What to Expect

If you are looking for a varied show for your celebration, where you can enjoy the joy and folklore of mariachi music and also dance to Latin rhythms such as Salsa, Cumbia, Tex-Mex, Bachata, Pop and modern music, or simply enjoy the best boleros and romantic ballads in English and Spanish, there is no reason to doubt, this show is ideal for you.

The diversity in musical genres makes it an attractive spectacle minute by minute. You will listen, sing and dance the best songs of your favorite artists like Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernández, Marco Antonio Solís, Joan Sebastian, José José, Luis Miguel and many more. Audio quality is the priority, not only in the musical performances and in the voice of the artist but also in the sound equipment suitable for each occasion, for example in outdoor events and with many guests we bring the necessary equipment (speakers, Amplifiers, etc.) so that all people hear loud and clear the show. If it is a small event indoors everything is equalized and modulated so that it is not too much noise and enjoy the music. 

No scams. Our reservation service has online security and you will receive a confirmation directly from us, either by email or by phone, and all our data is visible. In addition, if you prefer, you can also make your reservation by paying in cash. 

Without intermediaries. Booking directly with us has several advantages, costs are reduced because intermediary websites not only charge the client for the reservation, they also charge the artist for the reservation, that is, they charge both, and they also charge the artist a monthly fee for showing it on their websites, with memberships with different prices to catalog them or give more presence to some than others. Some websites charge up to over a thousand dollars, therefore all party providers, such as wedding bands, singers, guitarists, mariachi bands, wedding planners, DJ's or even church priests, have to raise their prices to the client to be able to afford those expenses. Another advantage when booking direct is the personalized service, help in planning and better customer service to resolve unforeseen events.

No last minute cancellations. We find this situation frequently with new clients, it is stressful to be looking for another musical entertainment show when the birthday party is imminent, or even worse if it is a wedding, when you already planned the wedding so that it would be perfect, when you even already booked a wedding venue and will necessarily require a show, this occurs because most mariachi bands collect their members at each event, and sometimes they are not available due to other personal commitments or other jobs, in our case this is a family business and We don't have that problem, we have never had to miss a party in 20 years of work, we are 100% responsible for our commitments once booked.  

Influences &  Inspiration

In the repertoire: Juan Gabriel, Marco Antonio Solís, Joan Sebastian, Vicente Fernández, José José, Luis Miguel, Cristian Castro, Ricardo Arjona, Ricardo Montaner, Marc Anthony, Alejandro Fernández, Chayanne, Diego Verdaguer, Camilo Sesto, Enrique Iglesias, Nicho Hinojosa, Emmanuel, José María Napoleón, Pedro Fernández, Pepe Aguilar, Javier Solís, José Alfredo Jiménez, Pedro Infante, Los Panchos, Julio Jaramillo, Enrique Guzmán, Alberto Vázquez, Maná, Enanitos Verdes, Elefante, Bobby Pulido, La Mafia, Banda el Recodo, Selena, Gloria Estefan, Aida Cuevas, Rocío Durcal, Ramón Ayala, José Feliciano, Ritchie Valens.

MARIACHI BAND BACKGROUND

The origin of the word Mariachi is disputed, but prominent theories attribute it to deep roots. One states that it comes from the name of the wood used to make the dance platform. Another states that mariachi comes from the indigenous name of a tree called pilla or cirimo; yet another states that it came from an image locally called MaríaH (pronounced Mari-Ache).

The most distant reference documented are more than 100 certificates of baptisms, burials and marriages in which the Mariachi ranch appears, between 1832 and 1850. It was located near the river Santiago, in Nayarit.

The word Mariachiwas thought to have derived from the French word mariage ("marriage"), dating from the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s, related to the music's appearance at weddings. This was a common explanation on record jackets and travel brochures. This theory was disproven with the appearance of documents that showed that the word existed before this invasion: in 1981, a letter written by Father Cosme Santa Ana to the archbishop was discovered in the archives of a church, where he complains about the noise of the "mariachis" and dated in 1848, long before the French occupation.

