Campanas de America (lit. 'Bells of America') is a twelve-piece musical ensemble mariachi band founded in 1978 in San Antonio, Texas. The band name is a pun on the name of Belle Ortiz, the wife of the band's musical director and manager Juan Ortiz and herself an advocate and pioneer of mariachi music education in the U.S.[1] They have performed nationwide, and continue with an active recording career.
Expanding in style from traditional mariachi sounds, the band also uses more diverse instruments including the accordion, keyboards, and a full drum kit. They are the only mariachi band to display an instrument at the Hard Rock Cafe.[2]
In 1996 the band appeared at The Presidential Hispanic Inaugural Gala in honor of the re-election of Bill Clinton, in Washington, D.C.
In 1999, the band reached a wide audience when they appeared on the PBS music television program Austin City Limits, on an episode spotlighting various Mexican roots music performers, in which the band performed as backup for a duet by singer Rick Trevino and his father.[3]
On September 13, 1999, the band performed on the Millennium Stage of the Grand Foyer at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and returned the next year as well, on September 6, 2000.[4]
