SIN LAS MUJERES NO HAY CONJUNTO: MAPPING CHICANA FEMINISMS IN

THE PERFORMANCES OF SUSAN TORRES, CLEMENCIA ZAPATA,

& RUBY FRANCO

APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:

________________________________________

Marco Cervantes, Ph.D., Chair

________________________________________

Marie “Keta” Miranda, Ph.D.

________________________________________

Josephine Mendez-Negrete, Ph.D.

Accepted: _________________________________________

Dean, Graduate School

Copyright 2014 Soledad A. Núñez

All Rights Reserved

DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my family and friends for their constant love, support, and

encouragement throughout this long journey. I also want to dedicate my thesis to the women of

conjunto music past, present, and future, especially to the three women that participated in this

thesis without their honesty and trust in me, this thesis would not have been possible.

SIN LAS MUJERES NO HAY CONJUNTO: MAPPING CHICANA FEMINISMS IN

THE PERFORMANCES OF SUSAN TORRES, CLEMENCIA ZAPATA,

& RUBY FRANCO

by

SOLEDAD ADELITA NUNEZ, B.A.

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Faculty of

The University of Texas at San Antonio

in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements

for the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS IN BICULTURAL-BILINGUAL STUDIES

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

College of Education & Human Development

Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies

December 2014

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest appreciation goes to the three women who participated in this thesis, for

being so open and honest with me about their personal lives and experiences. I would like to

acknowledge my thesis committee. First I would like to thank Dr. Marco Cervantes for advising

me on this long and crazy journey, for always reassuring me that my vision for this thesis was on

the right track, and for believing in me and my work. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Keta

Miranda for her unconditional support, encouragement, and feedback throughout the writing of

my thesis. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Josie Mendez-Negrete for always believing in

me and Dr. Lilliana Saldaña for her positive and reassuring words. I want to thank my father for

guiding me and mentoring me through the entire thesis process, and to my mother for her

unconditional support and encouragement. I want to thank my little brother Amado for always

making me laugh and for reminding me not to take life too seriously. Last, but not least I want to

thank my family, friends, and colleagues for their constant love, support, and encouragement,

and for always believing in me when at times I seized to believe in myself.

December 2014

v

SIN LAS MUJERES NO HAY CONJUNTO: MAPPING CHICANA FEMINISMS IN

THE PERFORMANCES OF SUSAN TORRES, CLEMENCIA ZAPATA,

& RUBY FRANCO

Soledad Adelita Nunez, M.A.

The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2014

Supervising Professor: Marco Cervantes, Ph.D.

Conjunto music stands as a musical and stylistic expression that symbolizes working class

Mexican American cultural identity in Texas. The marriage of the accordion and the bajo sexto

lay the foundation for the conjunto sound. Scholars Manuel Peña, Juan Tejeda, and others

discuss the working class origins of conjunto music as one that gives voice to the Mexican

American working class experience. In their works they discuss pioneering musicians Narciso

Martinez, Santiago Almeida, Valerio Longoria, Tony de la Rosa, El Conjunto Bernal, and

Santiago Jimenez Sr. While these musicians shaped the style of conjunto that Texas is known

for, women also made and continue to make tremendous contributions to the genre.

Unfortunately their contributions continue to go unacknowledged in popular narratives on

conjunto music. While women contribute much to conjunto music, conjunto pioneers Carmen y

Laura, accordionist Eva Ybarra and others have been given very little recognition. In efforts to

reclaim lost narratives by women in conjunto, I apply a third space feminist framework to

analyze racialized identity and gender within the world of conjunto. To do this, I focus on how

the performances of Susan Torres, Clemencia Zapata, and Ruby Franco challenge patriarchal

notions of Texas conjunto expression and present a voice of Chicana agency within Mexican

American cultural traditions.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................v

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii

Introduction: Growing Up with Texas Conjunto .............................................................................1

Chapter Two: Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………………….7

Chapter Three: Historiography of Texas Conjunto: Women’s Narratives ....................................12

Chapter Four: Ruby Franco, Clemencia Zapata, and Susan Torres: Chicana Conjunto Musicians

in the Public Space .................................................................................................19

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................34

Appendices.....................................................................................................................................39

References ......................................................................................................................................41

Vita

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Susan Torres performing at the 2011 Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center

Conjunto Festival with Conjunto Clemencia .........................................................20

Figure 2 Clemencia Zapata performing at the 22nd

annual NMCAC Conjunto Festival .....26

Figure 3 Ruby Franco performing at the 23rd

annual NMCAC Conjunto Festival ..............29

1

INTRODUCTION

GROWING UP WITH TEXAS CONJUNTO

During a summer drive in 2006 to Kingsville, Texas to visit my grandparents I remember

sweating from the typical South Texas, hot sticky summer days. During the hour and a half long

car ride in my mom’s gold Nissan Sentra along Highway 77, my father played assortment of

different conjunto music, which at the time I considered torture. I most vividly remember my

father turning up the radio and singing Conjunto Bernal’s classic song “Mi Unico Camino” (My

Only Road). He sang at the top of his lungs, out of tune of course, “mi pecado y mi culpa sera

conocer demasiado el dolor” (my sin and my fault it will be, to know too much pain). I thought

it was the most embarrassing thing when he sang, but I let him sing anyway, there really was no

stopping him. At the time conjunto music was not my favorite music, yet there was no escaping

it; it was engrained in my DNA.

My experience working the conjunto music industry began with my involvement at the

Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center (NMCAC). The idea of a cultural arts center that was

aimed at the Mexican American population of the Rio Grande Valley began when my father met

David Garza. My father met David Garza a local pharmacist through my paternal grandmother.

Mr. Garza was my grandmother’s pharmacist and when my father returned to San Benito from

college in August of 1983 my grandmother introduced the two men who would later become

lifelong friends. Through his friendship with Mr. Garza, my father met Dr. Ramon de Leon, a

dentist from Harlingen, Texas and an avid conjunto aficionado. On October 29, 1991 my father,

Rogelio T. Núñez along with Dr. Ramón de León and David Garza, founded the NMCAC in San

Benito, Texas. The NMCAC was created out of the need for a voice for the Mexican American

arts community in the Rio Grande Valley. The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center’s mission

2

through arts programming - music, literature, visual, performing and media arts. At the time

there was not a cultural arts center dedicated specifically to the Mexican American community in

the Valley.

The center is the first and longest running cultural arts center of its kind in the Rio

Grande Valley. One of the biggest events curated by the center is the annual conjunto festival,

first held in September of 1992. While working through the NMCAC, I learned a lot more about

conjunto music and had the opportunity to meet Texas conjunto legends Narciso Martínez,

Valerio Longoria, Tony de la Rosa, Eva Ybarra, and many others. I was only two years old when

the center opened its door on October 29, 1991 on Narciso Martinez’s 80th

birthday; Don

Martinez presented and played to a standing room crowd.

Growing up in the conjunto scene, I never really paid attention to what was going on

around me until I became older and had moved away from San Benito, Texas. When I moved to

San Antonio to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio and began exploring the world of

conjunto music, I began to observe the relationships between men and women in the conjunto

world. The two biggest conjunto festivals in Texas and the United States are the Tejano

Conjunto Festival curated by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas; and the

Conjunto Festival curated by the NMCAC in San Benito, Texas. Both of these conjunto festivals

are organized by males, the Tejano Conjunto Festival by Juan Tejeda and the NMCAC Conjunto

Festival by my father, Rogelio T. Núñez. The NMCAC Conjunto Festival has been organized by

my father since its inception in 1992, along with a few people who have helped him throughout

the years; of these people I can recall only two women that have been given some, but very little

recognition, Cristina Ballí and Yolanda López. Although these two women at one point or

another helped or are helping my father organize the conjunto festival, neither of them have been

3

given the amount of recognition my father has received and they deserve. My father is the face of

the conjunto festival, maybe because he has been a part of the conjunto scene for many years or

maybe because he is a man, personally I think it is a combination of both. As I have gotten older,

my father has given me more organizational tasks with the conjunto festival. The plan is for me

to assume the responsibility of curating this major event. Being a woman in this particular space

is both rewarding and challenging. It is rewarding because it is an honor to assume the role of

running the NMCAC, knowing that my father and Dr. De Leon and Mr. Garza all have faith and

believe in me. It is also challenging because being a woman I will have to work extra hard to to

prove myself andearn the respect of people.

