A Visit from Juan Tejada!
Juan Tejada visited our humanities class on Wednesday and I was just star struck! He works at Palo Alto College as an instructor for, get this, the only Conjunto organization at the community college level in San Antonio. He was hired at Palo Alto specifically to accomplish the task of building a well known organization that teaches about Conjunto music. His job has been keeping alive the respected ancestral music of Conjunto or Tejano. If you ask anyone at Palo Alto I think they would tell you he has been doing a terrific job!
Juan Tejada calls himself a Chicano. In his eyes, this label is exceedingly important because it defines who is his ethnically and culturally. Being Latin has many different names such as: Chicano, Mexican American, Hispanic, Latin, Mexican, or American. These are cultural identifiers and finding the right label for you is really important. Or at least Juan Tejada thinks so. He explained how some of the labels were extremely general and did not specify enough where the roots came from. Others just were not Mr. Tejada. He said that as a result from attending and graduating from University of Texas in Austin, he became a Chicano.
His education was very impressive. With a Bachelor in Chicano Studies and a Masters in similar Mexican histories, who can argue this man knows what he is talking about? When listening to his presentation the one feeling I received the most was passion. Passion was oozing out of his ears when he spoke Mexican and Texan history. It was really amazing.
When he finally got to the music part of the presentation he explained there are three major styles of border music: Corrido, Conjunto, and Orquesta Tejano or as some say, Tejano. He ended with outstanding performances of various styles and tunes. He played a special type of flute, a shell horn, a special drum, and of course, an accordion. Juan introduced us to an ancient style of music that the Aztecs would play. He sang a poem with the flute in three different languages! Before class ended, he finished with a variety of Conjunto/Tejano performances on his accordion. The only word I can think to say about this man, and I hardly think it will say enough, is WOW. I can honestly say I hope he can visit again.