Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto
were born in San Jacinto in the Colombian Department of Bolívar in the 1940s. Miguel Antonio Hernández Vásquez also known as "Toño" Fernández, assembled a group of San Jacinto musicians including Juan and José Lara, Pedro Nolasco Mejía and Manuel de Jesus "Mañe" Serpa who formed the group's official line-up.

From the 1950s onwards, they began touring Colombia, managed by writer and researcher Manuel Zapata Olivella. As decades passed, the group began incorporating a second generation of musicians, among whom can be found some of the sons of the original line-up.

En 1982, due to Toño Fernández's health problems, Joaquín Nicolás Hernández Pacheco, Fernández's nephew, took the role of director of the band.

In 2006, the group recorded an album for the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label. In November 2007, the group won a Latin Grammy Award for the best Folkloric Music album.[3] During the award ceremony, they appeared on stage with Puerto Rican group Calle 13.

Currently, the group is headed by four of the original members, Nico, Toño, Juancho and Rafa Rodríguez, who perform with a new generation of gaiteros: Gabriel Torregrosa (son), Fredys Arrieta, Dionisio Yepes, Gualber Rodríguez and other young musicians who occasionally play with the group.