THESIS ORGANIZATION

In chapter two, I lay the conceptual framework for my thesis. In order to situate my work

within the ongoing academic discussion of women in conjunto music, I begin with a narrative of

my own personal experiences growing up with conjunto music. Next, I discuss my theoretical

approaches to this research as well as data collection and analytical methods. In chapter three, I

give an overview of the history of conjunto music and I situate the women of the genre within

the history of the music. I explain how women have often times been marginalized and omitted

from the history of conjunto music. In chapter four, I introduce the women taking part in this

research and discuss their personal histories/stories within the world of conjunto music.

MY ROLE AS A CONJUNTO INTELLECTUAL

Conjunto music has been a part of my life since I was born. I was two years old when my

father first took me to the center opening in October of 1991. Growing up I always felt different

in spite of having a father that listened to conjunto music 24/7, who identified as Chicano, and

was heavily involved with promoting and preserving Mexican American culture, music

4

literature, art, and visual arts, through the NMCAC. Growing up in a conservative South Texas

town like San Benito, I always felt that I had to mold myself to what was considered acceptable

at the time to escape the inquiry and the ridicule of my peers. I saw how harsh kids could be

towards one another, especially when one is different. I did what I had to do to escape the

ridicule. During my primary education years, I was listening to the groups N’SYNC and the

Backstreet Boys, who had the coolest clothes, the latest gaming systems, and the newest brand

name clothes from Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren. Our school and community

pushed us to take pride in historical figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson

because they were our founding fathers and we should have pride in them, not Jose Angel

Gutierrez or Corky Gonzales, after all the institutions and discourse promotes identification with

our American, not Mexican ancestry. Normal for me in San Benito, Texas during my youth was

growing up hiding a big part of my life from my friends and fellow students because at the time

it was not cool to listen to accordion driven music and a part of me was embarrassed.

Until I was in high school none of my friends knew that my father organized one of the

biggest festivals in the Rio Grande Valley. I never said anything because I was embarrassed. My

friends did not listen to conjunto music. The one time I wore a conjunto festival t-shirt to school

I was in the second grade. I distinctly remember one of my classmates asking me what the

festival represented. At the time I could not answer and a part of me did not want to because I

didn’t know how to. Conjunto was not popular to the people that I went to school with. Even

though I was raised with an awareness of Chicano history, I did not accept it until later in my

life, when I was fully able to come full circle and understand the importance of the education I

had received in my own home.

5

I was in the eighth grade when a woman named Cristina Ballí became the executive

director of the NMCAC. I began to take a more active role in the center. Previously, my father

along with the help and support of my mother Elma B. Núñez, was the executive director of the

NMCAC, but without the title. Ms. Ballí called on me to be her assistant and take care of tasks

such as answering phones, sending out emails, setting up art exhibits, taking money for events

and other office duties. At that time I helped out because I was called on, not because I

particularly wanted to help out. All throughout high school as I continued to help with the center,

Ms. Ballí gave me more responsibility. In June of 2007, I graduated from San Benito High

School, and I left to San Antonio, Texas to attend Our Lady of the Lake University. Even though

I was gone, I was still active with the NMCAC. As a matter of fact, I was more involved when I

left for college than I was when I lived in San Benito. I had more responsibility under the

guidance of Ms. Balli and became more interested in the center work.

It was when I entered graduate school at the University of Texas at San Antonio in the

spring of 2011 that I begin to develop a Chicana feminist consciousness. During this time, I

discovered not only my identity as a woman, but as a Chicana and I became comfortable in my

own skin. I no longer feel the need to be accepted or to fit in. At the end of the day I’ve realized

as long as I accept myself it does not matter if everyone accepts me or not. I have accepted many

things in my life including the fact that I am different than a lot of people especially my peers. I

am currently twenty-five years old, and many people my age and people in general have little or

no knowledge of conjunto music.

My acceptance of conjunto music came through missing my family and memories from

the past. Listening to conjunto connects me to my roots and to my family. For example, listening

to Conjunto Aztlan reminds me of my mother, one of her favorite songs is “Hijos del Sol”

6

(Children of the Sun). Listening to Flavio Longoria reminds me of driving from Kingsville to

San Benito with my grandmother and those quiet moments we spend together just listening to

music. Listening to Los Chachos, Conjunto Bernal, and Esteban Jordan reminds me of my

grandfather José Enrique, my mother’s father and how he always had his tandita (pachuco style

hat) and his Stacy Adams shined and ready to dance.

My acceptance of conjunto music has led me to become more accepting of the NMCAC,

and it has been a tremendous move in accepting myself and my own personal history. As I began

to research the history and meaning of conjunto music, I realized that South Texas was the cradle

of conjunto, its birthplace. Conjunto music was born out of the experiences of a Mexican

American working class people who took time to express their experiences through music. Yet,

there are few places geared towards preserving, promoting, and developing Mexican American

culture in the Rio Grande Valley. From promoting and organizing events at the NMCAC

including the annual conjunto festival, I have now begun writing about conjunto music, in

particular women in conjunto. As much as I rejected conjunto music, I have come to realize that

I carry a unique experience and valuable knowledge with me. To date no one is writing about the

Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center and its twenty three years of promoting Mexican

American arts in the Rio Grande Valley and only a handful are writing about the women in

conjunto music, therefore it is my obligation to document these important histories/stories. It is

important that I document what I’ve seen and observed because there is the likelihood no one

will and the history will be lost. It is important to document this history for future generations to

come.

7

CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In the scholarship on conjunto music, men are most often recognized as the great

pioneering conjunto musicians throughout the history of the genre. As Emma Pérez states, “The

documents on or by women that have been preserved in libraries are often the papers of the

wives, daughters, or family members of ‘great men’” (Perez, 1999). Women in conjunto have

been regarded as the wives of, daughters of, family members of, but they have not been regarded

as the women of conjunto, much less the pioneers. In popular discourse, conversations are

carried out as to who the greatest conjunto musician of all time is. Narciso Martinez, Tony de la

Rosa, and Valerio Longoria are always at the focus of these discussions and defined as the

forefathers of conjunto music. While most of the mention on conjunto pioneers has been men,

there are a few women conjunto musicians, I consider pioneering women that are briefly

mentioned from time to time, and those women are Carmen y Laura, Eva Ybarra, and Ventura

Alonzo to name a few. Despite some increased interest in conjunto music in academia and in

general, there are few studies focused on gender and women in conjunto.

Most of the literature on women in conjunto is found in a few books and scholarly articles. The

different works published cover the topics of gender roles, the history of women in conjunto

music, social identity, and class. These authors have done amazing and groundbreaking work and

my intent is not to degrade or bash the works of these men, because what they have written is

important to conjunto music. Instead I aim to add to what they have written by bringing forth the

discussion of gender within conjunto music. One of the articles on women in conjunto written by

Ramiro Burr focuses on women in conjunto music titled “Women in Conjunto Music” which is

more of an exploration piece into the developmental history of women in conjunto, rather than a

definitive contribution by women to conjunto music. In 1994 Jeffrey Halley and Averlardo

8

Valdez co-wrote an article titled, Why Are There So Few Women Conjunto Artists? The authors

focus on answering why there are so few women conjunto artists. They examine the idea that the

absence and erasure of women from conjunto is due to the “…extension Chicano macho culture,

in which women occupy a lower status then men…” (Halley & Valdez, 1994). They discuss the

idea that the absence of women in conjunto could possibly be attributed to the relationship

between males and females in the larger Mexican American culture and the music scene. Halley

and Valdez wrote the article titled Gender in the Culture of Mexican American Conjunto Music

in 1996, which examines gender dynamics within conjunto music. Valdez and Halley discuss

how gender is expressed with factors of ethnicity and class within the context of conjunto music.

