Founded in 1897 by Gaspar Vargas López, El Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán is a historic Mexican folk music orchestra that fundamentally shaped the mariachi genre by blending its 17th-century rural, peasant origins with refined, stylized musical arrangements. Currently featuring a harp, a vihuela, a guitar, a guitarrón, three trumpets, and seven violins, the ensemble famously bills itself as "The Best Mariachi in the World," a title suggested in 1956 by its longtime general director Rubén Fuentes. By utilizing mass media like radio and television to transcend local boundaries—even serving as the de facto mariachi for Grupo Televisa's national programs during the 1980s and 1990s—the group successfully popularized regional Mexican music across the Spanish-speaking world and beyond. Now under the musical direction of Carlos Martínez, Mariachi Vargas continues to act as the principal heir and ultimate standard-bearer of nearly 400 years of Mexican musical and cultural tradition.
About Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan
Founded in 1897 by Gaspar Vargas López, El Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán is a historic Mexican folk music orchestra that fundamentally shaped the mariachi genre by blending its 17th-century rural, peasant origins with refined, stylized musical arrangements. Currently featuring a harp, a vihuela, a guitar, a guitarrón, three trumpets, and seven violins, the ensemble famously bills itself as "The Best Mariachi in the World," a title suggested in 1956 by its longtime general director Rubén Fuentes. By utilizing mass media like radio and television to transcend local boundaries—even serving as the de facto mariachi for Grupo Televisa's national programs during the 1980s and 1990s—the group successfully popularized regional Mexican music across the Spanish-speaking world and beyond. Now under the musical direction of Carlos Martínez, Mariachi Vargas continues to act as the principal heir and ultimate standard-bearer of nearly 400 years of Mexican musical and cultural tradition.