Conjunto Aztlan

https://www.facebook.com/conjuntoaztlan/

Members: Currently, Conjunto Aztlan is Juan Tejeda (button accordion, vocals), José Flores Peregrino (bajo sexto, vocals), Clemencia Zapata (drums, vocals), J.J. Barrera (bass, vocals), Sonny Lerma (percussion), and they usually incorporate the talent of various fine percussionists.

Genre: Conjunto

Hometown: Austin/San Antonio

http://www.myspace.com/conjuntoaztlan

• Genre

  Conjunto
• Band Members

  Currently, Conjunto Aztlan is Juan Tejeda (button accordion, vocals), José Flores Peregrino (bajo sexto, vocals), Clemencia Zapata (drums, vocals), J.J. Barrera (bass, vocals), Sonny Lerma (percussion), and they usually incorporate the talent of various fine percussionists.
• Hometown

  Austin/San Antonio
• Record Label

  independent
• Short Description

  Conjunto Aztlan is a conjunto del Movimiento Xicano from Austin/San Anto
• Bio

  Conjunto Aztlan represents a spiritual and musical journey expressed through poetry and song. The band was born out of the Xicano Movement in Austin, Texas, in 1977. Most of the original members (Juan Tejeda, Devón Peña, Daniel Mendoza, Bobby Ramirez, Kiko Ramirez, and Alfredo Cruz) were students at UT at the time when the Chicano Cultural Renaissance was in full bloom. Through the years, they’ve attracted a large number of talented musicians and songwriters who have performed with them in places as diverse as a Brown Beret political rally in Austin, a gathering of East Coast Chicano law students at Harvard, backyard barrio birthday barbeques, and the International Accordion Festival. The repertoire and instrumentation has varied, but certain elements are constant: the Tejano button accordion, two-and three-part harmonies, and original songs with politically, culturally, and socially conscious lyrics in Spanish, English, and sometimes Nahuatl.
  
  In many respects, the Conjunto Aztlan is a traditional conjunto, utilizing typical conjunto instrumentation and playing typical conjunto music (polkas, valses, cumbias, boleros, canciones rancheras). On the other hand, the Conjunto Aztlan is far from typical and their repertoire can shift from cantos indigenas, to salsa, to blues, rhythm-n-blues, Zydeco, reggae, and Latin jazz.
  
  Their debut, self-titled CD, Conjunto Aztlan (1998), is a concept CD that features pura música del movimiento chicano. From Aztlan With Love c/s a/f (2004), is also a concept CD with thirteen original love songs written by José Flores Peregrino and Juan Tejeda.
  
  The group continues to perform in the Austin and San Antonio areas and for special functions statewide and nationally. One of their songs, “Yo soy tu hermando, yo soy Chicano,” was included in a compilation CD produced by the Smithsonian Institution entitled Rolas de Aztlan/Songs of the Chicano Movement, and in 2006 they performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. In 2007 they performed at the University of California at Riverside Radio Aztlan Festival where they received a Lifetime Achievement Award for over 30 years of performing and promoting Chicano music, and just recently (July, 2007), they returned from a very successful performance at the 16th Nuits Atypiques Festival in Langon, France.
  
  Currently, Conjunto Aztlan is Juan Tejeda (button accordion, vocals), José Flores Peregrino (bajo sexto, vocals), Clemencia Zapata (drums, vocals), J.J. Barrera (bass, vocals), Sonny Lerma (percussion), and they usually incorporate the talent of various fine percussionists.
• Current Location

  Austin/San Antonio
• Website

  http://www.myspace.com/conjuntoaztlan
• Press Contact

  Juan Tejeda 210-710-8537