Meet 7YO 'Mariachi Mateo', the world’s youngest mariachi musician

The bilingual second grader has been performing since he was four years and 236 days old, a mark that earned him recognition as the world’s youngest mariachi by Guinness World Records. – Photos: Mateo Lopez/Instagram

Mateo Lopez tugged at the collar of his shirt and wrenched his neck, as if to free his voice. Then, as violins slashed behind him and guitars rippled before him in a rehearsal room at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, he belted out La Noche y Tu, concluding with a flourish that prompted shouts of “Eso! Eso!” (Right on!)

Like many mariachi musicians, Mateo treasures his Mexican heritage and loves singing songs about romance, a mother’s love, pleas for forgiveness and life and death in the countryside. But because Mateo is only seven, he also likes throwing baseballs or seeing how fast he can run from one end of a hallway to the other.