Abstract
The contemporary transnational dissemination of Texas-Mexican accordion music has corresponded closely with the rise in prominence of the Tejano Conjunto Festival, sponsored by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio and, since 1982, held annually at Rosedale Park. In modern popular culture, the ease of transnational mobilization—here characterized by global participation in a local music festival—effectively blurs traditional boundaries of class, ethnicity, language, and location. However, this notion of inclusivity masks problematic and long-lasting hegemonies. Simultaneously, it shifts the historiographic narrative of conjunto as cultural resistance (within a tightly constrained notion of Texas-Mexican culture).
Resúmen
Ha habido una estrecha correspondencia entre la diseminación transnacional contemporánea de la música tex-mex con acordeón y el auge del Tejano Conjunto Festival, un evento auspiciado por el Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center en San Antonio que desde 1982 se celebra anualmente en Rosedale Park. En la cultura popular moderna, la facilidad de la movilización transnacional—en este caso caracterizada por la participación global en un festival de música local—eficazmente difumina las fronteras tradicionales de clase, etnicidad, idioma y localización. Sin embargo, este elemento de inclusión esconde hegemonías problemáticas y perdurables. Al mismo tiempo, también cambia la narrativa historiográfica de conjunto como resistencia cultural (dentro de una noción estrecha y restringida de la cultura texana americana).
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Notes
For further information on Texas-Mexican conjunto, see the seminal study by Peña (1985), as well as his two later, related works (1999a, b). In addition, Tejeda and Valdez (2001) have compiled a series of writings from the program magazine of the Tejano Conjunto Festival, called Tonantzin, which further detail the traditional genre. Ragland’s (2009) book on the similar norteño tradition of northern Mexico and later chapter on conjunto (2012) also serve as valuable resources for the historic form, while my own recent essays provide additional details of continuing, contemporary practices (Bauer 2014, 2015, 2016).
Harnish provides a nice description of progressive conjunto, particularly as compared with “traditional” practices, explaining that, “Progressive conjunto bands retain accordion and, usually, bajo sexto, but generally add keyboards and wind instruments and enhance their sound with greater professionalism and virtuosity” (2009, p. 204). This article also presents a beneficial analysis of the contemporary conjunto scene in Ohio.
This particular theme (“Derecho, Cromático, Orquestal, Estrambótico y Sintetizado”) is from 1991, although similar styles were also celebrated in 1992, 1993, 2002, 2010, and others. The norteño style (c.f. Ragland 2009) was specifically represented in 1988, 1992, and 1999, with a special symposium on the relationship between norteño and conjunto with Manuel Peña and others in 1997, while Cajun/Zydeco groups were introduced in 1989—including a final, cross-cultural jam with conjunto musicians like Nick Villarreal, Mingo Saldívar, and Steve Jordan—and 1992.
All YouTube comments have been reproduced in their original form, including all spelling and grammar decisions.
Comment on video, 2012 Tejano Conjunto Festival Boni Mauricio and His Daughter Alexia Performing, http://youtu.be/ZKhL37HVxwQ, uploaded 6 August 2012.
Comment on video, Max Baca and Dwayne Verheyden—Una Lagrima (2012 Tejano Conjunto Festival), http://youtu.be/XL3VvV4joGQ, uploaded 29 May 2012.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Comment on video, Max Baca, Dwayne Verheyden, Lorenzo Martinez—Jamming after the Tejano Conjunto Festival, http://youtu.be/IwSoaBaART8, uploaded 25 September 2011.
Ibid.
Comment on video, Dwayne Verheyden & Flaco Jimenez Tejano Conjunto Festival 2013 May Texas (2), http://youtu.be/vhb17jR087k, uploaded 27 May 2013.
In Time Passages (1990), Lipsitz describes a “family of resemblance,” in which seemingly disparate cultural groups draw from parallel life experiences to cultivate a cohesive understanding from individual elements. For a deeper analysis of the international attraction to conjunto music due to this common, although geographically diverse, background, see Bauer (2015).
Comment on video, 2011 Tejano Conjunto Festival, San Antonio, TX (2), http://youtu.be/6-j0ETieSAs, uploaded 20 May 2011.
Conjunto J (Japan) at The Tejano Conjunto Festival 2011, http://youtu.be/Vz3q18iYH70, uploaded 15 May 2011.
Rather vulgar Spanish slang, ¿como chingados, que no? translates roughly to “what the f***, right?” or perhaps, “Damn!”.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to David Gonzalez and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center for providing access to information and materials related to the Tejano Conjunto Festival, as well as to Juan Tejeda and the many musicians and conjunto fans from around the world who graciously agreed to share their experiences with me.
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Bauer, E. Blurring boundaries in Rosedale Park: The importance of the Tejano Conjunto festival on the transnational dissemination of traditional Texas-Mexican accordion music. Lat Stud 17, 164–186 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-019-00182-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-019-00182-2