Conjunto Fest

Last night I went to the Tejano Conjunto Festival's night called "New Directions."  This was a night of Conjunto music (Texas born Accordion music) with all the fun twists new generations and artists are spinning on it.  the first band, Los Nahualatos, was a ska-infused Conjunto band.  I have seen this band before, and totally love them!  The 2nd band coined themselves as "Cronkjunto," and had a little rap with a side of accordion.  The guy who stole my heart last night was Juanito Castillo.  He is an amazing musician and accordionist.  For his new direction in Conjunto music, he pre-recorded himself playing  every background instrument (piano, drums, etc), then had the CD playing in the background while he accompanied with his accordion live.  His music was very jazzy, and at times I felt like I was on an Italian Veranda.  Did I mention that Juanito is blind? It was pretty amazing to watch him up there, imagining him learning and perfecting so many instruments, sans one of his senses.  He was funny and brilliant with his music, and super inspiring in general!  Here's a small snippet from a moment of the concert, and a few pictures from the night.

Click here!  For the video