Conjunto music icon Flaco Jiménez dies at 86

From Texas Public Radio:

San Antonio native and conjunto legend Flaco Jiménez has died at the age of 86.

His family posted on Facebook late Thursday night that he died following a long illness at his son’s home “surrounded by loved ones and will be missed immensely.”

The family thanked fans and friends who have cherished his music over the years: “And a big thank you for all of the memories. His legacy will live on through his music and all of his fans. The family requests privacy during this time of sadness and grievance.”

Over the course of his seven-decade career, Jiménez received numerous awards and honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys.

He was honored last year with the 2022 National Medal of the Arts but did not attend the ceremony at the White House because of ongoing health issues. He was hospitalized in January.

“Flaco introduced the Tex-Mex Chicano sound to the country. To country music, to blues, to rock, to zydeco,” said Josh Baca, the accordionist for Los Texmaniacs, during an interview with TPR earlier this year.

Conjunto, Texas-Mexican accordion music, has risen as a popular and culturally significant art form across South Texas and in northern Mexico. Its acknowledgement among the mainstream popular music industry emerged only relatively recently in the works of Jiménez.

“His music, his style of accordion playing, is unique,” said Max Baca, who founded the Texmaniacs and plays the bajo sexto. “He’s got magic. He’s got some kind of magic that is hard to describe. You can only hear it and feel it.”

Born into a well-known conjunto family in San Antonio in 1939, Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez achieved mainstream prominence through his musical collaborations with artists like Ry Cooder, Dwight Yoakam, and the Rolling Stones.

Texas-Mexican conjunto traditionally employs a standard quartet of button accordion, bajo sexto (a 12-string Mexican bass guitar), electric bass (previously a tololoche, a Mexican upright bass), and drum set in an amalgamation of German polka music, Mexican musical traits, and—increasingly—a range of Latin American and U.S.-based styles.

The genre has served as a symbol of cultural identity among the rural, working-class Texas-Mexican population. This is the context in which Jiménez began playing conjunto alongside his grandfather, Patricio, father, Santiago Sr., and brother Santiago Jr. (among other family members).

“The music was for the people,” said Josh Baca. “If Flaco got on stage, you heard it, you knew it was Flaco.”

Hector Saldaña, the music curator at the Wittliff Collections with Texas State University, said that Jiménez left a mark on San Antonio.  “I’ve often told people that to truly understand Flaco Jiménez, what he means to San Antonio, he is our Satchmo,” he explained. “He is the way that people think of Louis Armstrong and connect Louis Armstrong with New Orleans and jazz. That’s the way we think of Flaco.”

Jiménez’s health had been failing over the last several months, keeping him from being able to play the conjunto [music] that gave his life meaning.

He once got to hear Lydia Mendoza when he was young. “He described her singing as like the stars falling out of the sky,” Saldaña added. I mean, that’s as beautiful as any poetry you’re going to find. And Flaco Jiménez was capable of that.”

The singer grew up in San Antonio surrounded by a kaleidoscope of folkloric and more commercialized musical styles. Jiménez noted that he was interested in a range of music from a young age, gradually incorporating these disparate sounds into his own interpretations of conjunto.

“The accordion player is like a jazz musician: He improvises in between verses and during the song. And Flaco Jiménez is a master,” said Felix Contreras, the co-host of NPR Music’s Alt.Latino, in 2014.

The U.S. Library of Congress described Jiménez as “a champion of traditional conjunto music and Tex-Mex culture” who is just as well known for innovation and collaboration.

His album “Partners” was selected for the National Recording Registry in 2021.

While he was a global ambassador for conjunto, Jiménez kept his home in San Antonio. He prioritized local performances throughout his career, headlining the Tejano Conjunto Festival for decades.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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