Sounds of Conjunto: Museum exhibit displays ties between community and conjunto music

Juan Antonio Tapia started to learn how to play the accordion at the age of seven.

His father, grandfather and uncles were avid accordion players so he would sit and listen to them and watch how their fingers would tackle the accordion keys.

And when his father would go off to work, Tapia would sneak out his father’s accordion and repeat what he heard his relatives playing.

"I learned pretty much by looking. You learn by ear," Tapia, a Brownsville native, said, as he played a couple of tunes on his accordion. "I started fooling around with the accordion because you just don’t pick it up and play."

Some 40 plus years later, Tapia is an accordion player and instructor and has released several compact discs that he composed. On Saturday, he attended the Conjunto Exhibit titled Conjunto Voz Del Pueblo inside the Stillman House Museum at the Brownsville Heritage Museum.

The exhibit features the photography of John Dyer of San Antonio who has photographed conjunto artists such as Ruben Vela, Flaco Jimenez, Freddie Gomez, Steve Jordan, Paulino Bernal and Los Dos Gilbertos. Each color photograph depicts the conjunto artist playing the accordion in his style.

Rhiannon L. Cizon, assistant director of the BHM, said officials decided to display the Conjunto Exhibit because of the strong cultural ties between the community and conjunto music.

"These are people who made conjunto music," and what it is, Cizon said. "This is the perfect exhibit for a museum here in Brownsville. It’s the perfect fit for our mission which is interpreting the history and culture of South Texas."

As part of the Conjunto Exhibit, a program featuring conjunto artist Cande Aguilar and Friends will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday at the museum. The cost is $5 for members of the Brownsville Historical Association and $10 for non-members of the BHA.

For more information on the Conjunto Exhibit and concert, call the Brownsville Heritage Museum at (956) 5560.