Join Texas Folklife for a very special Spring Fed Records double album release party, feautring San Antonio artists Felipe Perez y Sus Polkeros and Belen Escobedo y Panfilo’s Güera.  Don’t miss your chance to hear the very best in conjunto and South Texas Tejano fiddle music played live by Felipe Perez and Belen Escobedo, masters of these styles.  

About Felipe Perez:
Legendary conjunto accordionist Felipe Perez has beenplaying music professionally since the 1950s. Felipe plays in a driving and very unique, old school style, and in addition to the has composed a huge body of his own polkas, redovas, schottisches, huapangos, and waltzes. He has recorded numerous albums, and now at the age of 77 has just finished a new album of original compositions for Spring Fed Records.

Felipe started playing at ten years old in 1950, leading his own conjunto in the rough and tumble cantinas of Corpus Christi such as the 1-2-3 Club and El Rey De La Polka Club. Felipe learned to play accordion from the great Juan Lopez, a Corpus Christi conjunto master known as “El Rey de la Redova.” Felipe is also an accomplished bajo sexto player, and he played with Lopez for many years. Felipe recorded with his group Los Sargentos in the 1950s for labels such as Bohemia, with singers such as Isidro Lopez and Sofia Rodriguez. He recorded several LPs for Joey International as Felipe Perez y Sus Polkeros. Felipe has since brought his music to audiences throughout Texas and across the country. The new Felipe Perez y Sus Polkeros Spring Fed Records album features Felipe on accordion, Virginio Castillo on bajo sexto, and Ramon Gutierrez on tololoche.

About Belen Escobedo:
Belen Escobedo plays rare and beautiful fiddle tunes in the South Texas Tejano (Texas-Mexican) tradition.  Growing up on the South side of San Antonio and working as a professional fiddler since she was a teenager, Belen has preserved a unique style of fiddling that has all but disappeared from the Texas borderlands. Belen has a vast and unique repertoire, including tunes she learned from her grandfather’s whistling.

Belen performs at festivals, concerts, dances, and other events as the leader of two groups: Belen y Tocayoand Panfilo’s Güera. Both groups feature Belen on fiddle accompanied by bajo sexto (12 string bass) andtololoche (a borderlands upright bass).  Belen Escobedo has twice been a featured fiddler at the Festival of Texas Fiddling.  In  2017 was awarded theprestigious Texas Master Fiddler Award.  She has performed at the Polkapocalypse Festival, Texas Folklife, and numerous other events and festivals across Texas.  In summer 2018, Belen is a featured artist at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington.

Belen Escobedo Sample Live Tracks:

Flor de Capomo

El Zipolote Mojado

Parking Information:

Parking is available in Texas Folklife’s gravel driveway, on street immediately in front of building, and Asterra Properties (located next door). Overflow parking available at Recycled Reads (5335 Burnet Rd). Please use spaces in the back or on the south side of the Recycled Reads building.

This program is made possible in part by support from the board and members of Texas Folklife, The Texas Commission on the Arts with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.