NACHA CORDERO SEVERED ONE OF HER FINGERS when she was seven. Her mother and father had to work overtime to pay for the medical expenses, while she desperately missed her favorite thing – playing the plastic guitar her father had bought for her. Then, one day, she left the guitar in the window, and the New Mexico sun melted it. Her dad patched it with plastic from a soda bottle, and everyone waited for the finger to heal.
When it did, her mother found a patient teacher who worked with her disability. Mr. Garcia was a house painter by day and ran the Joy Drive-In theater in Anthony, New Mexico.
“I learned early on of the value of music lessons, mentors, and teachers. And I also realized the importance of having the means to pursue music education,” she says.
Nacha went on to a hugely successful career as an opera singer, flamenco guitarist, and composer of eclectic Pan-Latin style songs. She plays regularly in Santa Fe, performing under her grandmother’s name, Nacha Mendez.
Given all of this, I guess it’s no surprise that, last year, she started the Nacha Mendez Music Scholarship for New Mexican Girls of Color.
Last year, you launched a music scholarship for New Mexican girls.
In 2018, I was awarded the New Mexico Platinum Music Lifetime Achievement Award.
My brother took me out to celebrate and said, This is a really big deal! What do you do to top it? I said I didn’t know, and he said, How about starting a scholarship? I thought, Great idea!
Unfortunately, he passed away soon after that. And then came COVID, and I thought, Man, I could walk out my door and not come back. I need to do this.
So I reached out to a friend, Mary Madigan, who is an arts administrator, and she helped me launch the Nacha Mendez Music Scholarship.
We did a fundraiser last July at Museum Hill Cafe and made enough to do a first round of scholarships. People were incredibly generous. I assembled a group of musicians and art educators from the New Mexico School for the Arts, from the Mandela school, and from the public schools, and they became the committee that chose the winners.
Well, we were reviewing the applicants and were supposed to pick two winners. But there were seven girls we couldn’t pick between – they all had something to contribute. So we gave them all scholarships!
The scholarship is for New Mexican girls of color, 8-15 years old, who are disadvantaged financially. I believe in the powerful healing potential of music. People ask me, When you gave away these scholarships, are you asking for any receipts or accountability for how they’re gonna use the money? No. This is the honor system. If there is a real need, I’m not gonna ask them how they’re gonna use the money. These are younger girls still living with their parents, and those parents might need the money to fix the car to take them to an audition. I’ve heard that one girl has already paid for her lessons for the summer, and another used her scholarship to go to music camp. We do ask that they either perform at a fundraiser for us or tell us what they’re doing musically. That’s it.
Last year, we focused on regional outreach: Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Española, Taos, and Santa Fe. This year, we want to open it statewide. And we will soon announce a fundraiser for next year at NachaMendez.com.
This must make you feel great.
It does! It does because I’ve had a very good luck. Certainly, there were periods that were hard starting out. I mean, I’m a girl of color – well, a woman of color now, I guess – but when I started out, it was very difficult to break into the Santa Fe music scene. I was up against a lot of male guitarists and, well, that was not easy at all.
But I worked so hard, and now I’m known on some level.
And I want the same for these girls; I want to help guide them to the highest levels of music performance. I also aim to empower girls to discover their distinct and unique musical potential. I believe that when a girl has passion, dedication, and support, opportunity multiplies.
So I told the girls when they were receiving the awards, Don’t let anyone limit you. And don’t limit yourself. Just do what you love. That’s been it for me.
Learn more at nachamendezscholarship.com
Photo courtesy Nacha Mendez