They analyze the structure of gender relations, socialization, and resistance, as well as

identifying the effects patriarchy has on the forms of adaptation and power available to women

in conjunto (Halley & Valdez, 1996). The most recent material published to include women in

conjunto is Deborah Vargas’s book, Dissonant Divas (2012), which dedicates an entire chapter

to women in conjunto. My work expands on what Vargas has written by focusing on three

women in conjunto who have not been discussed, thus bringing more attention to the women of

conjunto music who have not been written about.

RESEARCH METHODS

This qualitative research project included conducting interviews with three female musicians.

The research was both exploration and explanation. I had to become much more familiar with the

world of women in conjunto, by asking questions not only of my research, but to understand how

gender operates in the conjunto music scene; and explanation because I now understand that

many do not have a full sense of the history of conjunto, and that the context of women in music

has to help the reader understand the expressions, the voice of these women. Since I have grown

9

up with and experienced conjunto music, I will also utilize an autoethnographic approach.

According to Tami Spry, “Autoethnagraphic performance makes us acutely conscious of how we

‘I-witness’ our own reality constructions. Interpreting culture through the self-reflections and

cultural refractions of identity is a defining feature of autoethnographic performance” (Spry,

2001). Writing about first hand experiences that I have seen and things that I have observed will

further implement the research, because it will give a new and different perspective to the topic.

FOCUSING ON WOMEN

Considering the lack of depth of literature that exists, led me to focus on women in

conjunto music. During the initial stages I focused on literature that spoke specifically to the

historical role women have played in conjunto music. While the history of conjunto music was

documented in several sources, few of those sources touched on the historical role of women. I

found it difficult to locate literature that touched on women in conjunto and how their gender

identity and racialized identity affected their lives on and off the stage. The lack of information

on women in conjunto, led me take an autoethnographic and qualitative approach to my research.

THEORETICAL APPROACHES

In my research, I employ the concept of third space feminism to help me argue my point

that women in conjunto music have challenged patriarchal notions of Texas conjunto expression

and present a voice of agency within Mexican American cultural traditions. According to Adela

Licona, U.S. Third Space Feminism is:

“… a location and/or practice. As a practice it reveals a differential consciousness'

capable of engaging creative and coalitional forms of opposition to the limits of

dichotomous (mis)representations. As a location, third space has the potential to be a

space of shared understanding and meaning-making. Through a third-space

10

consciousness then dualities are transcended to reveal fertile and reproductive spaces

where subjects put perspectives, lived experiences, and rhetorical performances into play.

In third-space sites, represen-tational rhetorics emerge that I term, (b)orderlands'

rhetorics. Unlike dualistic language structures, (b)orderlands' rhetorics move beyond

binary borders to a named third space of ambiguity and even contradic-tion” (Licona,

2005).

Using theories in Third Space Feminism, I argue that conjunto performances by women are

located in what Emma Perez calls the “Decolonial Imaginary” where great silent motionless

bases which constitute the interstitial gaps, the unheard, the unthought, the unspoken lie (Perez,

1999). Within these decolonial spaces, women in conjunto situate their music within what Gloria

Anzaldúa describes as the “borderlands” or spaces where “the prohibited and forbidden are its

inhabitants” (Anzaldua, 1987). The women of conjunto music are a big part of the prohibited

and forbidden inhabitants of the borderlands. The music in the borderlands not only serves as a

form of entertainment it also tells a story. According to Anzaldúa, “The ever present corridos

narrated one hundred years of border history, bringing news of events as well as entertaining”

(Anzaldúa, 1987). By focusing on conjunto music created by women, we can further work

towards empowerment of Chicanas in Texas and elsewhere. I further maintain that within

Anzaldua’s borderlands, women in conjunto engage in what Chela Sandoval calls differential

consciousness, “which is the expression of the new subject position called for by Althusser-it

permits functioning within yet beyond the demands of dominant ideology” (Sandoval, 1991).

Women in conjunto will be the new subject position as explained by Sandoval because they will

be functioning within the demands of the dominant ideology seeing as they are conjunto

musicians; however they will be going beyond the dominant ideology because I will be focusing

11

on women and gender in conjunto music, something that has hardly been touched upon. The

narratives will each bring a different view to the table, it is not my intent to evaluate and analyze

these narratives by who has had more success as a woman in conjunto music. The intent is not to

rank the success of the participants in order of who has been more successful, but instead to

continue and expand the discussion on women and gender in conjunto.

12

CHAPTER THREE: HISTORIOGRAPHY OF TEXAS CONJUNTO:

THE OMISSION OF WOMEN’S NARRATIVES

Conjunto music has its origins in South Texas and Mexico. The genre evolved at the turn

of the twentieth century with the cultural link between Texas and Monterrey, Mexico and the

close proximity of the two. During this time, Mexican society was divided into two structured

classes, gente decente (decent people) and gente pobre (poor people), and at the time most

people were gente pobre (poor people), (Peña, 1985). The accordion was not introduced into

Mexican culture until the late nineteenth century by the Germans. At that time the accordion was

adopted by rural Tejanos because as Carlos Guerra states, “it could mimic several instruments

simultaneously and it was cheaper to pay one acordeonista than an orquesta” (Peña, 1985). The

accordion at first was played by itself or with a tambora de rancho (ranch drum), occasionally

other instruments were added. Conjunto music emerged when the bajo sexto was added to the

accordion. The fusion of the accordion and the bajo sexto became the popular form of dance

music for poor people during the early twentieth century. Some of the most known conjunto

musicians are Narciso Martinez, known as the Father of Texas Mexican conjunto, Santiago

Jimenez Sr., Tony de la Rosa and Valerio Longoria. Narciso Martinez became known as “El

Huracan del Valle” (the hurricane of the Valley), began his musical career in 1927. He produced

his first recording in 1936 at the age of twenty-five and he is credited with creating a unique

tejano style of accordion playing. Narciso along with his bajo sexto player Santiago Almeida laid

the foundation for the modern conjunto sound (Peña, 1985). Peña discusses the founding fathers

of conjunto music, with no mention of the women in conjunto during this time.

In the brief history of Texas-Mexican conjunto music, and the pioneering musicians that

have made conjunto music famous, the underlying question in relation to this thesis, is where do

13

the pioneering women in conjunto fit into this history? In the articles that I’ve read in Puro

Conjunto (Tejeda & Valdez, 2000) and in the book by Manuel Peña The Texas-Mexican

Conjunto: History of a Working Class Music, the mention of women is very scarce and almost

non-existent. Peña briefly mentions the duo Carmen y Laura as the first recording artists under

the Ideal record label, but gives them no recognition as to their contribution as the first women to

record under the Ideal record label, the biggest recording label of conjunto music. In utilizing

Emma Perez’s concept of third space feminism and the inclusion of integral female voices within

history, one only gets half of the history of conjunto music with the exclusion of important

pioneering female such as the conjunto duo Carmen y Laura, accordionist Eva Ybarra and others.

Manuel Peña contributes the first systematic in depth analysis of conjunto music. His

contribution is important because he is the first scholar to document and analyze the history of

conjunto music using a Marxist framework to explain and analyze the class structure within

conjunto music. The Marxist framework Peña utilizes in his book is “a theory and practice of

socialism including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and

dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society”(Merriam-Webster,

2003). This theory helps the reader understand the class structure of Mexican Americans. This

helps the reader understand why conjunto music was played in cantinas (bars) and why it was

known as the music of the working class. While Peña’s contribution to conjunto music has been

a tremendous one, his work has left out one significant and important aspect, the role of women

in conjunto music. My intent is to be more inclusive of all aspects of conjunto music history,

including the female voices that have seemingly been omitted from the historical narrative.