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, indigenous music was played with rattles, drums, flutes, and conch-shell horns as part of religious celebrations. The Spanish introduced violins, guitars, harps, brass instruments, and woodwinds, which mostly replaced the native instruments. The Europeans introduced their instruments to use during Mass, but they were quickly adapted to secular events. Indigenous and mestizo peoples learned to play and make these instruments, often giving them modified shapes and tunings. In addition to instruments, the Spanish introduced the concept of musical groups-which, in the colonial period, generally consisted of two violins, a harp, and various guitars. This grouping gave rise to a number of folk musical styles in Mexico.

One of these folk musical styles was the son. This music featured string instruments. Son music divided into various regional varieties; the variety popular in the Jalisco area was called son jalisciense, whose best known song, also referred to as "the mariachi national anthem", is "La Negra". Modern mariachi music developed from this son style, with mariachi as an alternative name for son jalisciense. Early mariachi players did not look like those of today; they played only string instruments such as guitars and harps and dressed in typical peasant clothing: white pants and shirts with huarache sandals. Those who could play the son jalisciense/mariachi music could find work at haciendas at a higher rate than those who could not.

The distinction of mariachi from the older son jalisciense occurred slowly sometime during the 19th century. The music originated in the center-west of Mexico. Most claims for its origin lie in the state of Jalisco but neighboring states of Colima, Nayarit, and Michoacán have also claimed it. However, by the late 19th century, the music was firmly centered in Jalisco. Most legends put the origin of the modern mariachi in the town of Cocula, Jalisco.

The distinction between son and modern mariachi comes from the modification of the music. By the end of the nineteenth century, the European art music tradition was firmly transplanted to Mexico, with opera, salon music, waltzes, and more written and performed both by Europeans and Mexicans in the country. One variety was the salon orchestras called orquestas típicas that performed in more rural settings, notably in charro outfits. This use of the charro outfit was repeated with urban mariachi in the 1920s.

The charro outfit was also used in the national Orquestra Típica Mexicana ("Mexican Typical Orchestra"), organized in 1884 by Carlo Curti, and touring the United States and Mexico as part of a presentation of nationalism for the Mexican president Porfirio Diaz. Curti's Orquestra Típica Mexicana has been called the "predecessor of the Mariachi bands".

After the Mexican Revolution, many haciendas had to let workers go, including mariachis. Groups began to wander and play for a fee, which obliged them to incorporate other music into their repertoires, including waltzes and polkas. It also required them to play in public venues. From the late 19th century to the 1930s, mariachi groups were semi-professional.

In the early 20th-century United States, record companies began actively recording rural music in other parts of the world. One of these was a recording called Cuarteto Coculense by Columbia, Edison and Victor in 1908 and 1909, recognized as one of the "first" mariachi recordings. The music also gained attention in Mexico City when a wealthy hacienda family brought an early mariachi from Cocula to play for President Porfirio Díaz in 1905.

The common perception of the music and look of mariachi developed in the 20th century, as the music was transformed from a regional rural folk music to an urban phenomenon that came to represent Mexico. The music was first introduced to Mexico City in 1905. During this time, many farm workers moved to the city, including those from Jalisco, which settled around Plaza Garibaldi. These mariachi musicians developed new practices, such as performances in plazas and restaurants. However, it also continued its more traditional venues such as serenades, and performances at major family events.

During this time, the Mexican government was heavily involved in cultural promotion as a way to create a unified Mexican identity after the end of the Mexican Revolution. One of these efforts was the promotion of mariachi as an international symbol of Mexican identity, first with radio and sound recordings and later with films.

Mexico built a nationwide radio broadcasting network in the 1920s such as XEB and XEW, which began broadcasting mariachi music as a media production, rather than as a music for social events. This music was already being modified in part due to the advent of sound recording. For example, most son jaliscense songs were longer than the standard three-and-a-half minutes of the then-standard 78 rpm record, forcing the shortening of tunes. Around the same time, the popularity of jazz and Cuban music introduced the trumpet into mariachi, pushing the violins into second place and in some cases, replacing the harp.

The most prized of the mariachis remained those from the state of Jalisco, particularly the areas of Cocula and Tecalitlán. They represented Mexico to the people during the Independence Day celebrations in Mexico City in 1933 as well as during Lázaro Cárdenas' election campaign in 1936.

