What to Know
- Brenden Pérez began posting covers of reggaeton, bolero and pop songs to social media, gaining popularity on TikTok and Instagram
- He was contacted by the Chicago Bulls and Cubs to play the national anthem at a game
- Canelo Álvarez's team contacted him to perform the national anthem at the Canelo vs. Munguía fight in Las Vegas earlier this month
When we think of someone playing the violin, you might think of classical music or maybe you imagine a soft ballad playing as a bride walks down the aisle.
“If you think the violin is so boring, then what is this?” Brenden Pérez usually asks in the beginning of his videos posted on social media.
Pérez is a Mexican-Taiwanese violin player from Chicago who adds his own style to the music he plays on a classical instrument, often posting covers on social media for his over 700,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram.
Aside from performing at events as a soloist, Pérez also forms part of Mariachi Tesoro de Mexico.
He posts a variety of song covers of classic boleros, reggaeton and pop songs from artists like Bad Bunny, Don Omar and Aventura, as well as artists like Etta James and Ariana Grande.
“Everybody hears stuff like Ed Sheeran and Elvis and all of these other popular artists who make great music, but nobody ever hears reggaeton or anything like that on the violin,” Pérez said. “That just kind of pushed me to see what else I can do.”
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Pérez says he has always felt more connected to the Latino side of his family. “In terms of my music taste, it’s always leaned more towards the Latino side of things. I’ve been trying really hard over the last few years to reconnect to that Taiwanese side.”
While in college, Pérez said he performed songs from Taiwanese and Chinese artists, “but on my social media I haven’t yet brought that part out,” he added.
Aside from music, language learning is also a big passion for Pérez. He has been working on improving his Spanish as well as taking Mandarin Chinese in college and spending two months in Taiwan.
“You can’t learn a language without learning the cultures that those languages are a part of,” Pérez said.
From a young age, Pérez said he taught himself to play piano and joined an orchestra at the age of 10 in middle school. Since then, he has learned to play music by ear.
“It’s a skill I've always had naturally but I've definitely improved it over the years to strengthen it,” Pérez said.
Having grown up as a classically trained violinist, Pérez said that “playing things outside of classical was actually very weird and uncomfortable for me for a very long time.”
In 2021, Pérez posted a video covering a Bad Bunny song to social media just for fun. He woke up to see it had gone viral and he had gained many followers.
“It just kind of kept growing from there. People in the comments were like ‘wow I’ve never heard Bad Bunny on a violin, play this song,’” Pérez said.
Through the popularity he has gained on social media, Pérez was contacted by the Chicago Bulls and asked to play the national anthem at one of their games in March.
He asked to bring a couple of his friends and together they made their own version of the national anthem.
“It’s such a great experience overall, just going into the places that I’ve been to for years. Being in those places that have so much history,” said Mario Hernández. “It was really great to see it from that angle but also having the honor to play the national anthem.”
Hernández, along with his bandmate, Sebastián Oseguera, is co-owner of the group Mariachi Tesoro de México.
“I always bring my friends into my videos, and I always tell my friends like ‘this is our sound, this isn’t just mine, this is our sound,’” Pérez said. “I rely on my musician friends to bring in what makes them musically talented and what gives them their individual flavors.”
Soon after posting their performance at the Bulls game, Pérez said he was contacted by the Chicago Cubs and soon after was asked to perform at the Canelo vs. Munguía fight.
“Canelo’s team reached out and said ‘Canelo saw your video, he wants this exact version,’” Pérez said.
Pérez called his bandmates, Sebastián Oseguera and Daniel Ochoa and they flew out to Las Vegas.
“It was cool to meet these people from the mariachi community and be able to get an opportunity like this, especially since Canelo is such a huge icon in Mexican culture” Ochoa said.
Their trip came with a few setbacks as Ochoa’s guitarron arrived with a huge crack and Pérez's violin lost a string after someone bumped into him on the way to the stage.
“You can never have a great performance without a bunch of mishaps but those mishaps create really great stories,” Pérez said.
The trio pushed through and continued with their performance.
“We made it work and it was great. Everybody that we worked with was amazing,” Pérez said. “When you’re there and you’re performing, you don’t really grasp how big this is.”
Prior to performing the national anthem, they also shared the room and a jam session with Reik, a popular Mexican pop group.
“I think it hit home a lot more just because I was seeing all of my childhood musicians around me, the people that I grew up listening to,” Oseguera said. “It all just felt so surreal to me. It just felt amazing, it felt right at home for me there.”
Looking ahead, Pérez and his bandmates are preparing to perform at the Mexico vs Bolivia Soccer game at Soldier Field on Friday.
“I live for the current opportunities and I’m very grateful for them and anything that comes my way is a blessing,” Pérez said.