Some of the most significant women in conjunto music are the duo comprised of sisters

Carmen and Laura Hernandez. Carmen and Laura Hernandez were born in 1921 and 1926 in the

14

South Texas town of Kingsville, Texas. The duo’s first recorded song was “Se Me Fue Mi

Amor” (My love left me) recorded in 1945 under Ideal records, Armando Marroquin and Paco

Betancourt’s recording label. Carmen Hernandez met her husband Armando Marroquin in

Kingsville, Texas, while Marroquin was attending college. After marrying they settled down and

went into the jukebox business in Alice, Texas. The record production hiatus in the U.S. forced

the Marroquins to buy records for their jukebox machines in Mexico. One could not just buy

records from Mexico, there was a process involved with buying the records, which included a lot

of red tape and frustration, thus prompting Mr. Marroquin to begin producing his own records

(Peña, 1985). After World War two it was apparent that big time recording companies no longer

had an interest in resuming production of regional music, such as conjunto. Armando Marroquin

determined to fill his jukeboxes with music, obtained recording equipment and contracted a

company in California to press and distribute his recordings. The recordings took place in

Carmen’s kitchen. Carmen’s sister Laura had just returned from school in Mexico, and

Marroquin’s first recording group was the duo comprised of his wife Carmen and his sister-in-

law Laura. Marroquin connected with South Texas businessman Paco Bentancourt, and soon

after Ideal Records expanded.

Ideal records under the co-ownership of Armando Marroquin and Paco Bentacourt

became one of the most successful and premier recording companies of conjunto music in South

Texas. In 1946, a year after Carmen y Laura first recorded their hit single “Se Me Fue Mi Amor”

(My Love Left Me). Carmen y Laura were amongst the most popular artists under the Ideal label,

however they rarely if ever are mentioned in the discussion of conjunto music. They not only

recorded, they toured extensively throughout the U.S. Southwest, as well as Kansas City and

Chicago. As was custom during those days, Carmen y Laura were always accompanied by their

15

husbands on tour. They always toured with popular dance bands of the time such as Beto Villa

and Pedro Bugarin, never as part of carvanas (caravans), like many recording artists from

Mexico. They performed in front of the orchestra and often times performed four hours a night.

During the 1940s and 1950s, this was something women did not do. Women were expected to

stay home and raise a family. Carmen y Laura recorded hundreds of songs under the Ideal label,

with all types of backing musicians, from Narciso Martinez and Paulino Bernal of Conjunto

Bernal, to Beto Villa and his orquesta (orchestra) (Peña, 1985).

Carmen y Laura have a place in conjunto music history not only as the first women to

record under the premiere Ideal label, but as the first recording group to sing a song from a

woman’s view point. Their first song “Se Me Fue Mi Amor” (My Love Left Me), laments the

absence of a woman’s love overseas in the Service during World War two. The song was

unusual at the time because it presented the situation from the view point of a woman, something

that was not common in the early parts of the twentieth century. Carmen y Laura were a

successful recording and touring duo, and they were able to maintain a household and raise a

family, they were women who did it all. They broke down many barriers for women in conjunto

music. They were recording and touring during an era, where most women retired from the stage

when they married, in order to stay home and raise a family. Carmen y Laura were right at the

center of laying of the foundation of conjunto music that Texas is known for alongside Narciso

Martinez the “Father” of Texas Mexican conjunto music.

Manuel Peña briefly mentions Carmen y Laura in his book; he writes that the very first

recordings on the Ideal record label in fact featured Carmen y Laura. Pena states, “What is more

significant is that they were accompanied by El Huracan del Valle himself, Don Narciso

Martinez” (Pena, 1985). By making this bold statement, Pena is erasing the importance Carmen

16

y Laura should have as pioneering women. Peña is saying that Carmen y Laura being the first

duo to record under the Ideal label is not important, what is important is Narciso Martinez the

“Father of Texas Mexican conjunto accompanying them. They became one of the most famous

female duos in conjunto music; however there is hardly anything, but a few excerpts here and

there written about them and their contributions to the genre. The patriarchal society we live in

has taught us that a man is worth more than a woman. In this case Carmen y Laura were good,

but Narciso Martinez was better and more important. The Ideal recording label gained

recognition and fame due to Carmen y Laura, they not only sang songs from a woman’s view

point, they were one of the first conjunto artists to incorporate vocals into their repertoire. Their

contributions and talent has been overshadowed by Narciso Martinez and later artists such as

Tony de la Rosa and Conjunto Bernal, and by the male dominated society that we live in.

Pioneering women in conjunto Carmen y Laura which are two of the most successful women

conjunto artists have taken a backseat to the pioneering men in conjunto. Their contributions

have gone unnoticed and their presence in the conjunto world forgotten.

Why have Carmen y Laura been omitted from conjunto historical narratives? The

patriarchal society Mexican Americans live in, has taught us to value and acknowledge men

more than women. For example, Manuel Peña clearly states Narciso Martinez backing Carmen y

Laura on their recordings for Ideal is more significant than Carmen y Laura being the first

individuals in this time period to record under Ideal Records. Chicana/o history like other

histories, tend to cover up and silence the motionless bases that compose the interstitial gaps, the

unheard, the unspoken, the unthought (Perez, 1999). Perez argues, “…that these silences, when

heard, become the negotiating spaces for the decolonizing subject” (Perez, 1999). She explains

how the interstitial gaps in history, are where the erasure of women’s voices resides, and once

17

their voices are heard, they become the negotiating spaces for the decolonizing subject, in this

case women. Therefore, hearing the silenced voices of Carmen y Laura will become the

negotiating space for them, as decolonizing subjects. Carmen y Laura rose to stardom during the

latter part of the 1940s, a time when women were supposed to devote their time to raising a

family and children, not making records and touring all over the US. In conjunto once a woman

married she was expected to retire from the music business and assume her role as wife and

mother. Given this behavior I wonder how many talented female musicians never made it out of

their home.

I believe the erasure of Carmen y Laura in conjunto music can also be attributed to the

patriarchal characteristics of Mexican American culture. Anzaldua claims that culture influences

and forms our beliefs. She states, “Culture is made by those in power-men” (Anzaldua, 1999).

Mexican American culture many times calls on women to play submissive roles within society.

Men supersede women, throughout history they have been celebrated, glorified, and highly

valued, because they are men. The men of conjunto have been glorified and written about

because men make the rules. During the publication of Peña’s book in 1985, who was going to

point out to him that he had excluded the women of conjunto? Certainly not the people who were

going to read the book, nor the musicians, nor Carmen y Laura because they did not have the

conceptualization of third space feminist theory, to them the focus on men within the book was

the custom, it was the norm. Scholars at the time did not have a framework of third space

feminism because it did not make a presence in academia until the late 80s. Peña’s book was

published in 1985 and Gloria Anzaldua’s groundbreaking book Borderlands: La Frontera, was

not published until 1987. So without third space feminism, an understanding of it, and an

acceptance of it, women could not have been written into the historical narrative in Peña’s book

18

because Mexican American culture which has patriarchal characteristics is set up to exclude and

silence them.

Carmen y Laura were one of the very first duos in conjunto music to break gender

barriers like no one had before. They paved the way for women conjunto artists, such as the three

women I will discuss in this thesis. Although there history has been omitted from conjunto

history, I feel it is important to acknowledge them and use them as a starting point as to why

women throughout the genre have been erased and silenced, their stories untold. Male privilege,

Mexican American culture, and the patriarchal society we live in all contribute to the omission of

the female voices within the conjunto historical narrative.

This brief history on conjunto music gives a glimpse of the contributions and success of

women conjunto musicians past and present. The aim of this research is to discuss and analyze

women musicians in conjunto music and the topic of gender. I have interviewed three women in

conjunto music, in order to be able to get first hand histories/stories of women who have lived

and played and/or sang in the world of conjunto music.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RUBY FRANCO, CLEMENCIA ZAPATA, AND SUSAN TORRES:

CHICANA CONJUNTO MUSICIANS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE

The three women I have interviewed for my thesis come from different backgrounds and

different eras. It is important to use women from different eras to discuss and analyze how

customs and traditions from different time periods have either been consistent, how they have

changed and evolved, and/or how some have stayed constant and how some have changed. I

interviewed Ruby Franco, Clemencia Zapata, and Susan Torres. Each of the three women brings

a unique experience and history to conjunto music and it is important that their stories be

documented. As Emma Perez states in the introduction of The Decolonial Imaginary:

“This work attempts to go beyond the sanctioned historiographic debates to probe the

discursive fields that shape Chicana stories. Only in this way, by going outside in order

to come back in with different kinds of inquiries, can I confront the systems of thought

that produce Chicana history” (Perez, 1999).

