The most important group in the history of mariachi music is Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, founded in 1898 by Gaspar Vargas in Tecalitlán, Jalisco.

One of the main highlights: Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi. Who can forget the unnamed traveling musician, who dreams to make his way in the world through his art. But, by an accidental trade of guitar cases, he gets wrongly marked as a ruthless criminal that the local drug lord had imprisoned and now wants dead.

The style of music that would become Mariachi arose in the Jalisco region of Mexico, and was also called son jaliscience.

The Spanish language film was shot with a mainly amateur cast in the northern Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico across from Del Rio, Texas, the home town of leading actor Carlos Gallardo as the title character.