Mariachi music developed in the western regions of Mexico, particularly in Jalisco, Michoacán, and Colima, as a rural, community-based ensemble tradition. Early mariachi groups, often referred to as mariachi tradicional, performed with stringed instruments such as the guitarra de golpe, vihuela, guitarrón, harp, and violins.  

Their music accompanied a wide range of everyday and ceremonial events—religious festivals, fandangos, communal dances—and was deeply embedded in local life. The repertoire of traditional mariachi is expansive, including sones jalisciences, sones arribeños, sones abajeños, sones costeños, jarabes, minuetes, polkas, and waltzes. Each form carries particular rhythmic structures, regional styles, and social meanings, rooted in histories of migration, resistance, and communal gathering.

By the 1940s, a distinct modern style of mariachi emerged in urban centers such as Mexico City. Modern mariachi incorporated trumpets, adopted the traje de charro, and uniquely entered mass media circuits of radio, cinema, and television, aligning the music with a broader project of mestizo nationalism. The repertoire expanded to include rancheras, boleros, corridos, and huapangos, offering a more standardized and commercialized vision of Mexican identity. While modern mariachi amplified the genre's national and international presence, traditional mariachi practices have persisted, maintained within regional, rural, and Indigenous contexts across Mexico and in diasporic communities.

In recognition of its profound cultural significance, UNESCO inscribed mariachi—both its traditional and modern expressions—on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2011, affirming its role as a dynamic and enduring cultural practice.

In the San Joaquin Valley of California, mariachi music is performed at family gatherings, community festivals, school programs, and civic celebrations. This story page draws from the voices and performances of key mariachi families and ensembles across the region, including Familia Morales, Mariachi Mestizo, Familia Laris and Mariachi San Marcos, Familia Rodríguez and Mariachi Colonial, Familia Cuéllar and Mariachi Imperial, and Familia Olmos with Mariachi Tapatío, the oldest mariachi ensemble in the San Joaquin Valley.