In order for me to be able to tell the stories of these three women I have to step outside of the

“sanctioned historiographic debates” within conjunto music to be able to gather the outside

information in order to come back in with my own history shaping inquiries as to women in

conjunto (Perez, 1999).

SUSAN TORRES

The first woman I interviewed was Susan Torres from Austin, Texas. Susan The first

time I saw her play was in 2011 at the 20th

Annual Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center

(NMCAC) Conjunto Festival. That year’s festival was honoring the women in conjunto music,

something that the NMCAC had never done before and it was Susan’s debut. The three day

festival showcased women of all ages, women who had been in conjunto for many years and

20

some who were just getting started. It was at this time that I heard of Susan Torres. She was

performing with Conjunto Clemencia. Conjunto Clemencia was named after Austin percussionist

and vocalist Clemencia Zapata who is famous for playing with Conjunto Aztlan, Conjunto Los

Pinkys, and various other groups in the Austin area. I had previously met Clemencia through

Conjunto Aztlan. They are personal friends of my fathers and they were also regulars at the

NMCAC conjunto festival. Susan Torres y Conjunto Clemencia two female musicians, which is

rare in conjunto, the fact that Susan plays the accordion and Clemencia the drums is something

not often seen in the conjunto world where both instruments are prescribed to men and women

are usually vocalists, fans, or supporters. It was interesting to see how the audience reacted to

Susan Torres y Conjunto Clemencia on that humid mid-October afternoon. Some people in the

crowd flocked to the stage to take pictures and record videos of the performance while other

people stood in admiration of the eclectic jazzy

conjunto group, and others danced the night away

to polkas and huapangos.

Usually in performances the crowd seems

to bypass the issue of gender, however in this case

they noticed because Susan Torres and Conjunto

Clemencia do not just play conjunto music, they

put on a musical performance for the audience.

Susan came out dressed in a black, white, and

red dress with flowers and leggings. Her hair was

in a half up do with natural flowing curls falling

Figure 1: Susan Torres performing

at the 2011 Narciso Martinez

Cultural Arts Center Conjunto

Festival with Conjunto Clemencia

21

down. Clemencia wore her traditional guayabera and fedora like hat. Both the guayabera and the

hat are articles of clothing typically worn by men. Both Susan and Clemencia not only break

down the stereotypical conjunto image with their playing of the accordion and the drums, they

also break down the stereotypical image by how they dress.

Speaking to these complexities, Jose Limon argues that Selena was “negotiating and

dancing through a contested site” of late capitalist Western pop culture; therefore, she

was “not withdrawing herself sexually under the hegemonic ‘male gaze’ even while

marshaling all of her resources so as to be in effective performative command of it”. He

further posits that Selena may not have been “a conscious autonomous agent,” but her

performed sexuality made her a “sexual revisionary” for her community. Limon criticizes

those whose own male gaze does not permit them to see her agency, but who rather are

immersed in the “ample detail” of her curvaceous body, detail that Gaspar de Alba names

as just plain “sexist” (Perez, 1999).

The crowd in observing Susan cared more about the music, having a good time, and dancing the

afternoon away. In past experiences that I’ve had in going to concerts where women are the focal

point of the group, people, especially men usually notice their appearance and their gender first,

and then their musical ability. In this case the audience seemed to notice her musical ability

which was great I thought. These women were being acknowledged for their musical talent and

not for their appearance. I have been around conjunto musicians my entire life, and up until that

day I had never seen two women playing in a conjunto band and being noticed and praised solely

on their musical ability. The audience was focused intently on both of these women and their

performance from start to finish, and it was then that I realized that women in conjunto had the

ability to command attention and respect just as well as any male musician that I had seen.

22

The accordion swinging, playing, virtuouso Torres, was born in Kyle, Texas in 1975, and

raised in San Marcos, Texas. Her interest in music came at the young age of twelve, with her

first musical influence being Selena. As she states,

“…I remember when I was 12, I remember crying to my mom that I wanted to sing

music and play in a band and be like her…”

From a young age Susan had been bitten by the musical bug. She also credits her mother, aunts,

uncles, and cousins for influencing her. She began singing in the school choir, not by her choice,

but by her mother’s, which she admits helped her not be as shy as she got older. At the age of

fifteen, Susan got her first exposure to being in a band, when she joined her uncle’s Tejano band.

She was in the band for about three years, and it was then that she took interest in the accordion.

Susan started playing accordion at the age of fifteen when she was in her tio’s (uncle’s)

Tejano band. At the time she was taking typing classes in high school and she figured if she

could hit the keys on the keyboard, why couldn’t she hit the buttons on the accordion. Her tio

(uncle) Fidel was the one who started her off on the accordion. Susan borrowed her uncle’s

accordion on the condition that he would teach her two songs and two songs only, two polkas.

Those two polkas would determine if she sank or swam as an accordionist, obviously she swam

because she began incorporating the accordion in the Tejano band. In her three years playing

with her uncle’s Tejano band, the audience liked her accordion playing, but she did receive

resistance and bad looks from other Tejano musicians, as she states, “there’s a lot of ego

unfortunately in the arts”. After leaving her uncle’s Tejano band, Susan joined a Norteño band

for about two years, she left the Norteño band, and came into the conjunto genre, where she’s

been ever since.

23

Susan began playing the accordion at the age of fifteen. Her mother supported her fully

and she built Susan a practice room, and every day at 7 o’clock at night, Susan would practice

the accordion religiously. Susan’s father on the other hand was opposed to her learning &

playing the accordion because in his opinion she was a woman and she couldn’t do it. As Gloria

Anzaldaua states, “‘You’re nothing but a woman’ means you are defective. It’s opposite to be un

macho” (Aznaldua 1987). Susan’s telling her she was a woman in his eyes meant she was

defective because she was not a man or macho enough to handle the accordion. In Mexican

American culture, the accordion in conjunto music according to Valdez and Halley “is

considered an archetypical male instrument” (Halley and Valdez, 1996). Most conjunto

accordionists both past and present have been predominantly male. Even though Susan’s father

was against her learning to play the accordion, she went against his wishes and learned anyway.

The fact that Susan’s uncle agreed to teach her to play the two polkas, is an important step in

Susan’s journey, because rarely if ever does a male in the family teach a female to play the

accordion. Usually the tradition of accordion playing is passed down from male to male within

the family. Susan, without realizing it was breaking from the traditional role of a woman, by

learning to play the accordion. Her accordion playing is a form of resistance against the

dominant patriarchal Mexican American society she lives in.

Susan has for the most part been received with a warm and cozy welcome in the conjunto

world. When I asked her how people perceived her as a woman within conjunto music, she said

that she has received many compliments, such as “atta a girls” from well-known conjunto

musicians such as Nicky Snick Nick Villarreal and Salvador “El Pavo” Garcia. Every once in a

while there is that one nay sayer that doesn’t take Susan seriously because she is a woman, but

those are few and far betweenFor example, Susan dresses modestly in comparison to other

24

female musicians; however that is not to say that her form of dress is better or worse, it is

different. When it comes to the conjunto music audience, Susan has observed that men, notice

her appearance first and her musical ability second, as they do with most if not all women in

conjunto music. She states,

“I think the complicated thing for me is and this is just cause I’m weird like that or I’m

just always the fish going against the current at least I feel like that. I think if there is any

complication internally within me is I think you know women you know we’re just I

think how can I put this what I’ve encountered ok so like what I’ve encountered is

whenever I play I dress modestly I just like dressing modestly I don’t get a lot of

attention from guys because I dress modestly. Then on the other side there’s some girl

musicians that don’t dress modestly but that’s because they choose to dress like that they

do get attention from guys the thing that I don’t like is not that I don’t get the attention

but it’s sad because guys don’t see the women the talent that these women have they see

what they have not what’s inside of them internally and I’ve kind of experienced that.

