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The 34-year-old performer splits his shows nearly evenly between classic Mexican Ranchera with a full mariachi band — including seven violins — and newer rock ballads designed to attract a younger crowd.

The singer known as El Portrillo (The Colt) says he’s not about to give up the music that gained him early fame.

“I feel very proud to be an ambassador of Mexican music. Wherever I go, I will always bring my mariachi. It’s what I grew up with. It’s what I love the most,” Fernandez told The Associated Press in Spanish.

“But as a musician presenting Mexican music, it’s very hard to get noticed internationally,” he said. “I am really happy that people have let me explore this other side.”

Attending to his Latino public
His connection to Mexico’s past and present makes Fernandez particularly in demand. He will play at Caesars Palace Thursday in Las Vegas to celebrate the eve of Mexican Independence Day and will host a documentary on the History Channel en espanol about Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, followed by a miniseries on the history of Mexico.

Fernandez’s personal history is well-known back home. As a 3-year-old, he briefly joined his father in a concert then burst into tears and fled the stage. For years he avoided performing and studied architecture before recording his first album in 1992, followed by 10 albums celebrating Mexican musical traditions and three pop albums.

Recalling the Ricky Martin-led “Latin invasion” of the late 1990s, which at the time yielded fleeting success for pop stars who attempted to cross over with English audiences, Fernandez is in no rush to produce English-language tunes. For now, he’s content to win over more Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States and around the world.

“I’m interested, but I want to conquer it bit by bit. The person who dedicates themselves completely to the Anglo market can get absorbed completely, and it can take away a lot of time that you would dedicate to attending to your Latino public,” Fernandez said.

The balance isn’t easy. The tall, dark-haired star with a chiseled jaw passionately belts out traditional songs. In June he even joined tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras for a concert in Monterey, Mexico.

Yet when he switches to pop in concerts, his velvety voice is sometimes lost amid the rest of the band.

A marriage of past and present
Still his ability to navigate both his country’s history and today’s culture is what prompted the History Channel to select him to promote this month’s series.

“We felt he was such a natural fit. His own life is steeped in a rich history, as son of a living music legend, Vicente Fernandez, and he marries that history so magnificently with what’s relevant today,” said Marlene Braga, director of programming and production for the History Channel en espanol.

The gig follows his turn as the title character in director Alfonso Arau’s controversial 2004 film “Zapata: The Hero’s Dream” about the Mexican revolutionary leader.

Offstage, Fernandez exudes little of the bravado he radiates during his shows as a cocky Mexican cowboy and leather-clad sex symbol.

During filming for the History Channel, he joked and waved to only one fan in the audience — his 11-year-old son.

Fernandez is guarded about his family life. In what has become an increasing problem among Mexico’s celebrity families, his older brother Vicente Fernandez Jr. was kidnapped in 1998 and held for four months before the family paid more than $3 million in ransom for his safe return.

But the singer speaks freely about his famous father, with a hint of rebellion fitting for The Colt.

His father wasn’t thrilled with his venture into pop, “but now he understands because he’s seen the results among the people,” Fernandez said, adding what many sons might like to utter: “It’s not completely to his liking, but what else can he do now that he sees I was right?”