The Mexican American Experience, a radio program produced by the Longhorn Radio Network, includes interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns. Program summary: Linda Fregoso connects the history of Conjunto to the migration of South Texas Tejanos into urban areas across the Southwest and Midwest. In her interview with Leonardo 'Flaco' Jímenez, he discusses his career as a Conjunto musician in South Texas and his efforts to reach larger audiences in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Fregoso first offers a brief history of Conjunto music and its origins in the Mexican working class and the musical styles of the French and German immigrants who settled in Texas. She then speaks with Jiménez about how he got started playing Conjunto music. Jiménez, whose father was the famed accordionist Don Santiago Jiménez, started teaching himself how to play the guitar and then the accordion when he was still a child. By the age of ten, he was accompanying his father at some of his gigs, and when he was 15, he started his own band. Jiménez explains that in these early years, the recording industry was hesitant to promote Conjunto music because they associated it with the lower classes and did not think it would sell, but that has changed as Conjunto music's popularity has exploded. Throughout his career, Jiménez has played with several popular musicians, including Bob Dylan and Ry Cooder, and he appeared with the latter on Saturday Night Live. Jiménez then discusses his interest in expanding his audience and how he alters his music when he plays for Anglos. Jiménez has also appeared in several films and recorded songs for soundtracks. He concludes that he plays for the people and that he will never fully quit the music industry. Keywords: Abre La Corazon, Accordion, Assimilation, Bajo Sexto, Bilingual Music, Bob Dylan, Bolsa Vacia, Border, Cantinas, Chicken Skin, Conjunto Music, Cross-Over Music, Discos Joey, Dough Sahm, Freddy Fender, French Immigrants, German Immigrants, Hasta la Vista, Henry Zimmerle, Internal Migration, Jack Nicholson, Joe Ponce, La Bamba, Leonardo Flaco Jiménez, Leonardo Jimenez y los Caporales, Leonardo Jimenez y su Conjunto, Manuel Peña, Middle Class Culture, Orquesta Music, Peter Rowan, Polka, Popular Culture, Recording Industry, Rock Music, Ry Cooder, San Antonio, Texas, Santiago Jimenez, Santiago Jimenez Jr., Saturday Night Live, Sir Douglas Quintet, South Texas, Tejano music, Tololoche, Urban Culture, Working Class Culture. Broadcast date: 1981-07-12.
Creator/Contributor:
Longhorn Radio Network (creator), Fregoso, Rosa Linda. (host), and Jiménez, Flaco (interviewee)
Date Created/Date Issued:
6/25/1981
Owning Repository:
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin
sound recordings, grabaciones sonoras, radio programs, programas de radio, and Audio
Extent:
24 minutes, 32 seconds
Rights - Use and Reproduction:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Language:
English and Spanish
Place of Publication:
Austin (Tex.)
Topic:
Conjunto music, Música norteña, Mexican Americans--Social life and customs, Mexicano americanos--Vida social y costumbres, Mexican Americans--Music, Acculturation, and Aculturación