Women in the conjunto world, including Susan get noticed by the conjunto audience by how

they look and how they present themselves on stage, instead of by their talent. Besides being a

woman, Susan is also a Mexican American playing conjunto music in Texas.

Racial identity is an intricate part of any being and in musicians it helps people

understand why they may play or gravitate towards a certain style or genre of music. Susan

identifies as Mexican American, not as a Chicana. When I asked Susan how she identified, she

first replied with “that’s a good question”. From observing her and analyzing her answer to my

question, it was apparent to me that Susan had not been asked about her racial identity before and

if she had she did not have an answer. After an elimination process she responded with

25

American. Racialized identity is an important factor in Susan’s story. Racialized identity

attributes ethnic/racial identities to a relationship, social practice, and/or a group of people

(Merriam-Webster’s, 2003). Being a woman in the music industry is difficult; being a Mexican

American woman in the music industry is even more difficult. Being a woman of color

automatically places Susan in a different category than other women in music. Susan does not

necessarily reject being a Chicana, Mexican American, Latina, she is not aware of the difference

and ideology that each racial identification term has. When I asked if the way she identified

racially influenced her music she responded with yes. As she states,

“Other kinds of music I get influenced, like Blues and Jazz, so I like to incorporate some

of that. That would more or less on the Anglo side, so they influence me.”

To some degree Susan has been assimilated into American culture, yet without realizing it she

still holds on to her Mexican American culture through her playing of conjunto. Susan mentions

Blues and Jazz as being Anglo influences, however both genres of music are Black musical

genres. Jazz was born in New Orleans in the late 19th

and early 20th

centuries and Blues was born

in the Mississippi Delta (Kopp, 2005). Both Jazz and Blues influenced each other and continue

to interact with one another (Kopp, 2005). Blues and Jazz were made popular by African

Americans such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, however Anglo artists such as Milton

Mezz Mezzrow and Leon Bix Beiderbecke also known as “the King of Jazz” in the popular press

profited from Jazz. The racial implication here is that Anglos discovered and popularized Jazz

when in reality it was African Americans and artists such as Louis Armstrong and Duke

Ellington who made it popular. Both Milton Mezzrow and Leon Beiderbecke spent their musical

lives imitating the sounds heard from African Americans (Jazz in Black & White, n.d.). Both

Anglo artists despised the segregation that prevented black and white musicians from recording

26

together, yet both profited from it their entire careers (Jazz in Black & White, n.d.). Susan adding

Blues and Jazz to her repertoire adds an African American element to the music, thus enabling

the mixing of black and brown genres.

CLEMENCIA ZAPATA

Clemencia Zapata Chicana percussion extraordinaire, conjunto pioneer, many music

lovers know the face, few people know the woman behind the drum set. On February 26, 2013 I

drove to Austin, Texas to interview Clemencia Zapata, drummer and singer for conjunto groups

Conjunto Aztlan, Conjunto Los Pinkys, as well as

for her own conjunto Susan Torres y Conjunto

Clemencia. I interviewed Clemencia at one of

Austin’s premier music venues, The Scoot Inn.

Clemencia Zapata was born in San

Antonio, Texas on January 21, 1955. Conjunto

music has always been a part of Clemencia’s life

as far back as she can remember, as she said

“that’s something that I’ve heard throughout my

life, so I don’t know if there was really a starting

point, I don’t remember the first time I heard

conjunto music, only that I’ve always heard

conjunto music”. During her teenagers years

Clemencia’s father began taking her to clubs in San Antonio where conjunto music was being

played. During her visits to these local San Anto night clubs, she would sit in with different

conjunto groups, including Flaco Jimenez’s conjunto. At the young age of fourteen Clemencia

Figure 2: Clemencia Zapata performing

at the 22nd

annual NMCAC Conjunto

Festival

27

was already making history by being the only woman to date that has jammed with Flaco

Jimenez. Clemencia was highly encouraged by her father to pursue music and to continue

playing the drums, which is something unheard of in Mexican American culture for a woman.

Women in Mexican American society are usually steered away from playing an instrument and

from being in a band,

The fact that Clemencia’s parents, especially her father encouraged her to pursue a career

in music as a drummer is extremely important and significant to her story. In the articles that

have been written on gender and conjunto music, it is rarely if ever acceptable for a woman to be

in a conjunto group, much less play the drums in a conjunto band. Valdez’s and Halley discuss

the fact that in many cases women are not encouraged to play an instrument or to be in a

conjunto group. Clemencia is an exception, because her family supported her and her desire to

pursue a career as a drummer not only in conjunto groups, but in various other musical genres.

As a woman in the conjunto world, Clemencia has been received quite well. When asked if men

noticed her musical ability first or the fact that she was a woman first, Clemencia responded by

saying, “Musical ability, I believe”. Clemencia’s response speaks to the topic of gender within

music, because instead of noticing Clemencia as a woman and how she dresses and carries

herself, the crowd notices the music first, as it should be. There are not very many female

drummers in the conjunto genre, which sets Clemencia apart from most other women. She breaks

barriers that have been set forth by patriarchal society. Clemencia redefines cultural identity

within conjunto music through gender and sexuality (Anzaldúa, 1987). As a woman accepted

and respected as a drummer within conjunto music, she breaks down the patriarchal notion that

only men can play an instrument. However, while Clemencia has made great waves within the

world of conjunto music, hardly anything has been written about her either academically or non-

28

academically. Up until I interviewed her for my thesis I had no idea she was jamming with Flaco

Jimenez long before he became famous. Clemencia deserves the honor of being a pioneering

woman in conjunto music like Carmen y Laura.

When I asked Clemencia how she identified racially, she proudly replied as Chicana.

Having played many years with Conjunto Aztlan, it came to no surprise that Clemencia

responded by saying that she is a Chicana drummer. Conjunto Aztlan’s band motto is “Música

del Movimiento Chicano” (Music from the Chicano Movement), so of course Clemencia is

politicized and she is fully aware of everything that encompasses the Chicana/o ideology. When

I asked her if being a politicized Chicana influenced her music, she responded with

“Sure, because it’s really rooted, it’s really planted. Soy Chicana, I´m not so bad. That, in

itself, is a statement. Everything about what a Chicana would be - It would be pretty rude

and pretty much of a statement of what you do or how you present it.”

The influence of her Chicana identity is most notable when she is performing with Conjunto

Aztlan, a band from the Chicano Movement whose songs covered topics from the Chicano

Movement that are still relevant today. Conjunto Aztlan integrates traditional conjunto music

with elements of indigenous beats and drumming as well as the use of Nahuatl, Spanish, and

English in their lyrics. Conjunto Aztlan started off and continues to be comprised mostly of men;

however Clemencia has been accepted into their group as the drummer, a feat in itself.

Clemencia has cemented her status as one of the premiere drummers in conjunto.

RUBY FRANCO

Ruby R. Franco many conjunto loving people may be familiar with the name, few people

know the woman behind the microphone. On Labor Day weekend of 2013, I drove to a small

community outside of Corpus Christi, Texas, called Bluntzer. I went to visit family, but I also

29

went to conduct an interview with Ruby Franco, vocalist with the conjunto pioneering musician

Chano Cadena. On the evening of Saturday August 31, 2013, I sat in the home of Ruby Franco

ready to conduct the interview. As the interview commenced I asked the same questions I had

asked Susan Torres and Clemencia Zapata. I had walked into Ruby’s house with the

preconceived notion that like Susan and Clemencia, Ruby had started her career at a young age.

As the interview continued, I was surprised to learn that Ruby had started her singing career late

in life. Music had always been a part of her life, but it was not until she was fifty-five, divorced,

and her children grown that she had begun her professional career in conjunto music.

