San Antonio is a city that very much puts its Mexican American cultural blend on full display – visually, yes, but also sonically.
Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in two particular genres that are themselves unique Texas products that the city has made major contributions to: conjunto and Tejano music.
Hector Saldaña is the Texas Music curator at the Wittliff Collections of Texas State University and something of a fixture of the San Antonio music scene, himself. He’s also written extensively on the city’s musical foundation.
He joined the Standard to talk about the Alamo City’s ties to the music. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: I wanna just sort of open things up for folks who may not really understand what conjunto music is – what it’s about, what it sounds like. Tell us a little bit about what it is and how someone would recognize it.
Hector Saldaña: Well, conjunto music is music that is Mexican American music. It’s American music that was very much influenced by German music and Czech music.
Here in San Antonio, we know the sounds instantly. It’s the sound of the button accordion and the bajo sexto, the Mexican twelve-string guitar, which adds the rhythm and also the little passing notes that we’re familiar with.
It’s a lot of polkas, waltzes. It began as instrumental music primarily. And then over the time, you know, vocals were added, drums, and so it evolved. But this is music that was foundational in San Antonio and South Texas, formed in the late 1920a and early 1930s.
I’ve often heard that Santiago Jiménez, Sr. was really key in the development of this.
Yes. Don Santiago as he was known, Flaco Jiménez’s father. He’s one of the founders and creators of conjunto music, along with people like Valerio Longoria, Narciso Martínez… There’s a lot of people that contributed, but he was one of the early, early pioneers of that music.
Hector Saldaña, right, with Flaco Jiménez. Courtesy of Hector Saldaña and the Wittliff Collection
I was thinking, you know, when you mentioned Flaco Jiménez – recently passed away. What an incredible talent. I think a lot of people think of him in association with the Texas Tornados back in the day, that sort of thing.
Say a little bit more about his impact on popularizing conjunto.
Well Flaco Jiménez and San Antonio are synonymous. I mean, he was the great ambassador of San Antonio and San Antonio music, conjunto music, not only through the Texas Tornados, but in his own right.
You know, he was a six-time Grammy winner, Lifetime Grammy Award recipient, NEA recipient. I mean, you know, a great musician.
I would describe him as a pure, pure musician. I mean, I knew him very well, watched him in the recording studio, made records with him, but he was one of these people… It’s like when you watch an incredible lead guitarist that can just play instantly, does not need to rehearse it, just hears the music. It was something to watch.
I was gonna ask, ’cause I feel like this is hard for me to distinguish, right? Like I mentioned conjunto and Tejano as two separate genres, but what really makes Tejano any different? Is it because it comes from Texas?
Well, Tejano music is the maybe the more pop and dance-oriented. Look, conjunto music, the way that I think of it, is closer to the blues, like the Delta blues. It’s a more earthy accompaniment to folk.
And then Tejano music was much more electrified. We added the amps, the synthesizers and you had the swooping melodies and people like Emilio Navaira and Selena are so associated with it.
