ALL IN THE MARIACHI FAMILY: MEMPHIS FAMILY BAND PERFORMS AT CAPE GIRARDEAU, JACKSON RESTAURANTS

The guitarist fingered the strings during a traditional Mexican song.

Beneath the decorations of sombreros, matador posters and brightly colored papier-mache parrots, 7-1/2-year old Rohan Bhatia of Atlanta, Ga., sits with his uncle, Vijay Bhatia of Cape Girardeau, tapping his foot, smiling broadly and singing along with the music.

At a nearby table, a little girl in a highchair reaches out to strum the Mexican bass, known as a guitarron, before grabbing hold and not letting go of the violin.

Later, in another section of the restaurant, Maria Paula Jaurez and Maria Elena Bonilla, both of Cape Girardeau but originally from Mexico and Colombia respectively, rise from their chairs and dance about the floor to the familiar beat and much loved strains of their native Latin music. It reminds them, they say, of their homelands.

Their feet have been set dancing and their toes tapping by the music of Mariachi Guadalajara, a four-man musical ensemble from Memphis that performs at El Torero Mexican Restaurant in Cape Girardeau every other Friday night.

Although the band has only played together professionally for two years, their music sounds as if they have been together a lifetime, perhaps because they have. Three of the four band members are brothers. The fourth member -- gray-haired trumpet player Rafael Valenzuela -- is their father.

In addition to Rafael on trumpet, the band is made up of Abraham on the violin, Pedro on the guitarron and Rafael, Jr., on the vihuela, a five-string rhythm guitar.

The sharply contrasting sounds of these instruments along with the frequent shifting between syncopation and on-beat rhythm combine to give mariachi music its unique sound. It is a sound that has been the heart and soul of Mexican music for a hundred years.

The roots of mariachi actually date back hundreds of years, but its present form can be traced to the town of Cocula in the Mexican state of Jalisco in the late 19th century. Since then, the music has become central to the life and culture of the Mexican people.

It has even been incorporated into the Roman Catholic Mass. The Misa Panamericana is a mariachi folk Mass that is sung in Spanish and uses traditional instruments.

Mariachi Guadalajara captures that traditional feeling of Mexico not only in their music, but also in the authentic clothes and shoes the band members wear. At the end of each year, the band members return to their native Mexico to update their wardrobe.

Still, most important is the music.

Moving from table to table to serenade the customers as they dine, Mariachi Guadalajara asks for requests. When one woman asks if they will play "Blue Spanish Eyes" they agree, but only, they say, if she will dance to it. When the song pushes into the lowest regions of their vocal ranges, the three brothers don't strain. Instead, they smile and bend their knees, as if dipping down low will help them reach the notes.

"It is not really a traditional mariachi song," Pedro later admits, "but we try to be flexible and play what people request."

As if to prove the point, the group lapses into the opening bars of an old Ozzy Osborne tune when someone jokingly asks for it.

"Sometimes you will hear musicians and sometimes entertainers," says Barney Hartline of Cape Girardeau. "These guys are special because they can do both. They can play music and entertain."

Hartline should know. As one of the hosts of "Your Folk Connection" on radio station KRCU, Hartline has played music on his own as well as listened to countless other musicians.

"I like music of any style as long as it's done well," he states. "These guys do it well."

The quality of their music has made Mariachi Guadalajara a popular draw not only in Cape Girardeau, but in several communities within driving range of their homes in Memphis. They are regularly featured artists in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence, Alabama and Tupelo, Miss. They require only that they be able to be back home in Memphis each night.

In addition, they play, sing and dance at numerous private parties throughout the Memphis area, working usually 5 to 6 nights a week. They stand in a long tradition of the mariachi, to help celebrate the great moments in people's lives.

"We are there for all the important times of life -- when people are born, get married, divorce, and die," Pedro says. "We celebrate everything with our music."