Celso Piña

by Jana Birchum

• Live Shots

  SXSW showcase reviews

• Charlotte Church

  BY DAN OKO

• Mac Demarco

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Phosphorescent

  BY AUSTIN POWELL

• FIDLAR

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Eric Burdon, Lost Brothers, Howlin' Brothers

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• The Flaming Lips, Jim James

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• Japan Nite

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

• Cheatahs

  BY GREG BEETS

• Terakaft

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Celso Piña

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Depeche Mode

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Green Day

  BY TIM STEGALL

• Kadavar

  BY MICHAEL TOLAND

Celso Piña

A free concert in the massive courtyard of the Mexican American Cultural Center, the Pan Americana showcase was noticeably more democratic than most official SXSW shows. No hierarchical lines separated the haves and have-nots and the old line proved perfect: "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" The people's festival was a family affair, with babies abound and a cluster of fold-up chairs for those that camped out since early evening to enjoy the blaring salsa of Grupo Fantasma and dubbed-out cumbia-step of Corpus Christi selector El Dusty. Squeezebox maestro and headliner Celso Piña led a sevenpiece band in an hour-plus set of crowd-pleasing cumbias. The 59-year-old El Rebelde del Acordeón looks like a Mexican Kenny Rogers and filled the floor with the rollicking rumble of "Cumbia Sobre el Rio" (originally recorded with Control Machete) and all other manner of cumbia ("Cumbia Poder," Cumbia En Mi Tierra," "Cumbia de Cualquiera") from the Monterrey legend's nearly two dozen albums. Several fans added percussion with guiros brought from home and the applause winner of an onstage dance contest was easily eight months pregnant. It was that kind of party, and the crowd gleefully repeated the mantra that the Cacique de la Campana recited between nearly every song: ¡Arriba Austin! ¡Arriba Monterrey! ¡Arriba México!