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San Antonio’s West Side celebrates its annual Tejano Conjunto Festival this week. The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has produced this cultural event for the last 42 years.
Executive Director Cristina Balli explained that it runs from "Thursday, May 15 through Sunday, May 18, and most of it at Rosedale Park in the West Side of San Antonio."
Thursday will see one of the event’s long-time favorites, the Seniors Dance at Progresso Hall. That evening the Guadalupe presents a collection of conjunto music and visual archives at the Guadalupe Latino Bookstore, and both events are free. Then the festival itself begins.
“On Friday, we kick off the festival by doing a little award ceremony for the poster contest winners, and then that evening, we just go straight little conjunto music [with] some of the greats in the area, in the region in South Texas,” Balli added.
The music continues all weekend, and so far, weather forecasts look good.
“We are keeping a close eye on the weather, and knock on wood, it won't rain this year. Yes, there is a big Pavilion at Rosedale Park where people can take cover in the case of rain,” Balli said. “People always stay we don't cancel Conjunto Festival. It's rain or shine.”
Balli has seen several festivals. She knows she's part of a long chain of people who've produced the event: “The original pioneers of conjunto music — that generation has pretty much passed on. So now we have another generation of conjunto music greats that are coming up, and they all remember performing at the conjunto festival."
Balli also said that it’s important to remember that conjunto music is as much part of the U.S. as the Alamo and the River Walk.
“Conjunto music is Americana. It is a music that was created here in Texas, in the U.S. It is a combination of different cultures, different sounds, different thoughts, but Mexican Americans have been playing this music and enjoying this music for more than a century now,” Balli said.
She said that after 42 years, the festival itself has taken on legendary status among conjunto festivals.
“It's really important to continue this tradition, to have this longevity, because they all remember the experience, and it's almost like a rite of passage for conjunto musicians to come play at this festival," she explained.
Find tickets here.
