Texmaniacs With Santiago Jimenez Will Perform at The Guadalupe Theater This Thursday

A segment of the virtual 39th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival concert featuring Los Texmaniacs and Santiago Jimenez will be pre-recorded this Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 7:00pm at the Guadalupe Theater, 1301 Guadalupe St, San Antonio, TX 78207. Parking is located on Brazos St. in the back of the theater.

The rest of the concert will be streamed live on Saturday, May 22, 2021 from 7pm to 12am from the historic Guadalupe Theater in San Antonio. This annual festival is the first and longest-running Conjunto Festival in the country and is widely recognized as the most influential event for this critical Texas musical tradition. Reflecting the demands of social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 39th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival in 2021 will be a live-streamed music event accessible around the world.

"The Tejano Conjunto festival is a beloved yearly event that brings together the very best in conjunto music every year. It is like a big family reunion!" says Cristina Ballí, Executive Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. "We love our fans and seeing all our old friends in the conjunto community at Rosedale, but since we can't be in person we are happy to share puro conjunto with everyone around the world in this livestream. It will be a lot of fun and not to be missed!"

Conjunto Blues will be streaming Friday, May 21 at 7pm and will be followed by a Q&A with Nicolas R. Valdez, writer and performer.

A featured component of the virtual festival is the Friday night livestream of "Conjunto Blues," a stage play written and performed by Nicolás R Valdez that was recently adapted for the screen in November of 2020 in collaboration with Teatro Vivo and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. The play will stream live on Friday, May 21, and will be followed by a Q&A session via Zoom with Valdez where viewers will be able to discuss Conjunto Music and its impact on Latino culture along with sharing their own personal stories and memories.

On Saturday, May 22, Valdez will lead a virtual hour-long workshop reflecting on interviews and historical documentary footage he compiled. The topics will revolve around Conjunto's campesino origins; its stylistic evolution; women and the recording industry; Pachucos and nightlife; and prominent figures in conjunto. "The focus of this work, for me, has always been to highlight the many contributions of the Mexican-American community to the cultural fabric of this country and to show audiences how Conjunto Music, an original and uniquely American form of musical expression, became the soundtrack for the 20th century Mexican-American working-class experience," Valdez said.

Tickets for the live stream will be available online at https://guadalupeculturalarts.org/tejano-conjunto-festival/.

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