Cruzando Caminos: Singing Spanish Poetry in the South

Cruzando Caminos takes its name seriously: on the evening of September 11, the paths of five artists — and centuries of Spanish-language verse — converge in Nacogdoches, Texas, for an evening of music, storytelling, and poetry sung aloud.

At the center of it all is the décima, a ten-line poetic form that has traveled with remarkable persistence — carried by ship, by road, by generations of memory — from Spain into nearly every corner of the Spanish-speaking Americas. In Nacogdoches, that history runs deep: décimas were already being sung here by 1797, along El Camino Real, the royal road that first linked this stretch of East Texas to Louisiana, Mexico, and the wider hemisphere. The form never left. It simply kept adapting, kept crossing new paths, kept finding new voices to carry it forward.

This September, some of those voices share a stage. Local artists Juan Carlos and Jeana Ureña open the evening alongside Will Buckingham and Shane Lief of the Louisiana Décima Project, San Antonio-based son jarocho singer Keli Rosa, and Chilean artist Isabel Mekis — four distinct traditions with shared poetic roots, spanning Texas, Louisiana, Mexico, Central America, and South America.

 The evening opens at 5:00 p.m. with a reception where guests can meet the artists. Dinner is not provided, but a food truck will be on site with items available for purchase. The reception is followed by an artist talk at 5:45, moderated by Dr. Hannah Snavely, an ethnomusicologist and professor at Stephen F. Austin State University, who will set the stage with the décima’s long migration before the music begins. The concert itself starts at 7:00 p.m.: each artist or group performs in turn, introducing the audience to their own corner of the tradition, before all five come together for a collaborative finale — the paths crossing at last, in the same room.

Date: September 11, 2026 

Time: 5:00-9:00 PM

Location: 

Zion Hill Baptist Church

324 N. Lanana St.
Nacogdoches, TX 75961

Admission and Registration

Click here to RSVP

The event will be free and open to the public. 

Advance registration is planned, with Texas Folklife coordinating registration and promotion in partnership, w/ our community partners (see below)

No alcohol will be served at the event.

Community Partners

• Stephen F. Austin State University Music Department
• Texas Folklife
• Zion Hill Baptist Church
• City of Nacogdoches Historic Sites