The charro tradition was strong in Jalisco, especially in a region called Los Altos. After the Revolution, the charreada became a national sport in Mexico and rings were constructed specifically for them, followed by professional charro associations. With the breakup of the large haciendas, charros were no longer economically necessary but were used as a cultural ideal, especially by the film industry in the mid-20th century. The first charro movies date from the 1920s, but the first to sing mariachi was Tito Guízar in Allá en el Rancho Grande in 1936. The character was played by Jorge Negrete in films such as ¡Ay, Jalisco... no te rajes! and ¡Así se quiere en Jalisco! The main characters used his ability to sing mariachi as a way to show strength, virility, and aesthetic beauty. Its use in film also made the music popular and a symbol of ethnic pride for Mexican Americans in the United States.

Its use in film also promoted a negative perception of mariachi music. The films associated the charros and mariachi music with machismo, womanizing and drinking, especially of tequila. The reason that the movies did this was that mariachi music was associated with bars and the lower classes in a number of segments of Mexican society in the early 20th century. This would change in the latter half of the 20th century, but the music remains strongly associated with tequila.

Mariachi music and musicians became more professional with more formal training starting in the late 1940s and early 1950s, principally due to the success of a major mariachi by the name of Mariachi Vargas. Their appearance in many films, backing many singing stars, and their hiring of formal musicians prompted other mariachis to do the same. The group also expanded, adding trumpets, violins and even a classical guitar to become a kind of orchestra, keeping the traditional son/mariachi base while integrating new musical ideas and styles.

In Mexico City, the center of mariachi music remains Garibaldi Plaza. Mariachi musicians fill the plaza to solicit gigs, from individual songs for passers-by to being hired for events such as weddings and baptisms. They even stand on Eje Central in front of the plaza to flag down passing cars. In 2010, the government renovated the plaza to make it more tourist-friendly, adding new paving, gardens, police, security cameras, painted facades, and a museum dedicated to mariachi and tequila. Although mariachis can be hired in Mexico City over the phone or on the internet, many people still prefer to come to the plaza, hear the musicians and haggle over the price. About 2,500 mariachis hold union cards to work in the plaza, but as many as 4,000 may circulate through on a busy weekend.

The music has a strong following in the US, with top groups spending a lot of time on tour. Mariachi Los Camperos received a Grammy nomination for best Mexican-American album. Academic programs allow for instruction by famous mariachi groups and the opportunity to win awards. The United States military has an official mariachi band in the New Mexico National Guard, called Mariachi Nuevo México; this pays homage to the state of New Mexico's Hispano and Mexican-American heritage.

The first mariachi groups in the United States were from California. Nati Cano was born in Jalisco in 1939 and moved to Los Angeles in 1959. He played in many mariachi groups backing singers but felt mariachi could stand alone. In 1969 he opened a restaurant called La Fonda in Los Angeles, which featured his group, Los Camperos, as part of a dinner show. The success of this enterprise, and of Los Camperos in general, have inspired many mariachi groups in the United States. In the late 1980s, pop star Linda Ronstadt recorded "Canciones de Mi Padre" and "Más Canciones" with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and others, which helped promote its popularity among Mexican Americans and to non-Mexican Americans.

Some U.S. public schools offer mariachi as part of classes. The first student mariachi group was begun in 1961 at the University of California, Los Angeles. This prompted the creation of other student organizations in other parts of California and then in Texas, where the first mariachi festival was held in 1979. Since then, a strong synergy between academic programs and mariachi festivals has developed, which feature students and give mariachi classes and workshops.

Once school programs were limited to border areas such as San Antonio and Tucson, but they have spread across the southwest and into other parts of the United States, especially since the 1990s. There are at least 500 schools offering classes along with local and state competitions. In some US schools, mariachi ensembles have replaced school bands. Professional groups such as Mariachi Cobre, which regularly performs at Disney World, also spend time teaching in public schools.

In areas with large Mexican-American populations, mariachis are hired for events outside this ethnic group as well. Outside of schools, the most important venue for the music in the United States is mariachi festivals, with the longest running festivals in Tucson and Fresno. The Tucson International Mariachi Conference began in 1982. It originally was held in the downtown but in 2012 moved to the Casino Del Sol. It showcases over 500 elementary, middle, and high schools and college mariachi players. The Las Vegas International Mariachi Festival, established in 1991, is televised on Telemundo and PBS and has headlined artists such as Pedro Fernández, Ana Gabriel, American-born mariachi singer Pepe Aguilar and more.