Ruby Franco born Ruby Ramirez in Driscoll, Texas in 1939 is the youngest of four

children. As a child Ruby moved from Driscoll to

Robstown, Texas, her father was a mechanic and her

mother went from ranch to ranch selling clothes. As a

child Ruby and her siblings would accompany their

mother to the different ranches. It was during those

times, that Ruby began singing and developing her

voice. At the age of eighteen, Ruby got married and

had her first child; she would go on to have two more

children with her husband. While raising a family and

working, Ruby managed to complete her college

degree in nursing and became a registered nurse

working her way up the ranks of the health system and

eventually opening up her own home health care

business.

Figure 3: Ruby Franco performing at

the 23rd

annual NMCAC Conjunto

festival

30

Ruby wanted to familiarize me with her music and style of singing. Before the interview

even started she played several of the songs she had recorded. One could take Ruby’s presence

as arrogance; however, confident is more appropriate. Ruby knows what she wants and has

overcome obstacles in her life to get to where she is. Ruby Franco is not like most women in

conjunto music. In 1994 she recorded for the first time and began performing at shows with

Chano Cadena y Su Conjunto. Ruby has been performing with Chano Cadena y Su Conjunto for

almost twenty years, however unless one has been to a show to personally hear and see Ruby

Franco perform with him, not much is known about her.

Ruby Franco has never been written about or discussed academically. One of the ways

Ruby fits into the idea of third space feminism is the fact that her story in conjunto music has not

been told. In conducting the interview with her, she told me that her mother did not agree with

her singing; in fact her mother did not speak to her for almost three years due to her decision to

pursue a singing career in conjunto music. The idea is Mexican-American women are not

supposed to be singers, or in a band because it is not what a proper woman does. Music,

especially conjunto music is known as cantina (bar) music, and proper women do not go to

cantinas (bars). Even Ruby’s children are not necessarily against her and her decision to sing

conjunto, but neither of the three has ever attended one of their mother’s performances. Most

women would have quit their singing career without the support of their family and the

disapproval of a parent, not Ruby, instead she persevered and kept on singing because she

believes in and loves conjunto music. She loves what she does outside of her nursing career.

The interview with Ruby has been the most spiritual and the most eye-opening for me

because her honesty and openness with me reminded me of the importance of my work. At times

as a woman, society is extra harsh with you, because you are not living up to your expectations

31

of what a woman should be. Hearing Ruby talk about her life growing up and seeing how

confident and sure of herself she is, even during the rough times, has reawakened my spirit and it

has brought me back to my research, and that is to tell the story of women in conjunto that have

been silenced and erased from a history that has been and still is dominated by men.

Singing for Ruby is a second job; her first job is being a registered nurse. At the age of 75

she has been a registered nurse for 46 years. As she states,

“You have to love what you do. If you love what you do, then no te cansas. Yo, de

enfermera I have spent my life. It's been my life. I've been a nurse for 46 years. So that's a

very long time.”

Ruby not only sings, she has also worked for many years supporting herself and her family.

Ruby is one of the older conjunto female singers at 75 years of age. Unlike women her age, Ruby

has gone against the grain and against the patriarchal society that has kept many women

prisoners. Anzaldúa states, “Culture (read males) professes to protect women. Actually it keeps

women in rigidly defined roles” (Anzaldúa, 1987). Ruby’s drive and perseverance to get a

nursing degree and to sing with a conjunto group are forms of resistance against the patriarchal

society she was raised in.

Ruby identifies racially as Mexicana (Mexican). She if from a time when Mexican

Americans identified as Mexicano (Mexican) and a time before the term Chicana/o became

popular. Most of the songs she sings are corridos, boleros and rancheras songs of Mexican

popularity reflective of how Ruby identifies racially. Ruby was born and grew up in a time of

great conflict and tension between Mexicanos and Anglos in Texas. She was born in 1939 in

Driscoll, Texas a small rural town in South Texas and later moved to Robstown, Texas. During

this time the corrido was sung in many mexicano homes as a way of storytelling and a way to

32

keep history alive. The biggest corrido of all time is the corrido of the famed Gregorio Cortez.

Corridos were commonly heard during Ruby’s youth and later on as she got older Chelo Silva

popularized the bolero in Texas and Spanish speaking communities in the United States and

Mexico. The corrido according to Deborah Vargas “…has allegorized mexicano cultural

resistance against Anglo white racist supremacy…” (Vargas, 2008). These styles of songs were

sung during the early 20th

century because many of the people living in South Texas at the time

were of Mexican origin or had come directly from Mexico. Ruby being the oldest of the three

women I interviewed identifies as Mexicana because of the era she was born and raised in. She

also chooses to sing these songs because they are the most passionate and heartfelt songs in

conjunto music.

In dealing with and interviewing Ruby I can tell she is a passionate woman in anything

she does whether it be taking care of her family, nursing, or singing. Hearing Ruby sing a

corrido, a song which is usually sung by a man, gives the song a woman’s perspective. Vargas

states, “Most often it was a male voice that evoked a woman’s presence in song, but, just as

significantly, women singers could offer a different version of the relationship between gender

and power” (Vargas, 2008). Boleros just like corridos are shaped by gender and power “…with

its focus on the subjectivity of women and on emotions ranging from derision and despair”

(Vargas, 2008). Both corridos and boleros are genres of music shaped by power and gender, as

well as popular genres of Mexican music. Ruby’s musical repertoire is representative of her

racial identity as a Mexicana and also a stand against the patriarchal society she was raised in.

Ruby, Clemencia, and Susan all racially identify differently. The style of conjunto each

woman performs is reflective of their racial identity. For example, Ruby prefers to sing boleros,

corridos, or rancheras music popularized in Mexico. Clemencia plays all styles of conjunto

33

music, but she is most known for performing with Conjunto Aztlan a band that is heavily

influenced by the Chicano Movement. Susan plays a more modern, bluesy, jazzy tinged

conjunto, while still sticking to the original conjunto sound. How these three women identify

racially provides insight into the era in which they were born and raised in and is reflective of the

music, culture, and politics of each time period. Each performer gives an understanding of the

intricate and complex aspects that make up the vast identity of the borderlands. Deborah Vargas

states,

“These singers and musicians have represented innovative instrumental and vocal

stylings, evoked new passions and politics of the erotic, created new spatialities of

belonging and modes of being Chicana/Tejana that offer us an alternative understanding

of borderlands social identity” (Vargas, 2008).

The racial identity of Ruby, Clemencia, and Susan is different, yet they are all connected through

the unique sound of conjunto music. Each woman gives a different racial perspective through

their music, thus allowing the audience to see and interpret what it means to be a Mexicana, a

Chicana, and an American of Mexican descent.

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CONCLUSION

Women continue to be marginalized and erased in histories about Texas cojunto and

music in general. In the discussion of conjunto greats, the mention of Carmen y Laura and/or Eva

Ybarra is almost nonexistent. Deborah Vargas recently published Dissonant Divas (2012) in

which she focuses on conjunto accordionists Eva Ybarra and Ventura Alonzo. In Manuel

Peña’s groundbreaking work on conjunto titled, The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: History of a

Working Class (1985), he discusses the history of conjunto music and the pioneering men of

conjunto, yet he fails to fully acknowledge the role women played within this history. For

example, Carmen y Laura were the first women to record a song sung from the woman’s point of

view with their hit “Se Me Fue Mi Amor” (My Love Left Me). They also became the most

prolific and successful recording artists for the famous Ideal Records. While they most

definitely fit the “pioneering” definition they were for the most part given very little notoriety.

