Gina Chavez
1:40pm, Patio Stage
Plucking her custom-built charango over a haunting hum of accordion, Austin native and University of Texas grad Gina Chavez drifts from English to Spanish on the bilingual blues of “Miles de Millas (2000 Miles),” produced by Charanga Cakewalk ringleader Michael Ramos. Sound sets the mood, but it’s the folkloric “Embrujo” of Chavez’s voice that sears the memory. – Thomas Fawcett
Willie Alvarado
2:50pm, Patio Stage
Last Pachanga, Willie Alvarado held an overflowing festival tent rapt with traditional Mexican heartache garnered from a childhood as a migrant farmworker (see “Willie Alvarado,” May 21, 2010). On the crooner’s self-titled 2009 debut, the San Angelo restaurateur/entrepreneur poured his heart into a timeless balladry as introduced to Austin last May. – Raoul Hernandez
La Guerrilla
3:30pm, Hierba Stage
Enrique Rumiche’s calling card remains La Guerrilla’s eponymous EP from 2009, a ska-bleated scuffle of South American rock. From the frontman’s Eugene Hütz-esque accent to an Argentine swagger recalling Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, the 19-minute disc (and group itself) also comes with a secret weapon besides the live sextet’s brass: Liza McCown on violin. – Raoul Hernandez
Chingo Bling
6:15pm, Hierba Stage
Equal parts hardscrabble caricature and underground rapper, H-town’s Pedro Herrera III’s alter ego stirred plenty of race-baited controversy with 2007’s They Can’t Deport Us All. His latest mixtape, The Leak, proves “The Versace Mariachi” is still tippin’ on par with Paul Wall. Download it at blog.chingobling.com/free. – Austin Powell
ChicanoSon
4:30pm, Pavilion Stage
Chicanoson celebrates la resistencia in the form of traditional Son Jarocho music from Veracruz, Mexico. The Los Angeles-based champions of Chicano culture and community come from musical backgrounds as diverse as East L.A. punk rockers Subsistencia and Austin indie outfit Maneja Beto. – Thomas Fawcett
Maneja Beto
8:40pm, Patio Stage
“The music was grounded in rhythms like the Mexican cumbia, but topped with cool keyboard tones that tilted the songs toward 1980s electro or jazz,” writes New York Times expert Jon Pareles of Maneja Beto. On the indie Español quintet’s third disc last year, Escante Calling, that digital thrill and chill muscled vestiges of classic Latin rock (“Panteón”) belonging on a mixtape next to Malo’s “Suavecito.” – Raoul Hernandez
This article appears in May 20 • 2011.