The educational movement is controversial with some trained in the traditional manner, who are skeptical about these programs and their potential to change the tradition. The changes, especially standardization of publishing, are slowly impacting mariachi in Mexico. One difficulty of arranging mariachi pieces is that the son jaliscense that mariachi is based on alternates between 3/4 and 6/8 time. Much of the published mariachi music is meant for people already familiar with the music to serve as guides, not for novices. On the other hand, many schools have problems recruiting mariachi instructors as many of these do not have required teaching credentials. For this reason, schools often hire trained musicians from outside the mariachi tradition. Many traditional mariachis are concerned that standardization will lead to the genre becoming rule-bound and so restrict improvisation.

Other innovations in the United States have been the incorporation of styles of artists such as Elvis Presley, Freddy Fender, Glenn Miller, Marty Robbins, Johhny Cash, as well as the heavy-metal mariachi band Metalachi. Another is the encouragement of female mariachis, including all-female mariachi groups such as Mariachi Mujer 2000, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles and Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea. Mariachi Mujer has performed with Mexican artists such as Vikki Carr, Pablo Montero, Gerardito Fernandez and Nydia Rojas. Mariachi Divas have won two Grammy Awards, have toured extensively in the United States and are the official Mariachi of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. New York's first international all-female mariachi is 2015 Latin Grammy nominated Mariachi Flor de Toloache, who are featured in Dan Auerbach's The Arcs. There is an all-female mariachi in London, UK, Mariachi Las Adelitas UK, who plays traditional Mexican Mariachi music as well as some English-language covers in Mariachi style.

English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor's 2016 album Familia was inspired by a visit to Mexico. She posted a video in which she appears singing one of the songs from the album called Death of Love next to a group of mariachis in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.

The most common dance technique in mariachi is zapateado, a kind of footwork from Spain. Pounding of feet on a raised platform often provides the percussion. 

Dominating the Mariachi Band Scene in Houston, TX.

Mariachi Band for Hire in Houston – Professional and Affordable Services

Hire a Mariachi Band for Your Event

If you're looking for a mariachi band for hire, you've come to the right place. We offer live mariachi music for all types of events, from weddings to birthday parties and corporate gatherings. Our mariachi band is made up of professional musicians who will make your celebration an unforgettable experience, filling the air with the rich musical traditions of Mexico.

Mariachi for Weddings – The Perfect Choice for Your Big Day

A mariachi for weddings is a popular choice to add a touch of romance and culture to your ceremony or reception. With traditional songs that evoke deep emotions, our mariachi can accompany special moments such as the couple's entrance, the mass, the first dance, or even the farewell. Our music elevates the atmosphere, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

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If you're in the area and searching to hire a mariachi band in Houston, TX, we offer the best service. We travel throughout the greater metropolitan area and surrounding regions to bring the vibrant sounds of mariachi to your event. Our team of experienced musicians is ready to create an authentic and immersive musical experience.

Live Mariachi Music for Special Events

Whether it's a birthday, a private party, a quinceañera, or a corporate event, live mariachi music is ideal for creating a festive atmosphere full of joy. Our band has a diverse repertoire, capable of adjusting to the tone of any celebration, from upbeat and lively songs to sentimental ballads.

Affordable Mariachi Services – The Best Value for Your Money

We offer affordable mariachi services, with options that fit your budget without sacrificing the quality of the performance. We know that every event is unique, so we work with you to design a personalized package that meets all your needs.

Mariachi Band Pricing – Transparency and Flexibility

The cost of hiring a mariachi band depends on several factors, such as the number of musicians, the length of the event, and the distance we need to travel. However, we always ensure that we offer fair and competitive prices. We provide different packages so you can choose the option that best suits your celebration.

Top Mariachi Bands for Hire Near You

If you're looking for the top mariachi bands for hire near you, don't hesitate to contact us. We specialize in providing an authentic and memorable experience, combining the tradition of Mexican music with professional and friendly service.