{{Short description|Musical ensembles popular in Cuba and Mexico}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} The term '''''conjunto''''' ({{IPA|es|koŋˈxunto}}, literally 'group', 'ensemble') refers to several types of small musical ensembles present in different Latin American musical traditions, mainly in Mexico and Cuba. While Mexican ''conjuntos'' play styles such as ''norteño'' and ''tejano'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Díaz-Santana Garza |first=Luis |title=Between norteño and tejano conjunto |publisher=Lexington books |year=2021}}</ref> Cuban ''conjuntos'' specialize in the ''son'', as well as its derivations such as ''salsa''.
== Mexican == '''Mexican conjunto music''', also known as '''''conjunto tejano''''', was born in south Texas at the end of the 19th century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The ''bajo sexto'' has come to accompany the button accordion and is integral to the ''conjunto'' sound. Many ''conjuntos'' are concentrated in the Southwestern portion of the United States, primarily in Texas and California. In Mexico, the term ''conjunto'' is associated with ''norteño'' and ''tejano'' music. Since ''tejano'' was bred out of ''norteño'' music originally, this association is not entirely false. However, due to various cultural and socioeconomic developments in the 1900s, ''norteño'' musicians began trailblazing the ''tejano'' genre as a tangent to ''conjunto''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ragland |first=Cathy |title=Música Norteña: Mexican Migrants Creating a Nation between Nations |year=2009 |publisher=Temple University Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-59213-746-6}}</ref> In the United States and Mexico, a ''conjunto'' band is composed of four main instruments: the button accordion, the ''bajo sexto'', an electric bass, and a drum set. The place of the electric bass was first filled by the ''tololoche'', or contrabass, until it was replaced in the 1950s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Pena |first=Manuel H. |title=The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: History of a Working-Class Music |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-292-78080-4}}</ref> They are popular in northern Mexico and southern Texas. German and East European settlers brought their accordions, waltzes and polkas to the region, which were adapted by the local population.<ref name="Torres">Torres, George. ''Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music''. 2013.</ref> Texas accordion player Flaco Jiménez is probably the best-known conjunto musician in the United States, with a career spanning sixty years and earning him six Grammy awards.
=== History === During the 1920s, American recording companies made efforts to enter the Chicano market, which brought the budding genre of ''conjunto'' music to a greater public eye, with some of the most prominent musicians from this time period being Narciso Martinez and Santiago Jimenez.<ref name=":2" />
There was a decline in the production of ''conjunto'' recordings during World War II. Beginning in 1946, there was a shift to records being made by local Chicano-owned companies rather than Anglo-American record companies. Other changes occurred during this period, including the addition of vocal singing to ''conjuntos''. Other forms of Chicano music, such as female duets, had included lyrics already, but Valerio Longoria was the first to add them to ''conjuntos'', but it came at the added cost of excluding women from the industry, since ''conjunto'' was already a male-dominated genre. In the 1950s, the ''ranchera'' and ''bolero'' started to be included in the genres that ''conjunto'' groups would play, and ''rancheras'' grew to become one of the central features of ''conjunto'' music, along with polkas. ''Conjunto'' groups also started to play more in cantinas and dance halls as they gained popularity.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=San Miguel |first=Guadalupe |title=Tejano Proud: Tex-Mex Music in the Twentieth Century |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-58544-188-4 |edition=1st}}</ref>
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, ''conjunto'' music began to decline in popularity among ''tejanos'' because there were not as many young groups being formed and producing new recordings, but ''norteño'' groups did not have the same issue. After one of the most popular ''tejano'' groups of the 1960s, Conjunto Bernal, disbanded, ''norteño'' groups like Los Bravos del Norte, headed by Ramón Ayala, gained traction.<ref name=":2" /> ''Chulas Fronteras'' is a documentary film from the 1970s which illustrates how the music meshed into the lives of families in south Texas and northern Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chulas fronteras |url=https://www.criterionchannel.com/chulas-fronteras |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=The Criterion Channel |language=en}}</ref>
Beginning in the 1990s, progressive ''conjuntos'', which used ''pitos'' (horns) and synthesizers, became more popular. Emilio Navaira was one of the most prominent ''tejano'' musicians during this time, and his popularity led to ''conjunto tejano'' music and the accordion becoming objects of cultural pride among Chicanos.<ref name=":3" />
