My name is Michael Tejada. I am a 17 year old vocalist and harpist from Stockton, CA. I’ve been playing harp for about a year and a half and have been singing my whole life. I like to play harp to Rancheras and Sones Jarochos mostly but can play many styles with Mariachi. I plan to make a career out of playing with local Mariachi’s as well as starting my own local Jarocho group. I began playing harp influenced by the beautiful music that my mom’s cousin Javier Godinez played. He was a harpist who started his career his his home town of Mexito City playing jarana with famous groups such as Los Nacionales de Jacinto Gatica and Los Riberenos de Ruben Vazquez.
After his tragic passing in 2005, I began to listen more to the recordings my grandfather had and started to fall in love with harp. I took lessons from William Faulkner, renowned Mariachi harpist and later my grandma bought me my first harp from my aunt Myrna which was Javier’s most recently purchased harp. Since then I took the basics of playing that I learned from Mr. Faulkner and built on them. Now, I love playing and performing with my harp and singing more than anything. Music truly is my life.
