Ethnomusicologist, educator, and recording artist, Sergio “Checo” Alonso is a native of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. The son of Mexican immigrants from Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi, Alonso began his research on Mexican and Latin American music in 1994 as an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he concentrated on the performance of the Mexican mariachi and jarocho traditions, studying the vihuela, jarana, guitarron and especially the trumpet and harp. His exploration of Mexican folk music led him to study with some of Mexico’s most revered folk musicians, including jarocho harp virtuoso Alberto de la Rosa and mariachi legend Nati Cano. In 1998 he received his bachelor’s degree in ethnomusicology from UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture and later earned his masters degree in cross cultural education. Today Checo is one of the most recognized Mexican folk harpists in the United States and a committed advocate for the preservation and dissemination of traditional Mexican music. (read more)

Checo has performed and/or recorded with:
Aida Cuevas, Angeles Ochoa, Caetano Veloso, Chicago Sinfonietta, Eugenia Leon, Fernando de La Mora, Guadalupe Pineda, Jose "El Puma" Rodriguez, Jose Feliciano, Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Lila Downs, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Lobos, Lucero, Marco Antonio Muniz, Mariachi Cobre, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Nydia Rojas, Orquesta Filarmonica de Guanajuato, Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco, Orquesta Filarmonica de La Ciudad de Mexico, Orquesta Filarmonica de Queretaro, Ozomatli, Pablo Montero, Pedro, Fernandez, Ry Cooder, Son de Madera, The Chieftains, Tlen-huicani, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Vicki Carr.