=== Texas-Mexican Conjunto === The Texas-Mexican Conjunto is a genre of ''música norteño.'' Since the turn of the century, this form of music has been ever evolving as an important musical form that is developed by working-class Texas-Mexican musicians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=The Evolution of Texas-Mexican Conjunto Music |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-mexican-conjunto |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref> Narciso Martínez who is known as "the father" of the Texas-Mexican conjunto for bringing in a surge of innovation and creativity as an accordionist. Martínez promoted the use of the accordion, but looked to stamp his own personal style. He abandoned the old, Germanic technique by avoiding the bass chord buttons on his two-row accordion.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Texas-Mexican Conjunto |url=https://smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/bord/txmxcon.html |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=smithsonianeducation.org}}</ref> Narciso Martínez's new style became the starting point for the surge of the modern conjunto. At the end of the nineteenth century, one row accordions became inexpensive and readily available to musicians. Tejano musicians took up the accordion as a solo instrument and use it at rural social events such as fandango.<ref name=":0" />
One of these musicians to come from the surge of the modern conjunto were Carmen y Laura. Carmen Hernández Marroquín married Armando Marroquín, who established Ideal Records along with Paco Betancourt. Carmen y Laura went on to record hundreds of songs for the company, and some of their first recordings had accompaniment by Narciso Martínez.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=Carmen Hernández Marroquín: Tejano Music Pioneer and Duet Legend |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/marroquin-carmen-hernandez |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref> As time went on, the Texas-Mexican conjunto has grown in prominence among Hispanics throughout the state of Texas, particularly in San Antonio, Austin, Alice, Laredo, the Rio Grande Valley, and Corpus Christi.<ref name=":0" /> Throughout the 70's, 80's, and 90's, some of the most popular conjunto groups included Ruben Naranjo y Los Gamblers, Steve Jordan (accordionist) y su Rio Jordan, Los Dos Gilbertos, and Tony De La Rosa y su Conjunto. Into the more modern day of Conjunto with groups like Ricky Naranjo y Los Gamblers, Los Garcia Brothers, and The Delta Boyz. Conjuntos spawned from working-class Texas-Mexicans, and evolved into an alternative musical ideology by working-class Texas-Mexicans. It became endowed with a symbolic power and continues to have a dominance among the audience of today's working class people.<ref name=":1" />
===Conjunto festivals in the United States===
The Tejano-Conjunto Festival in San Antonio began in 1982 and is presented by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization. It is held each May in Rosedale Park in San Antonio.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tejano Conjunto Festival 2024 |url=https://guadalupeculturalarts.org/tejano-conjunto-festival/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=guadalupeculturalarts.org}}</ref>
The Rancho Alegre Conjunto Music Festival in Austin began in 2012<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin-ranchoalegre |date=2018-02-26 |title=Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival History |url=https://ranchoalegre.org/festival/history |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Rancho Alegre}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Flores |first=Nancy |title=Accordion-heavy conjunto music is focus of 3-day fest |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/entertainment/music/2012/01/30/accordion-heavy-conjunto-music-is/6661812007/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Austin American-Statesman |date=30 January 2012 |language=en-US}}</ref> and is presented by Austin-based Rancho Alegre, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Conjunto music.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin-ranchoalegre |date=2013-09-01 |title=About Us |url=https://ranchoalegre.org/about-us |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Rancho Alegre}}</ref>
The Narciso Martinez Conjunto Festival in the Rio Grande Valley began in 1993<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conjunto Festival |url=https://www.narcisomartinezcac.org/conjunto-festival/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=nmcac |language=en-US}}</ref> and is presented every fall by the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center, a San-Benito-based nonprofit organization.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center |url=https://www.narcisomartinezcac.org/about-the-center/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=nmcac |language=en-US}}</ref>
The Ruben Naranjo Memorial Music Festival in Alice began in 1999 following the death of conjunto legend Ruben Naranjo, who was from Alice. It had an annual status until 2005 when they held the last event. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=Ruben Naranjo: The Legacy of a Conjunto Music Icon |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/naranjo-ruben |access-date=2026-02-24 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref> ===Other types of Mexican conjunto=== ====Jarocho==== A '''''conjunto jarocho''''' is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of ''requinto'', ''arpa jarocha'', ''jarana'' and ''leona'', but can also have violin, ''pandero octagonal'', ''quijada'', ''marimbol'' or ''güiro''. Its repertory covers ''sones jarochos'' in {{music|time|3|4}}, {{music|time|6|8}} and {{music|time|4|4}}.
