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Conjunto music has a long history in South Texas. Now the Institute of Texan Cultures has created an exhibit revealing how it came to be.
"Puro Conjunto: Border(less) Sound" is a new exhibit that celebrates this traditional genre of South Texas music and culture.
“It's one of the most powerful musical cultural expressions that we have here in the state,” said exhibit curator, Bianca Alvarez. “And conjunto music itself, it emerged at a time of shifting borders, and so that's why it's it is more of that regional sound, right?”
The exhibit highlights the instruments, the people and the places where conjunto exploded.
“The core instruments of conjunto music, or at least early conjunto music, include the accordion, the bajo sexto, the drum, which was originally just one drum. It wasn't until after World War II that we see the larger drum kit be introduced,” she said.
Texas Music Museum Archive
The ITC has moved to the first floor at the west end of the Frost Bank Tower on Houston Street. The ITC is divided between permanent exhibits and a large temporary space, which is where the conjunto music exhibit is.
The ITC’s purpose is to celebrate the people and the traditions that make Texas unique.
Alvarez describes some of what the "Puro Conjunto" shows. She pointed out three elaborate costumes and revealed their backstory.
“We have several performance costumes here at the center of the gallery, those were loaned to us by the Texas Music Museum Archive in Austin, Texas,” Alvarez said.
“So, Lydia Mendoza's handmade dress, Beatriz Llama's performance dress, and Ruben Ramos, who is a seven-time Grammy winner, Tejano. But what we're wanting to draw is that line, that of connection, where conjunto has inspired and influenced other genres that have come after it.”
Among many other noteworthy items, the first record cutting machine to record Spanish records is also on display. "Puro Conjunto" will be on exhibit through May 2027.
