The Camperos de Valles, named after their hometown of Ciudad Valles in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, are stellar son huasteco musicians, a tradition rooted in the cultural and geographic Huastecan region overlapping southern Tamaulipas, northern Veracruz, and San Luis Potosí.
Photo by Daniel Sheehy, Smithsonian Institution
The Texmaniacs have fun with their conjunto tejano music on audio engineer Joe Treviño's back porch in San Antonio, Texas. Max Baca (right), on the bajo sexto guitar, says conjunto began with its early pioneers “listening to the German oompa music on the radio in the late 1920s. They would imitate, but in doing so they created their own sound.” To appeal to the younger generation, the Texmaniacs “put it up in high gear while preserving the natural beauty of the traditional music.”
Photo by Daniel Sheehy, Smithsonian Institution
The violinists of Mariachi Los Camperos raise their bows to mark the end of their concert performance. Led by mariachi pioneer Nati Cano (front, right), the group exemplifies the excitement and polish of the modern mariachi sound.
Photo by Daniel Sheehy, Smithsonian Institution
