Renowned musician Víctor Valdés and his band will represent Australia at the Mariachi and Charrería International Encounter in Guadalajara in August, considered the world's largest mariachi event.
Speaking to SBS Spanish, Mr Valdés says he's preparing an iconically Australian set list for the festival, which attracts more than 300,000 visitors to the city in western Mexico.
"We are going to sing some Jimmy Barnes successes and we are going to interpret things more rooted in Australian customs such as the Waltzing Matilda," he says.
In a career spanning three decades, Mr Valdés has performed in over 25 countries.
As well as featuring Australian songs, he says the performance in Guadalajara will reflect the multiculturalism of the country to a wider audience.
The band is made up of trumpeters John Tweed and Graham Monroe, who are Australian and Scottish-British respectively, Uruguayan guitarist Ney Arrúa and Jenny, Mr Valdés' wife, who is Colombian.
They are currently working on the arrangements for Waltzing Matilda ahead of the festival, which they will debut at a fund-raising concert in Sydney on June 9.
Mr Monroe considers Mr Valdés as a "mariachi inspiration".
Graham Monroe Source: Facebook
"I have not done anything like it before. As trumpet players, we play several types of music, but it is very rare that in Australia you have the opportunity to be a mariachi and it is fantastic," he says.
Mr Arrúa, a successful musician in his own right, highlights that mariachi music has a "shared emotion that touches us all, no matter what country you come from".
"It has a resemblance to the [musical theatre] murga, the estudiantinas [waltz], the voices, the harmonies, the strength," he says.
Victor Valdés has performed with Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes Source: Facebook
Mariachi: a genre with deep roots
Mariachi as a musical genre dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over decades in the countryside of western Mexico.
It is closely associated with the Mexican countryman or Mexican cowboy.
Mr Valdés explains that the charro suit has many variants, but artists commonly wear the gala attire inlaid with stones and decorations.
It was Maximilian of Habsburg, the monarch of the Second Mexican Empire (1864-1867), who popularised the charro.
"In some documents, it is said that Maximilian of Hapsburg put on a fashionable suit, the charro, with gold and silver," explained Victor, who charges Mexican makers to create the costumes because he says Australian tailors are "afraid, especially when they see the decorations".
A group of women dance during a parade in the inauguration of the VIII International Encounter of Mariachi and Charreria in Guadalajra, Mexico, 28 August 2011. Source: AAP
Where does the word mariachi come from?
A mystery related to mariachi is the origin of the word. Some versions indicate that it derives from the French expression "C'est un marriage", or this is a wedding, that was said when the French listened to the mariachis.
Other versions, defended by the Mexican artist Juan Gabriel, point to that the word comes from the Indigenous language of Mexico, Otomi, and means "holiday".
"We nationalists and folklorists love the idea of the word being Otomí, personally I like it to be that the mariachi has that meaning and that root, but we can not deny that we had French colonisation," Mr Valdés says.
Mr Valdés represented Australia at the festival in 2001.
The 2019 edition will be held from August 23 to September 1.