====Huasteco==== A '''''conjunto huasteco''''' is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of ''guitarra huapanguera'', ''jarana huasteca'' and violin, but can also have other violins and guitars. Its repertory covers ''sones huastecos'' in {{music|time|3|4}} and {{music|time|6|8}}, and ''rancheras''.
====Arpa grande==== A '''''conjunto de arpa grande''''' is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of diatonic harp, Mexican vihuela, guitar and two violins. Its repertory covers ''planeco'' music: ''sones planecos'' in {{music|time|3|4}} and {{music|time|6|8}}, and ''rancheras''.
====Calentano==== A '''''conjunto calentano''''' is a type of Mexican folk ensemble. Often it consists of violin, guitar and tamborita, but can also have other violin, guitarra panzona, guitarra sexta and harp. Its repertory covers calentano music: sones calentanos and gustos, and other musical forms such as Indias, malagueñas, peteneras, valses, polkas, pasos dobles, sones, chilenas, minuets, rancheras, and corridos.
== Cuban == thumb|right|260px|Conjunto de Arsenio Rodríguez {{circa}} 1949. Cuban conjunto music was developed in the 1940s by famous tres player Arsenio Rodríguez by adding several instruments (a piano, a tumbadora and various trumpets) to the typical ''son cubano'' ensemble, the ''septeto''. ''Septetos'' consisted of a lead vocalist and guitar(s), double bass, bongó, maracas and trumpet. Even though the origins of the ''conjunto cubano'' can be traced to several ''sextetos'' and ''septetos'' of the 1920s, it wasn't until the 1940s when Arsenio Rodríguez expanded the Sexteto Bellamar that the ''conjunto'' was established. However, some authors argue that the Conjunto Kubavana, conducted by Alberto Ruiz, was the first Cuban conjunto, founded around 1937.<ref>Ordoqui García, Joaquín. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060614140043/http://herencialatina.com/Kubavana/Kuvabana.htm El Conjunto Kubavana: Primer Conjunto Sonero de Cuba]". ''Herencia Latina''.</ref> The conjunto contrasted with ballroom orchestras, the ''charangas'', ''orquestas'' and ''danzoneras'' that were made popular by bandleaders such as Antonio Arcaño.<ref name=Torres />
Conjunto music was crucial in the early development of salsa. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Puerto Rican music scene in New York City revolved around charangas such as Charlie Palmieri's Duboney Orchestra. Their music was largely based on Cuban styles such as mambo, chachachá and, most importantly, pachanga. Key charanga flautist, bandleader and entrepreneur Johnny Pacheco switched from the charanga configuration to the conjunto in 1964. However, the first New York-based conjunto was Eddie Palmieri's "La Perfecta", which had its debut in 1962. These conjuntos would be crucial in the early development of the most successful Latin American music genre to date, salsa. Notably, the introduction of Puerto Rican music styles such as bomba and plena within the conjunto and Cuban music in general resulted in what is known today as salsa.<ref name=Torres />
== See also == *Mexican music *Cuban music
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book | author=Juan Guillermo Contreras Arias (INAH) | title = Atlas Cultural de México: Música | year = 1988 | publisher = México: Grupo Editorial Planeta | isbn = 968-406-121-8 }}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20010902232321/http://www.pbs.org/accordiondreams/main/index.html PBS.org: documentary video - "Accordion Dreams"] — ''history of Conjunto music''. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080604141301/http://wbgu.org/community/documentary/PlayingFromHeart/JessePonce_index.html PBS−WBGU.org: documentary video - "Playing From the Heart"] — ''about a Conjunto musician''. * [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=conjunto Buscon.rae.es: "Conjunto definition"]—{{in lang|es}} * [https://texasarchive.org/taxonomy/term/116367 Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame Videos] at Texas Archive of the Moving Image
{{Music of Mexico}} {{Music in Spanish}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Regional styles of Mexican music Category:Latin music genres Category:Music of Texas Category:Cuban styles of music Category:German-American culture in Texas Category:Son cubano Category:Tejano music