Mariachi 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, U.S., record companies began actively recording rural music in other parts of the world. One of these as a recording called Cuarteto Coculense by Columbia, Edison and Victor in 1908 and 1909, recognized as 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.
Mariachi schools. In areas with large Mexican-American populations, mariachis are being 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