During the course of this research I learned many new things about conjunto music and

about myself. As a woman in this world it is hard to earn respect, for a woman, attaining

recognition and success in the conjunto world is a feat that is not impossible, but it will be a long

and difficult journey. For this year’s conjunto festival I shadowed my father and saw the ins and

outs of organizing the conjunto festival. While it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and time I

feel soon I will be ready to assume the role of organizing the conjunto festival. However, I know

that being a woman in this world I will deal with things my father has not. For example, I’ve

already begun to notice that men notice my physical features first before noticing my intellectual

or professional abilities. Countless times I have been told “oh you’re so pretty “or “oh you’re

beautiful”. Up until this point I have kept my involvement with the NMCAC quiet for the most

part and many people that deal with my father only see me as his daughter and not as anything

35

else. In my experience with conjunto musicians, they usually say hi to me and the rest of the time

they speak solely to my father. The patriarchal characteristics of Mexican American culture has

kept women in rigidly defined female roles. I will one day assume the reigns of running the

NMCAC and I will persevere. As Anzaldúa states:

“There is a rebel in me – the Shadow-Beast. It is a part of me that refuses to take orders

from outside authorities It refuses to take orders from my conscious will, it threatens the

sovereignty of my rulership. It is that part of me that hates constraints of any kind, even

those self-imposed. At the least hint of limitations on my time or space by others, it kicks

out with both feet. Bolts.” (pg.38).

Often I have been told “oh you’re just a girl” or “oh you can’t do it” and every single time I have

prevailed. I find strength and power in being a woman, and I remember all of those women who

have come before me and have been successful, my own mother included, and I fight one more

day to become the future organizer of the NMCAC Conjunto Festival and the next scholar to

bring conjunto music into the spotlight.

In interviewing the three women for this thesis, I have learned many things about these

their lives outside of the music. Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands: La Frontera (1987) and Emma

Pérez’s The Decolonial Imaginary (1999), demonstrates how women are considered second class

citizens, their histories have been erased and they are not seen as important as men. Anzaldúa

states, “The culture expects women to show greater acceptance of, and commitment to, the value

system than men” (Anzaldúa, 1987). Women are expected to be obedient to men. The three

women I interviewed are proof that following your dreams and “disobeying” what Mexican

American patriarchal society teaches us, can get one far in life.

36

Susan went against her father and learned to play the accordion because she was

passionate about it and it was something that she wanted to do. Her accordion playing is a form

of resistance against the patriarchal society she lives in. Eventually Susan’s father came around

and lightened up on the idea that she played the accordion. Clemencia is by far one of the

premiere drummers in the conjunto world. She not only plays an instrument that is considered a

man’s instrument, she does it with style and grace. She had very supportive parents, especially

her father that encouraged her to pursue the drums. Clemencia has done what no other female

drummer has done by playing with Flaco Jimenez at the young age of fourteen and through all of

these amazing feats, she remains humble about what she has accomplished; she sees it as just

another day on the job. The interview with Ruby Franco opened my eyes the most. She is a great

example as to what happens when one works hard towards reaching their goals. She got her

degree as a registered nurse, worked, raised her family, and later in life she began her career as a

singer in the conjunto world.

These three women are the reason that I decided to write a thesis. They are all different in

their own right, but like so many women in conjunto their stories have not been documented.

Their performances challenge the notions of Texas conjunto expression and present a voice of

Chicana agency within Mexican American cultural traditions. Scholarly works on women in

conjunto are scarce. Vargas focuses on accordionists Eva Ybarra of San Antonio and Ventura

Alonzo of Houston in her book.Her work is groundbreaking in the world of conjunto music

because for the first time in history she brings the women of conjunto to the forefront and gives

them the recognition they deserve utilizing an “a new analytic of border cultural production that

is usually rendered through hetero-masculinist logics of resistance and subordination.”(p. ix,

Vargas).

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DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Although my research focused on women in conjunto, throughout the duration of this study, I

have had many conversations with people about women in other genres of music like Tejano.

While many people think conjunto and Tejano are one in the same, the generations are different

and have different histories, while they are similar in some ways; they are also very different and

unique. Growing up in the music world I feel that it is important to document the stories of

women musicians because often times their stories are erased. The public sees the face, but not

the woman behind the music.

Conjunto music is a big part of Mexican American culture in Texas. ulture plays a big

role in how we view things. Anzaldúa (1987) states, “Culture forms our beliefs” (pg. 38).

Understanding how Mexican American culture works and the role patriarchy plays within the

culture, encourages a deeper reading of Mexican American cultural and patriarchal narratives

and how women fit into Mexican American cultureThis topic is important to me. When I first

began working on this topic I feared that I might receive backlash from angered conjunto

aficionados and scholars. However, as time has passed, the fear has subsided and I embrace any

and all backlash that could possible come my way as well as any support, because I know that

my work is important. I am premeditating backlash from hardcore conjunto aficionados,

musicians, and fans, because I like to prepare myself for the worst; however the response I’ve

gotten thus far has been positive and reassuring. As with anything, there are always critics,

however I am ready and capable of defending my point of view. While I only interviewed three

women; there are still so many more women in the world of conjunto music whose stories need

to be documented. Eventually I would like to work on a doctorate and be able to expand on my

research of women in conjunto music, to be able to include many other women in the genre from

38

musician/singers, to the women behind the men of conjunto. Their views and insight would add

another perspective. One day I hope to give an extensive history of the women in conjunto and

how their histories/stories have shaped conjunto music into what it is today. I would also like to

be able to publish a book on the women of conjunto to add to Manuel Peña’s and Deborah

Vargas’s work, while being the first scholarly publication to focus solely on the women of

conjunto music.

39

APPENDIX A: SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW

1. Where were you born? What year? How old were you when you started playing your

instrument? Singing?

2. How many siblings did you have?

3. Did your parents encourage you to sing? Or did they discourage you?

4. How did you get started in conjunto music?

5. Why did you choose to become a musician in the conjunto genre?

6. How have you been received by both men & women, as a conjunto musician?

7. Do men notice your musical ability first or your gender?

8. Has being a woman in a male dominated genre affected you? Positively? Negatively?

Both?

9. How did your family feel about you being a conjunto musician?

10. Do you feel that you’ve had to work twice as hard as men to succeed in this genre of

music?

11. How do you identify yourself? As a woman first, musician second? Musician first,

woman second? Does it matter?

12. Do you feel you have obliged or deviated from the female role Mexican/ Mexican

American society has set forth for women; by being a musician in a genre of music that is

patriarchal & dominated by men?

a. By traditional role I mean Mexican American women are supposed to take care of

the family, cook, clean, etc. not be in a genre of music that is considered a man’s

13. Do you consider conjunto to be the music of the working class/poor people?

a. Seeing that many people associate conjunto music with cantinas

14. Have you ever encountered racism within the conjunto world?

a. If you have encountered racism has it been from people from your own race or a

different race?

15. Do you ever get asked why conjunto music, why not another genre of music, a more

popular/mainstream genre of music?

16. How do you feel about people from other ethnicities/backgrounds playing conjunto

music?

a. For example Dwayne Verheydan and the Texmexplosion from the Netherlands,

Conjunto J from Japan, Conjunto San Antonio from Badajoz, Spain

17. How do you identify yourself?

a. Mexican American, Chicana, Latina, etc.

18. Does the way you identify ethnically influence your music?

a. If so how?

19. Do you feel that conjunto music has grown as a genre from when you first started? Has it

stayed the same? Or is it on a decline?

20. Do you feel that class has been influential in shaping conjunto music?

40

a. People associate conjunto with working class/poor people, many of the conjunto

musicians both past and present have historically come from working class

families

21. Do you think conjunto has changed from being acknowledged as a working class/poor

people genre of music?

a. If so how would you classify conjunto music today?

22. Do you feel that your own class status has influenced your music, your performance, your

life? If so how?

a. Social Class structure

i. Upper class, middle class, lower class, etc.

23. Who influences you musically, and why do they influence you?

a. They can be from any musical genre, they don’t have to be specifically from

conjunto

24. What kind of advice would you give upcoming female musicians in the conjunto world?

41

APPENDIX B: IRB APPROVA

42

43

44

APPENDIX C: SIGNED CONSENT FORM

45

46

47

48

49

50

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VITA

Soledad A. Núñez is from San Benito, TX. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Our

Lady of the Lake University. She continues to organize events with the Narciso Martinez

Cultural Arts Center in San Benito, Texas. Her future plans include working towards a Ph.D.