When you open the gold-plated doors at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle during mass, you'll hear a familiar sound.

“I'm sure a lot of people come here to see the Virgen and the mariachi,” Father Jorge Gomez said.

Gomez is from the Mexican state of Jalisco where mariachi is king. Gomez said when he came to the Rio Grande Valley, he felt right at home.

“It's an essential part of the basilica, for years they've been playing here,” Gomez said of Mariachi Basilica de San Juan Del Valle. “Without the mariachi, the basilica is not the same."

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The group was created back in 1985. Francisco Morales was a founding member of the mariachi. 

Morales and his choir group were given the challenge by Father Manuel Villarreal to start the new group. 

“He liked how we sang, but he gave us the challenge of creating a mariachi, he gave us one year to do so,” Morales recalled.

Morales said at the time, the group knew nothing about mariachi music and everything it entailed.

“After six months, he asked how we were doing. He said, ‘I want to hear you all.’ He told us we sounded good, and we began to play during mass."

Music the group provides brings people from all over to the basilica.

“When they enter, they see how magnificent it is, and they see everyone participating. They say, ‘I'm coming next Sunday to church,’” Morales said.

You can even say the sounds of mariachi music are universal. 

“It is an essential part of the Valley. We love mariachi, bringing it into the basilica is like enculturating what we have, making it part of our liturgy, that's what it is,” Gomez said.

The sweet sounds of the trumpets, guitars and violins know no borders. You can even enjoy the music in English at certain masses throughout the week.

Mariachi Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle is Made In The 956