Yesterday Cristina Balli and I met up with Dust to Digital founder Lance Ledbetter at Carnitas Uruapan in San Antonio's West Side, where legendary accordionist Santiago Jimenez, Jr. plays conjunto each week.
Blog
Texas Folklife in New Orleans: The Katrina Connection
On Tuesday April 2nd I attended Cyril 'Big Chief Iron Horse' Green's funeral in New Orleans.
Conjunto in the Capital City
Texas Folklife just returned from our nation’s capital after having the great honor of presenting for the third time for American Folklife Center’s Homegrown Concert Series. Our first time was in 2009 when we brought legendary blues guitarist Barbara Lynn and her band from Beaumont, TX.
Celtic & Conjunto Music
Without fail each year the Big Squeeze Accordion Contest brings a pleasant surprise, and this year (2013) it was eleven year-old Juan Duenes from Brownsville. To my astonishment I heard a Celtic jig coming from the stage, and it was little Juanito openining up his audition song with a tune by Irish punk band Dropkick Murphys, before smoothly transitioning to Tejano Conjunto. The experienced and masterful musical back-up of his teacher, Santiago Castillo, helped him pull it off, but the idea was not inspired by him - it was all Juanito himself.
Seeking Tasty Texas Stories
Texas Folklife Kicks off its State-Wide Food Traditions Survey Exploring South Texas Taquerias
by Cristina Ballí, Program Director