Norteño y conjunto: search and destroy.

some of my reasons:
1) polka is kinda ick.
2) the slower stuff is just so damn slow & sappy. i don't think i've ever heard a song that didn't have "corazon" in the lyrics

a bunch of the mexican resaurants in town have guys who come in w/guitars and sing, and it's actually really interesting. the guitar players are damn good and the vocal harmonies are really pretty.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Accordion_legend_Esteban_Jordan_dies_100675064.html

Esteban “Steve” Jordan, the mercurial conjunto accordion legend and pioneer,
died Friday night at a friend’s home.
Jordan, 71, died of complications from liver cancer.

He slipped into a coma Thursday. He was unresponsive all day Friday,
according to hospice caregivers.

Azeneth Dominguez, Jordan’s former girlfriend and owner of Saluté
International Bar, was with him at the end.

“It was his time,” Dominguez said. “He looked so peaceful at the end. He
died old-school style.”

Funeral arrangements are pending, but will be handled by Castillo Funeral
Homes at 520 N. General McMullen Drive.

On Wednesday, Jordan took a turn for the worse, according to Dominguez.

“He was not afraid,” she said of the man known as the Jimi Hendrix of the
accordion. “He was one of a kind. He was really all about heart, and all
about the music.”

Here's a related thread:

OK, I'LL start it: Rolling Banda/Duranguense/Narcocorrido/Flashy Matching Suits Regional Mexican Thread 2009

I used to play Jordan's records on my college radio station. I think I missed his DC area gig way back when at the Tornado Alley. He might have been to the Smithsonian Folklife Fest also, but I'm not sure.

bump

Here's another obit with a youtube video

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2010/08/esteban-steve-jordan-virtuoso.html

Any Esteban Jordan fans here today?

I guess not.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/young-accordionists-carry-on-conjunto-legacy/

Had this been a non-pandemic year, Christopher Ramirez and Ashly Nicole Molina would have been in Austin on a recent Saturday afternoon. As two of the four finalists for the sixteen-and-under conjunto category in the Big Squeeze—the annual competition of Texas’s best young accordion players—they would’ve played live at the Lone Star Plaza in front of the Bullock Texas State History Museum

Middle school & high school kids respectively

https://guadalupeculturalarts.org/tejano-conjunto-festival/

40th anniversary conjunto fest in San Antonio May 16 to 22

So many bands. For my money most of these bands are all about the lyrics - which aren’t mindblowing. For non-spanish speakers and limiting to “the classics” I’d say Intocable are the most musically interesting. Tigres are pretty much the setting stone of the genre. And Tucanes de Tijuana the most fun.

Tucanazo, Chona, Me gusta vivir de noche are party classics.

They also have some classic corridos like Aguila Blanca or El Centenario, but corridos are definitely musically boring if you don’t understand the language.

I know some old folks who like to couples swing dance sorta to some of this

Intocable is definitely apt for slow dancing

Oh misread slow as swing. Now I’m curious.

Slow dancing and swing jazz dancing both . Like you also see done to Norteno, zydeco and Cajun and salsa. Admittedly all different but some similar moves

Los Tigres del Norte now have their own museum in Sinaloa.

Nice.

My wife and I were visiting in Texas and we saw a banner going across a street in West San Antonio advertising the upcoming annual conjunto festival I mentioned above in 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51INFWeF8qM

https://guadalupeculturalarts.org/tejano-conjunto-festival/?mc_cid=7e6da96b11&mc_eid=767fbcb196

Tickets are on sale now for the 42nd Tejano Conjunto Festival (TCF) en San Antonio, May 15-May 19, the first and longest-running conjunto festival in the country. It is internationally recognized as the most influential event for this beloved South Texas musical tradition. TCF will encompass five robust days of live performances and dancing, including a special Seniors Dance and Conjunto Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The free Seniors Dance will be held on Wednesday, May 15, for seniors ages 55 and older with music from Los Hermanos DeLeón and Felipe Perez y sus Polkeros. The Hall of Fame ceremony on Thursday, May 16, will feature a special dinner and dance. It will showcase esteemed Hall of Fame inductees from previous years including Bene Medina y su Conjunto Águila, Eddie “Lalo” Torres, Boni Mauricio y Los Máximos, Ruben Garza y La Nueva Era, and Santiago Jimenez. Jr., who has been nominated for three Grammys. Both the Seniors Dance and the Hall of Fame event will take place at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9186, 650 VFW Blvd, and are co-sponsored by KEDA Radio.

The main weekend line-up for the 42nd Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival at Rosedale Park, 303 Dartmouth St, will feature three days of the best in conjunto music from Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19, 2024. On Friday, May 17, the Festival kicks off with Conjuntazzo with Joel & Sarah, Los D Boys, Gilberto Pérez Jr. y su Conjunto, Los Conjunto Kings de Flavio Longoria, David Flores y Los Tremendos Alacranes, and Los Desperadoz.

On Saturday May 18, the festival features student conjuntos from Rio Grande Valley, Retoño, J.R. Gómez y Los Conjunto Bandits, Mando y La Venganza, Conjunto Prestigio, Bernardo y sus Compadres, Impozzible, Los Tellez, Los Monarcas de Pete y Mario Díaz, Ruben de la Cruz, Los Cucuys de Rodney Rodriguez, and Lázaro Pérez y su Conjunto.

On Sunday, May 19, the Tejano Conjunto Festival starts with student conjuntos from San Antonio and then closes out with the Texas Sweethearts, Linda Escobar, Susan Torres y Conjunto Los Pinkys, Cindy Ramos y su Conjunto, Los Delta Boyz, Santiago Garza y la Naturaleza, Eva Ybarra y su Conjunto Siempre, Los Texmaniacs with Flaco Jimenez, and Los Fantasmas del Valle.

I dream of going one year!

Me too. My one time in San Antonio was sadly a week before the event (but I didn't know of the event when my wife and I planned our trip out there)

Know of the timing of the event