A major music festival is taking place in San Antonio this week -- It’s the Tejano Conjunto Festival.
Juan Tejeda is a Palo Alto College professor who also directs the festival. As to what makes music conjunto, he says it started with the accordion brought to Texas by Europeans.
"We adopted the button accordion and then adopted it with that Spanish/Mexican guitar bajo sexto to form a new ensemble, a new style of music."
And that native-to-Texas style of music is being celebrated in the festival starting Wednesday, May 11.
"We begin with a free seniors dance, which has become a tradition with the festival, out at the Guadalupe Theater. And then on Thursday we have the Texas premiere of a production called Conjunto Blues. And then on the weekend May 13th - 15th we head out to Rosedale Park, 31 bands of the very best of Conjunto music, and new inductees to the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame, Conjunto Music Student Showcase, seven different programs of students learning conjunto music, and ensembles throughout the state Some legends returning--Flaco Jimenez, Eva Ybarra, Bernardo Martinez. And we always present new bands. Plenty of dancing, food booths, accordion raffle."
It's the Tejano Conjunto Festival's 35th Anniversary, and Tejeda's last as its director.
Find more on the Tejano Conjunto Festival here.
