Conjunto Pesado, Not Pescado

Fri., July 14, 1995

Heavy-duty conjunto has been happening at Parque Zaragoza since at least the Forties - the oak-riddled park was, in fact, deeded to the City of Austin in 1931. Elders in the largely Chicano neighborhood extending east from I-35 long Seventh Street will tell you that the "plataforma" (platform dance floor) stood in the center of what is now the baseball diamond. Conjunto guitar player and retired barber Manuel Sandoval Dominguez, Sr., still lives near Parque Zaragoza. In a wooden drawer at his house on East Eighth Street, he keeps a copy of the program printed for the September 16 Mexican Independence Day celebration held at Parque Zaragoza in 1934. Former radio personality Lalo Campos came to Austin in 1946. He recalls distinctly that the park's role as a popular site for celebrations was already firmly consolidated upon his arrival. Joe Reyna and his conjunto Cielito were first hired to play there in 1949. It's probably even safe to assume that people had begun to use the shaded area, at what was then the edge of town, as picnic and party grounds before the land was actually purchased by the City.

So bringing conjunto music back to the park as part of La Peña's yearly "Conjunto Pesado" program is as natural as dancing a polka or drinking an ice cold beer under a grandmama tree in the comfortable little park at 721 Pedernales. It's hard to have one without the other, and considering the heavy-weight line-up slated to play "Conjunto Pesado II" this year, there isn't any reason to abstain.

The warm-up gets started today (Friday 14) with an important photo exhibit documenting the history of conjunto music at Las Manitas Avenue Café from 6-8pm. Organized by Clay Shorkey and the itinerant Texas Music Museum, the show will also feature an acoustic set by Chon Martínez on accordion, Jovito Aguirre on bajo sexto, and Tacho Bravo on tololoche (stand-up bass).

The boot-scootin' jam part is on Sunday 16, starting at 1pm with a children's musical workshop featuring San Antonians Cesar and Ismael Herrera, two brothers, aged 12 and 13, who have studied intensively under conjunto master Valerio Longoria. They have since become proficient enough to give lessons on their own. From 4pm onward, Parque Zaragoza will be filled with the resonant echoes of full-on, straight-ahead conjunto, barrio style. None of the fancy engineering or glitterball laserlight shows which are increasingly popular as Tejano moves into the pop and country mainstream - just an ample accordion and bajo sexto onslaught. Beginning with Roy Donoso y Los Pacíficos, a veteran outfit from Temple, the high-powered battery of classic, low-slung and no-bones conjunto moves forward with local luminary, our very own "Montopolis Kid" Johnny Degollado. The Montopolis Kid is joined by his long-time musical partner Vicente Alonso on bajo sexto.

Following Degollado, Eva Ybarra y Su Conjunto bring their bolero-heavy, Westside San Antonio shuffle to the excited delight of an eclectic fan base. Ybarra's breathy tenor and singularly styled accordion wizardry lend themselves to the kind of romantic, cheek-to cheek, boleros - a slow type of dancing that is so beautiful to participate in or watch. As a songwriter, Ybarra has few peers, and contin-ues to stick to her guns as one of the few women in a musical realm largely dominated by men. Her addition to the heavy-duty conjunto roster is nothing less than magical.

Closing the show and offering some heavy-weight, high-powered backup for the awe-inspiring dance contest, Santiago Jimenez, Jr., joins the fray for a finish that shouldn't be missed. Fresh off the heels of his new Watermelon release (see "Bonus Tracks"), Jiménez, like Ybarra, has for years taken a special liking to Austin audiences and vice versa. With the Bad Livers' Mark Rubin on stand-up bass at Chief's side, it's almost impossible to go wrong with a gig like this. Conjunto pesado? You bet, ese. As heavy-duty as it'll ever get.

- Abel Salas