bienvenidos, located in East Los Angeles. In addition to this Male Responsibility program, we also provide the CLARITY program which assist young ladies with an opportunity to build ones self-esteem, have a good self image and learn of the opportunies that are all around them. Bienvenidos also provides the "Peer Health Education program , HIV Presetations, and the SAFE program which works with youth and thier families in a Prevetion Education model revolving around Substance -Abuse & Risky Sexual Behaviors. Many of the parents are involved in this school, a big key to the succes at Frida. There are other programs as well, dedicated teachers, staff & Principal. The whole curriculum approach is unique, known as the Big Picture Schools Program. The Principal is Mr. Gonzalez, 213-763-1090.

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